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**Written by Doug Powers

Read the whole Reuters article and you’ll see there’s no concrete info suggesting Romney will be naming a running mate in the next couple of weeks. The conjecture is based on the fact that Romney merely didn’t categorically deny that he would not name his pick well ahead of the party convention combined with advisers doing what advisers do: covering all contingencies. But nevertheless, this is a good opportunity to speculate some more:

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney acknowledged on Tuesday he is considering naming his choice to serve as vice presidential running mate earlier than usual to better compete with President Barack Obama.

As they work from a short list of leading Republicans, Romney and his advisers say they are weighing whether he should announce his choice some weeks earlier than the traditional time of around the Republican National Convention, which is to be held in Tampa in late August.

The reasoning, advisers say, is that two candidates would be able to raise more money and engage Obama and Vice President Joe Biden in battle with polls showing Americans closely divided on whether to pick the Republican challenger or Democratic incumbent in the November 6 election.

John McCain announced Sarah Palin as his pick in late August of 2008, shortly before the convention. In 2000, George W. Bush made public his choice of Dick Cheney before the end of July, which was also just before the convention that year. I suspect Romney’s announcement might come earlier than that — maybe a couple weeks before the convention — but of course the timing will have a lot (if not everything) to do with who Mitt’s choice is. Romney will be in London for the opening ceremony for the London Olympics and then in Israel after that, so the last week or so of July is out.

All I know for sure is that the Vice Presidential debate is October 11 (provided Middle Class Joe can scrape up enough gas money to get to Kentucky by then), and we’ll know well ahead of that time.

**Written by Doug Powers

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