NPR: Report: Rove Pushing a McCain-Romney Ticket

Report: Rove Pushing a McCain-Romney Ticket

It's been pretty well reported that Sen. John McCain and former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney don't like each other.

Romney gave McCain his support after he suspended his presidential bid. But the two haven't talked since that day. Now conservative Chicago Sun-Times columnist Robert Novak reports that Karl Rove, President Bush's former political guru, is pushing a McCain-Romney ticket for the 2008 election.

But that may be sabotaged by two factors: Novak also reports that Romney supporters are floating an unsubstantiated rumor that McCain promised Florida Gov. Charlie Crist the vice presidential nomination in return for his support in Florida. Prior to that endorsement, the romney people said their polling showed them winning in Florida. (McCain ultimately won an important victory there): the other problem is that Romney's closest advisers are telling him not to do it if the offer comes.

But they're pouring cold water on this idea over at Hot Air.

Romney might bite at the offer since it's the best leg up he could have on Huckabee, Jindal, Sanford, Pawlenty or whoever else is coming down the pike in 2012/2016, but what does he do for McCain? There's no shortage of southern evangelical (read: *wince* non-Mormon) social cons around to help him shore up the base, none of whom come with the baggage of nasty exchanges with McCain at the debates and in ads. The only potential advantage he brings is money, which is no small thing when the GOP is taking a hellacious beating on fundraising, but Mitt's not going to bankrupt himself to make Maverick president and his campaign fundraising wasn't so prolific as to put him anywhere near the class of Hillary or Obama.

If the two did run, it would certainly not be the first time the two men on a party's ticket didn't like each other. The best known example is John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. The two men could barely stand each other but JFK would have had a hard time winning in 1960 without LBJ's help in the South.

8:30 AM ET | 03- 4-2008 | permalink

Comments (Send a comment)

the presidency. However, anything Karl Rove would promote, I would automatically be against. BIG TIME.

Sent by B.B | 8:45 AM ET | 03-04-2008

Any liberal comments about the rivalry between John McCain and Mitt Romney needs to be taken with a grain of salt.

Given the acrimony between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. A rivalry that will probably be far from over. Even though Obama supporters say that Hillary will be out of the race after today.

We'll see.

Because while the Clinton and Obama rivalry goes on, the Republicans are unifying and closing ranks. The lines will be drawn between the liberals and the conservatives, with the moderates making a lot of personal decisions.

John McCain appeals to the moderates. Mitt Romney appeals to the conservatives.

And even if it does come down to Charlie Crist as John McCain's running mate, that is not a bad choice. Charlie Crist appeals to both moderates and conservatives.

While neither Clinton nor Obama can seem to gain enough momentum to even be talking about their personal V.P. running mate choices.

The Romney or Crist discussion merely points out how much more organized the GOP is over the Democrats.

"I don't belong to any organized political party. I'm a Democrat." Will Rogers.

fred camorra call

Sent by fred camorra call | 3:38 PM ET | 03-04-2008

Send a Comment

Comments are reviewed and edited by NPR prior to display. All comments will be read, but not all will be posted.

NPR reserves the right to read on the air and/or publish on its Web site or in any medium now known or unknown the e-mails and letters that we receive. We may edit them for clarity or brevity and identify authors by name and location. For additional information, please consult our Terms of Use.

E-mail this Page

Recipient's e-mail address:	» Up to twelve addresses, separated by commas.
Your e-mail address:
Your name:
Personal message (optional, 600 characters max):
Your NPR member station:
Are you a member of your local NPR station?	Yes No
Would you like to receive information from your local NPR member station? (see NPR's privacy policy)	Yes No
May we contact you with information about NPR programming and services? (see NPR's privacy policy)	Yes No

(Information collected by NPR will be used solely for internal NPR or NPR member station purposes and only if you selected 'yes' above. See NPR's privacy policy for more information.)

Tom Regan

Blogger

About Us

This year's election cycle has been one of the most exciting in memory. At the NPR News Blog we'll do our best to bring you interesting, informative -- and controversial -- stories from our own reporters and bloggers, as well as the rest of the best of the Internet and blogosphere. And we hope you'll let us know what you think as well.

Want to learn more? Be sure to read our Frequently Asked Questions and our discussion guidelines.