Mitt Romney

Last night I brought you word of Robert Novak's supposed scoop that John McCain would announce his VP choice this week. Novak himself knew that such an announcement would help take some of the wind from Barack Obama's overseas sails, but what he didn't know, and is now a tad upset over, is that the McCain team used him to forward a rumor that is, apparently, not true. From Taegan Goddard's Political Wire:

Robert Novak told Fox News that his report yesterday about Sen John McCain naming his running mate this week may have been "a dodge" by the campaign to steal some attention from Sen. Barack Obama.

Novak said he got the tip from a "very senior McCain aide" and that the camp "suggested I put it out." Now he feels he's been used and that it's "pretty reprehensible."

Indeed it is. Marc Ambinder earlier questioned whether McCain would actually announce this week considering that A) Mitt Romney is out of the country, and B) so is McCain's wife. So, I wonder which "very senior McCain aide" cooked up the plan to dupe Novak. Or, will John pull the double-fake-out and make an announcement this week after all? One thing is for sure. Novak won't be biting quite so hard next time.

It's one thing to complain about how the media isn't giving you a fair shake, and quite another to intentionally mislead a reporter of Novak's standing. McCain had better tread lightly. Hell hath no fury as an opinion writer scorned.

Yesterday Robert Novak reported that John McCain was close to naming his running mate. Could that running mate be McCain's former rival for the Republican nomination, Mitt Romney? it looks like a bold financial move by Romney may have placed him one obstacle closer to the spot. Boston Globe's Peter S. Canellos writes that Mitt Romney sent a message to McCain when he dropped any plans to recoup the $45 million he loaned his own campaign during the primaries. Recovering that sum would have been an unwanted distraction.

Even if the move doesn't pay off now, not competing with McCain for donations will certainly help Romney if he attempts to run for President again in 2012. Blogger Patrick Ruffini at The Next Right argues Romney road to the White House would probably be smoother without joining McCain's ticket.

It looks, however, like Romney really wants the gig. J. Taylor Rushing reports that Lindsay Graham told The Hill, "I think [Romney's] very much a contender for the job. [McCain and Romney] have a good relationship. That's all I'll say." Romney has also appeared on TV of late heaping praise, undue praise even, on McCain.

The International Herald Tribune looks at a time when the relationship between McCain and Romney wasn't so good.

It's a guessing game in Washington and outside the Beltway as to who Barack Obama and John McCain will put on their ticket in the vice president slot.

Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, McCain's former primary rival, is one of the top names floated. The business man-turned politico spent over $35 million of his own money in his White House bid but is still considered the more "conservative's conservative" of the two men.

Romney gave an interview with CBSNews.com published today before opening an event in Michigan for McCain. He's now stumping for the Arizona senator - the two apparently consider themselves "good friends."

"This is not the time for an amateur," Romney said of Obama. "This is the time for a tested, proven professional to lead our country."

The report says Romney and those in his inner circle have insisted that he's not campaigning for the No. 2 spot and that the possibility of being asked to serve is highly unlikely. One former senior campaign adviser who remains in frequent contact with Romney insists that he "really believes he's got zero chance" of being asked, and wouldn't really want to play second fiddle to McCain anyway. Romney says he hasn't been asked to provide any personal information to the McCain campaign, either.

The Daily News has a rundown of some of the things the $212 million Hillary Clinton spent on her presidential bid could have bought instead. According to Celeste Katz, the Clinton campaign could have paid for the following: sending more than 76,000 New York families to Disneyland, 9,838 Toyota Priuses, 70.7 million energy-efficient light bulbs, and several other amusing and ironic purchases. The $11 million Clinton gave her campaign could buy everyone in New York City a lottery ticket. The total campaign cost could have bought everyone in the city a movie ticket. Well, that last one says more about the cost of movies than it does about the cost of campaigns.

Although Hillary Clinton's campaign spent a fortune (as did Obama, but his campaign looks good because he got the nomination), she simply played the campaign finance game as it is played in this era. In order to compete on a battlefield of this magnitude, spending an absolute fortune is simply the ante. Kicking the candidate who lost while she's down may be fun and easy, but it's the system that needs kicking, not Senator Clinton. Plenty of others spent quite a bit more than the staggering $109,823 per delegate she spent. For example, her tally is nothing compared to the $48.8 million Rudy Giuliani spent on a single delegate during his failed bid for the Republican nomination. Mitt Romney put out quite a bit of economic stimulus as well, spending $98 million for just 282 delegates, nearly $350,000 per delegate. Romney's stings a little more because $42.3 million of it was his own money.

Before the 2008 Presidential campaign, the gold standard for farcical overspending was set by the 1996 bid for the Republican presidential nomination by John McCain's current economic adviser, and former Texas senator, Phil Gramm. Gramm's campaign spent $25 million for just 10 delegates. Republican campaign insiders coined the term for the money a candidate spends per delegate won the Gramm-o-meter. That kind of wasteful spending seems quaint in retrospect.

Over the weekend, Hillary Clinton's campaign confirmed that it is now $20 million dollars in debt. Some have speculated that any deal that lays the groundwork for her exit from the Democratic race will have Barack Obama picking up Clinton's trail of unpaid bills. While many Clinton supporters scoff at this notion, and cheer their candidate to soldier on until the convention in August, there may be a more compelling reason to settle up before then. Actually, make that 11 million reasons. From US News and World Report:

Experts disagree on whether or not Clinton will actually stick in the fight until the Democratic National Convention in August. But the date looms large for another reason--at least, if she hopes to recoup any of the million s she has sunk into the campaign. Thanks to a little-known provision in 2002's McCain-Feingold campaign-finance reform bill, a campaign must repay the loan to a candidate before Election Day. In this case, that's the nominating convention. After the election has passed, a bankrupt campaign is limited to gathering just $250,000 from contributors, which means that modes sum is all it can give back to a candidate. In short, Clinton stands to lose $11,150,000. "If she wants to be repaid, she'd have to move on that between now and the national convention," says former Federal Election Commission chairman Michael Toner."

Each time the Clintons have dipped into their personal fortune to help fund the campaign, they've termed the infusion a "loan," which, one assumes, is meant to be re-paid. The irony that John McCain's legislation (so reviled by conservatives) might be the final nudge that pushes Clinton from the race is all a bit Twilight Zone. But the rub here is that if Clinton exits the race now, her fundraising opportunities go away while, baring an Obama bailout, the debt remains. That means she may opt to stay in, try to spend a tiny amount in the remaining contests, raise cash, and then quit at the last possible moment, right before the convention so as to avoid the campaign finance restrictions.

No word yet on how much of the $42.3 million Mitt Romney lent his own campaign that Mitt has bee able to recoup.

Former Sen. Fred Thompson (Tenn.)

Former Senator Fred Thompson of Tennessee is the lawyer, turned actor, turned politician whose entry into the presidential primary last year was greeted with so much fanfare. Throughout the spring and summer of 2007, when former mayor Rudy Giuliani was leading the race and Sen. McCain's campaign was floundering, conservatives were clamoring for a true Reagan conservative to throw his hat in the ring. Thompson eventually did so in early September, after teasing Republican primary voters with a lengthy exploration period and a few false alarms. His campaign was never as popular after he announced, however, as it was before and he was unable to finish higher than third in any state before dropping out of the race.

Thompson, 65, did develop a consistently conservative reputation as a candidate and displayed a no-nonsense, if a bit laid back, style of campaigning. He was alone among the Republicans in developing plans based on issues and won high praise for his initiatives from socially and fiscally conservative interest groups alike. He won the endorsement of the national Right to Life Committee and numerous state committees as well. His immigration plan was the toughest of all the candidates, a possible stumbling block for him to a selection as McCain's running mate. He is a staunch supporter of the War in Iraq and the Bush tax cuts. Thompson endorsed McCain after leaving the race in his typically low-key style, issuing a press release on a Friday that received hardly any notice.

Thompson's main assets are his conservative positions and the respect he holds among members of the Republican Party's base. He would help McCain in the South, where voters are very conservative and McCain's history of working with Democrats could be a liability. His age makes a selection unlikely, however. But a position in a McCain Administration as a cabinet secretary or senior adviser is a real possibility.

Gov. Mike Huckabee (AR)

Mike Huckabee of Arkansas is the silver-tongued, folksy former governor of Arkansas whose unlikely nomination campaign lasted longer than any of his better known competitors. Huckabee remained in the race well past the time that it was mathematically impossible for him to capture the nomination, however, many observers believe that he did not hurt Sen. McCain in doing so. Huckabee rose to prominence on the strength of his debate performances, coming out of nowhere to have the most memorable quips and attacks on his rivals and Democrats. Huckabee's two signature issues on the campaign trail were Christian values and tax reform. He was a champion of right-to-life activists, who saw disturbing weaknesses in all of the other contenders and welcomed Huckabee's unashamed religious perspective on the issue. Huckabee was an early supporter of the Fair Tax, a national sales tax that would replace the income tax system, and abolish the Internal Revenue Service.

Huckabee, 52, served a governor for ten years, and during that time built a record that some fiscal conservatives questioned. The Club for Growth, a fiscal watchdog was unrelenting in its criticism of him, and the candidate responded in kind. Huckabee was criticized for raising taxes while governor, although he maintained that he actually cut more taxes than he raised and that the revenue was needed for core government functions like road building and infrastructure improvements. He was also criticized as being soft on illegal immigrants for advocating a plan to give the children of illegals the same financial benefits for education as the children of legal parents.

Huckabee's selection as McCain's running mate would help McCain among Christian conservatives and evangelicals. Huckabee is an ordained Baptist minister and has great respect in the devout community. But during the primaries, he was unable to reach beyond this group in significant numbers and may be seen as having a limited appeal. He could help McCain win the state of Arkansas, where he is broadly popular, however, Huckabee seems destined for a different role in the Republican Party, and may not accept an invitation to align with McCain right now.

Serious rumors are swirling about the McCain Veepstakes. The GOP number two slot is a little more important than usual, since the frontman is 73 (and will be 77 in 2012 let us not forget). And if McCain loses, the vice presidential candidate will have name recognition and an edge on the nomination next time around.

The Bushies are talking up Mitt Romney.

According to two separate reports, Romney is being talked up as a running mate by members of the Bush inner circle. But McCain and his closest advisers have little regard for their former rival thanks to the bitter, year-long race waged between the two Republicans.

Romney says, however, that he thinks the wounds have healed.

"There are really no hard feelings, I don't think, on either side of this," he said in the interview. "There were no pacts and so forth that make people feel like that we will never come together. Instead these campaigns are all coming together. We are supporting our nominee enthusiastically, aggressively."

McCain's problem is that at 72 his vice president matters mightily. In 1988 George Bush could survive the Dan Quayle fiasco because no one seriously expected Quayle to spend any time in the Oval Office. The same cannot be said of McCain.

Fred Barnes analyzes the choices today in the Weekly Standard, checking them off one by one. Lieberman, he notes, has a certain attraction, and the possibility to hardening support at the center. But that would likely come at the price of further turning off the Right, since Lieberman for all of his charm and foreign policy hawkishness is a full-blooded liberal domestically.

There are several governors who are on the list, but each one of them is very young, untested and has not been vetted in the fire of a national campaign.

The endorsement is not the important part... the important part is Romney directing his delegates to vote for McCain, which together with McCain's delegates are within a cats whisker of a majority in and of itself. So that's it for Huckabee, he will bow out soon.

A profile in courage and principle this is not. Romney could have endorsed immediately after Super Tuesday, or after McCain's poor Saturday showing, but an endorsement now, after McCain has a good showing, means only that Mitt is only jumping on the bandwagon now that it is clear that there would be no groundswell of McCain resistance forming around Huckabee or anyone else for that matter.

But that's pretty much what we've come to expect from Mitt Romney. He'll tell you what you want to hear today, once he checks with the focus groups twice. He was pro-choice when it was politically expedient, he was pro-life when it was politically expedient, and right now it is politically expedient to be a friend of John McCain. This is a clue as to why Romney is endorsing McCain and not the other way around. Say what you like about McCain (and I have and will, repeatedly) he doesn't much care about bandwagons.

UPDATE

Whew, I am taking it on the chin in the comments, so let me just quote Romney, only 10 days ago:

"You've got people like Rush Limbaugh and Laura Ingraham and the list goes on and on and on - Hugh Hewitt, Lars Larson - conservative voices, both from radio and from publications, are saying, 'you know what, we've got to get behind Mitt Romney,'" he continued. "We really can't afford John McCain as the nominee of our party."

So is he serious about what he said then, or is he serious about endorsing McCain now? Can't have it both ways Mitt.

Greetings, fellow web-video junkies, and welcome to Videos of the Week. I've got a veritable feast of political pixels ready to serve up to you, but first, I wanted to thank you. All of the suggestions you've been sending have been enormously helpful. That "thank you" is for next week, since you haven't posted any yet. As the week progresses, if you see a video on the web that you like, c'mon back here and post a link, or email it to me.

I'm going to try a little something new this week, adding a poll to see what your favorite VOTW was. We'll see how that goes.

First up this week is a parody of the hot new Obama video by Will.I.Am et al, from Barely Political, here's "3 Little Words"