Clues Emerge on Romney's VP Pick

At the Wall Street Journal (via Memeorandum)

Speculation about Mitt Romney's running mate has kicked up a notch, as one possibility seemed to remove himself from the running, another took a more central role in the campaign and a third saw Mr. Romney confirm him as a serious contender.

The field of Mr. Romney's potential choices seemed to narrow Tuesday as Republican officials and friends of Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels said he was likely to be chosen as the next president of Purdue University, based on what they had heard from people at the university or inside Mr. Daniels's camp. Mr. Daniels's selection was reported by the Indianapolis Star. The governor's office and Purdue declined to comment.

On Tuesday, a friend of Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, a conservative favorite, said that he wasn't currently being vetted by the Romney campaign. Mr. Romney brushed off a question about Mr. Rubio during the day in an appearance on Fox News, but by evening he said that the senator "is being thoroughly vetted as part of our process.''

Meantime, attention increasingly is turning to Tim Pawlenty, the former Minnesota governor and onetime Romney primary-season foe. Of elected officials who joined Mr. Romney in a recent six-state campaign tour, Mr. Pawlenty stood out to party leaders as they handicapped who might be chosen to join the GOP ticket.

Privately, some Romney campaign officials have offered that Mr. Pawlenty has impressed them with his work as a Romney representative on the campaign trail and with the press. "He's never done a bad interview" while acting as a campaign spokesman, said one Republican operative.

Moreover, Mr. Pawlenty's background as the son of a truck driver from South St. Paul, Minn., is a potential counterweight to Mr. Romney's wealth. The former governor also could help Mr. Romney in the battleground states of Minnesota and neighboring Iowa, both of which the campaign sees as potential pickups from President Barack Obama's 2008 column.

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