John McCain will name his VP running mate at a huge Ohio rally on Aug. 29—the senator’s 72nd birthday and a day after the Democratic convention, Politico reports. McCain won’t finalize his choice—widely considered by GOP experts to be Mitt Romney or Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty—until Obama announces his own running mate.
“McCain views this as the one decision that he has total, utter, nonnegotiable control over,” one campaign official says. Another says the announcement early next Friday is planned to detract from the predictable Obama bounce after the Dem convention. “You’re going to own the weekend,” a staffer tells Politico.
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