McCain Prepares to Announce His Running Mate

Sen. John McCain and his wife, Cindy, arrive in Dayton, Ohio, where a rally with the Republican running mate is scheduled for noon today. (By Melina Mara -- The Washington Post)   |   Buy Photo

But hours later, the campaign revealed the campaign ad to be a congratulatory statement from McCain to Obama, offering kudos for becoming the first African American to win the nomination of a major party.

In front of a simple black background, McCain declares to the camera, "Senator Obama, this is truly a good day for America. Too often the achievements of our opponents go unnoticed. So I wanted to stop and say congratulations."

Alluding to the fact that yesterday was the 45th anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, the presumptive GOP nominee continues: "How perfect that your nomination would come on this historic day. Tomorrow, we'll be back at it. But tonight, Senator, job well done."

Without real news on a running mate, Internet sites were left to offer screaming headlines with the latest rumors.

The Drudge Report blasted the headline: NAME MAY LEAK AT 6 PM ET . . . WITH SOME SORT OF CONFIRMATION AT 8 PM . . . DEVELOPING . . ."

Time magazine's "The Page" offered a lead headline about a TV report that Pawlenty had canceled all appearances, only to follow it moments later with another headline that said he planned to be at the Minnesota state fair today, not with McCain.

McCain flew to Dayton yesterday evening, landing just a couple of hours before Obama's speech. He arrived to news reports that free tickets are still available to his rally today at Wright State's 12,000-seat basketball arena.

On Wednesday, McCain huddled with advisers in his compound outside of Sedona, Ariz. Last week, he spent several days there, leaving only for a cup of coffee in the morning and to do what his campaign merely labeled as "filming" amid the majestic red rocks of the area.

McCain will celebrate his 72nd birthday today, a milestone that his campaign aims to play down. But the Democratic party promised to throw him birthday parties at every stop along his pre-convention tour of battleground states.

Some lobbyists, consultants and Republicans on Capitol Hill said they think Romney is the most likely pick for McCain, in part because he would be a do-no-harm candidate.

"Mitt by far and away is the most logical pick," one GOP consultant said. "Look at the polling nationwide. The only guy that helps at all is Romney."

Karl Rove, President Bush's former top political adviser, was queried on Fox News about reports that he had gone to Lieberman to urge him to withdraw from consideration for the good of the party.

Rove declined to answer the direct question but also did not deny it, saying only that the report was "inaccurate."

"I'm gonna leave it where I left it," Rove said after being asked the question several times. In an interview with The Washington Post later, Rove again declined to comment.

Asked by Fox's Chris Wallace whether Lieberman would be a good running mate, Rove said that "he would be great for the country" but added that Lieberman would create political problems for McCain at the convention and in the campaign to come.

One senior Republican who had talked personally with Romney, Ridge and Pawlenty during the past two days said, "All of them believe that it's not them."

Staff writers Robert Barnes in Dayton and Juliet Eilperin in Washington contributed to this report.