Romney offers no clues on vice presidential pick

RIMANEWS - With the Olympics winding down and a swing-state bus tour planned for the weekend, the attention of the political world is intensely focused on Mitt Romney's vice presidential choice. But the candidate made it more clear than ever on Tuesday that he's not planning to drop any hints

Asked whether he's any closer to a decision on a running mate, Romney briskly told Fox News' Carl Cameron: "I am not going to give you anything, no clue. All I can tell you is that by the third night of the Republican Convention I will have made a decisionand be ready to communicate it."

For the Romney campaign there is very little downside to building suspense over the coming days. Many of the top potential candidates - former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie - are already out fundraising for the Romney campaign and helping spread the candidate's message as surrogates

And many American families are still on vacation, spending their free time at the beach and watching the Olympic games. If Romney were to announce too early, his campaign could lose some of its momentum heading into the Republican National Convention, which begins on Aug. 27. In a tease this week, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus announced some of the convention headliners, including South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, New Mexico Gov. Susan Martinez, Arizona Sen. John McCain and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee

That set off speculation that Martinez and Haley were out of the running for VP. But Romney brushed off that suggestion in his interview with Fox: "You don't think that we would be so silly as to not provide, from time to time, the capacity to throw peopleoff do you?" he said. "The fact that someone is speaking at the convention doesn't mean that they wouldn't necessarily find their speaking slot changed from one time to another." LA Times