Ron Elving, NPR: Romney Moves Up As Potential McCain VP [View All]

[highplainsdem]

http://www.npr.org/watchingwashington/2008/07/romney_moves_up_as_mccain_vp_p.html

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Romney stunned much of the political world this week by announcing he would not seek donations to cover the $45 million he loaned his own campaign for the primaries. Romney had indicated when he dropped out in February that he was facing enough personal financial exposure to force a difficult decision. At the time, the full weight of that debt was not yet clear.

Like other contenders, Romney could go on seeking money for his failed campaign, collecting money to pay down some of what his campaign owes him. But to do so would compete for his time and divide his loyalties, which right at the moment have been transferred to the man he savaged as "a liberal" not too many months ago.

Also, by forgoing his shot at reimbursement, Romney looks like a stand-up guy and gets a positive news story at a critical time. McCain might choose his vice president early -- well before the convention in St. Paul, Minn. -- so as to raise his campaign's general profile and steal back some of the media focus lately lavished on Obama.

Romney's polish as a stand-in, combined with his business success and reassuring demeanor, look better and better as the economic issue ascends. Romney could help out in Michigan, where his name still works. He would also be at least some help in his other home regions of New England and the Mountain West.

Romney was also the guy who would have won in Iowa without the presence of evangelical preacher Mike Huckabee. Romney, who beat McCain soundly in Michigan, surely would have done so again in South Carolina and Florida if he had not been splitting the conservative vote in those states four ways with Huckabee, Fred Thompson and Rudy Giuliani.

So right now pressure is building again for McCain to set aside his personal distaste for Romney and put him on the ticket. The campaign has put out the story that the obvious animosity between the two men in the primaries has been set aside. No one will ever sense true chemistry in this relationship, but it's possible McCain could make the same judgement call that Sen. Bob Dole made in 1996.

Dole had endured considerable abuse from former Rep. Jack Kemp of New York when they both served in Congress, and it was clear that the Kansan had little use for the former pro quarterback. But if Kemp could help win the White House, Dole was willing to make the personal sacrifice and put him on the ticket.

It was a sign of some desperation on Dole's part, and in the end it did not get him elected. But Romney is a more mature and serious politician than Kemp ever was, and he may be a better antidote to McCain's specific problems than Kemp was for Dole's.

With his most recent moves, Romney has shown he is willing to forget past wounds and make sacrifices of a material kind that few can dream of making. He has done what he can do.

Will McCain feel the need to do as much?

I hope McCain won't choose him. Of all the VP candidates from the weak GOP field, Romney is probably the strongest, the one who could help McCain the most.