As speculation over Mitt Romney’s vice presidential pick mounts, the presumptive GOP nominee’s campaign on Tuesday named top aides for the running mate.
Randy Bumps of Minot, Maine, will be director of operations and Kevin Sheridan will serve as director of communications. Both are longtime Republican operatives.
Now Romney just needs to name his No. 2. The candidate has kept the veep search closely guarded; names being floated include Rob Portman , Tim Pawlenty, Marco Rubio, Bobby Jindal and John Thune.
Running mates are typically named shortly before the party nominating convention, but some believe Romney is likely to name his sooner, perhaps even as early as this week, to deflect attention from ongoing Democratic attacks over his tenure as chief of Bain Capital, a private equity firm, or his refusal to release more than two years of tax returns.
But any announcement this week would be immediately stepped on by Romney’s overseas trip next week, when he will attend the opening ceremonies of the Olympics, speak in Israel and raise money. Many suspect Romney is likely to make an announcement upon his return.
Vice presidential speculation is always a fun parlor game for political professionals and casual observers alike, but this year’s is constantly measured against the surprise — some would argue disastrous surprise — 2008 GOP pick of Sarah Palin. Romney is expected to choose someone far more conventional; he has said his top criterion is preparedness to be president.
Palin’s friction-filled relationship with some of 2008 nominee John McCain’s aides — some of whom went on to suggest the former Alaska governor was mentally unstable — shows the importance of building a loyal band around the No. 2.
Bumps, a former state representative in Maine, previously worked as political director for the National Republican Senatorial Committee and as regional political director for the Republican National Committee. He is a former three-term Maine legislator and a former staffer for U.S. Sens. William S. Cohen and Susan M. Collins. Sheridan is a former spokesman and director of regional media for the RNC.
“I’m proud to add Randy and Kevin to our growing team,” campaign manager Matt Rhoades said in a statement. “They both have enjoyed long and distinguished careers in our party. Their work will be vital as we move forward in the campaign to defeat President Obama and elect Mitt Romney.”
(c)2012 the Los Angeles Times
Distributed by MCT Information Services
Mitt Romney names former Maine state rep as vice presidential aide
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Apparently, they do not want to win the Maine vote for Romney.
Romney needs to release his tax returns to prove he didn’t lie. He said he left Bain in 1999 but he is listed as CEO and sole shareholder years later. He has always been a flipflopping two-faced person (he put a version of Obama’s health plan into effect in Massachusetts, after all). But this time he can’t wriggle away.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/with-or-without-tax-return-release-pressure-on-romney-ramps-up-from-both-sides/2012/07/17/gJQAbuuBsW_story.html
barack needs to release his school transcripts. you left wing person you.
why?
Don’t forget all the Cambridge parking tickets he left unpaid ’till his first campaign because, as somebody in the know sez, “nobody could see into his car for all the dope smoke!” :)
If you’re not on Romney’s butt to release more of his records, then why are you getting on Obama for his school transcripts?
Mitt needs to release his marriage licenses.
What does the lying flying fraud… Obama need to do for proof?
Flip the Liar Romney claims he retired Retroactively from Bain three years sooner then the Federal Forms he perjured.
Romney’s 2009 tax return must be a BIG, BIG problem for him to refuse to release it. He may have benefited from IRS amnesty program for fraudulently not declaring income from UBS Swiss bank account, or he did not pay any tax on his multimillion income, or the rules for the 1% are different than for the rest of us How’s this for a prediction? Romney’s 2009 tax return will effectively end his candidacy. That is my bet.
There is a lady calling his bluff on his “Job Creator” thing from Freeport Illinois, it seems that she works in a Factory that used to be Texas Instruments. It is now owned by Bain and scheduled to shut down and move to Communist China. She wrote a letter to Mittless asking that he use his ties to Bain Capital to keep it in the USA!
This is going to be FUN to watch!
http://rockrivertimes.com/2012/07/18/sensata-employees-in-freeport-reach-out-to-mitt-romney-for-help-in-saving-their-jobs-2/
Thanks for the link!
Have you even bothered to check your
beloved marxist leader about HIS affiliations
and who mentored him? The Mass. version of healthcare
was exactly correct for a STATE to do. How about
the liar you adore TAXING you for his healthcare plan?
Romney has released ALL he is REQUIRED to release.
By the way, how about your marxist leader releasing his
college transcripts? Maybe you should ask the marxist
why he “betting” on the Solyndra’s with OUR money?
Did you know that outsourcing has been prevalent all
through this marxist’s reign? He has done so much
to stop it. Even to the point of bringing GE with him
to China…to OUTSOURCE.
You quote the Washington Post…even that equivalent
to the NYT..has been fact checked and got caught with
it’s pants down. Maybe you will quote MSNBC next.
Let’s try a new angle, just for you.
The rich have always oppressed the poor. Always. It is the same today as it has always been.
Obama is trying to take from the rich and make the sick healthier.
Romney, far far richer than Obama, is trying to cut taxes on the rich to a new all-time low, and continue policies that keep the poor sick and miserable.
Don’t get me wrong, I think Obama is corrupt but less so than the GOP. But let me ask you:
How on earth did talk radio convince you that Romney is your friend?
How on earth is Obama a friend to anybody who actually pays taxes in this country? He wants people to be ashamed of being successful. HE has pitted the poor against the wealthy(you know those evil people), and he blames everything on Bush or congress. Yep, Obama sure was the right guy for the job…..wow.
If he gets (re) elected this November, look at the mess he will inherit! ;-)
I am sure he has a staff working around the clock to come up with a list of people to blame IF he gets re-elected (and we couldn’t afford his 1st 4 years, never mind 4 more).
Talk radio has not convinced me of anything. Anyone
with half of a brain just has to look at what is now
our Presdent. Maybe you would be better served to
look in other places other than MSNBC and the Wash
Post. Maybe if the places you quote did their job properly
and really scrutinized thios guy like they have done to other
candidates, they may have told you the truth about this guy.
As for Romney, he is far from being my friend. As far as cutting
taxes, they should be cut for EVERYONE. Are you that far to the
left that you want someone who already pays megabucks in taxes
to pay for you too? Oh I know, they STOLE their money from YOU.
The poor…what a joke. Yes, some are not well off and never will be.
We been fighting the so called war on poverty for how many years?
With every penny spent and supposedly funneled to the “poor”, NOONE should be poor with the billions supposedly spent on the “poor”.
Your soapbox doesn’t cut it, not when you believe the govt should hand
you everything, taken from those who do pay and who pay the most already.
You should be screaming to lower EVERYONE’S taxes and instead of
putting ads out promoting FOOD STAMPS and awarding agencies who
sign up the most for govt programs, you would think they would be
promoting self reliance and getting off the dole. As for Romney, he IS
rich. If he has money in Swiss accounts…so what! The hypocrites on the left
like Debby Wasserman Schultz and other also have funds and accounts invested
the same…but aren’t you asking about them? No, Romney is not my friend
and as a DEMOCRAT I am not afraid to say I am ashamed of what the Dem
Party has become. But I also am not so blind to see this guy we now have is
doing nothing but bringing us closer to ruin. Maybe you will be happy when we all
are poor? Is that the idea? Instead of people making themselves better, bring
everyone back to what you call the “poor”? Is that the game plan?
No, talk radio doesn’t have to tell me what anyone who isn’t an extremist can
see. This guy in office has lied since day one but he has gotten a pass on each
lie and all his previous “composite” babble. I would vote for Donald Duck before
I would vote for Obama. At least Donald Duck is not a marxist.
Watch this!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLo0Jwj03JU
Hey Flip the Liar Romney, where are your last 12 years of your taxes? In Switzerland?
So “when” did he start?
Retroactively three weeks ago?
This guy probably is on cloud 9 working with the next President….
Not even the next city dog catcher because then he would have to show more than 2 years worth of tax records.
He is more probably lost in a Romulan Time Warp!
And his dilithium crystals have cracked creating a duel causality loop.
Palin is still on cloud 9.
I think you’re on Cloud Nine.
LOL…
What! Come on Mitty, no job for Charlie Webster who tried to hand you Maine to put in your gold lined pocket. Man that’s cold Mitt, really cold. Almost robotic.
Maybe he’s in the running for VP. (chuckle)
Then again, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s trying to convince Snowe to take it (which she won’t).
Being asked to be Mitt’s running mate is akin to, being asked if you want the last first class ticket on Titanic before she sails, and saying: “I’ll take it.”
After all that Republican Voter Fraud this is all Flip the Liar Romney gives this clown. Maine still does not know who ” really ” won the Republican nomination.
Mr. Bumps is in for a rough and rocky ride with Mitt and the gang. I hope he’s realized all the wheels are about to fall off the wagon he’s hitching up with?
In less than 40 days I am going down to the Republican National Convention where I will be supporting Ron Paul. This article above is going to be moot when Ron Paul walks out of the Convention with the nomination.
That would be extrordinary to see happen.
I wish you all the luck in the world with that. I will laugh for days if it happens. As out of touch as Romney is with the general public, he does have a chance, albeit a small one. Paul is completely unelectable, so if you dream comes true you will have handed the election to Obama in a package wrapped in a pretty bow.
AS a fiscal conservative and social progressive I could not ever vote for Romney. I could look at supporting Paul. Romney is surrounded by the same neo-con crowd that lied us into Iraq and saw no urgency in getting bin Laden. That is a bridge too far for me. Further, I believe through more deregulation the American people will have to bail out the banks under Romney and that would be unforgivable.
Ron Paul is the most likely to end the wars taht will continue, one after another until we run up against the one that ends America’s hegemony and empire.
Does anyone remember most of the 1970s and 1980s when America was at war with nobody…..This costs us so much and never brings results.
Bring on Paul.
Be careful Matt! Bath salts is now illegal by federal law!
Why aren’t you on Obama’s butt to release his transcripts if you want Romney to release his records?
But taking it to the next level, it might be better if we put both of them on a stage and focused instead on getting both of them to announce their honest solutions to our economic problems.
Maybe you can hold your breath till November better than I can.
McCain saw 23 years of Romney’s Tax returns , then decided on Palin, in a flash. Bet there are many and multiple illicit entries on those returns protected by the foreign tax havens Romney used to avoid paying U.S Taxes. Romney knows these taxes will destroy his Presidential Ambitions.
SO…”Why aren’t you on Obama’s butt to release his transcripts if you want Romney to release his records? “
Transcripts of what? If you mean copies of tax returns, Obama has released all his taxes. Romney played this trick on his former Democratic Mass Governor Competitor. She released all of her Tax filings, but Romney never released his. Not one. Seems Romney likes to play the part of a Wall St Crook and never pay any taxes. It is over for the Plastic Romney Crook. He did it to himself which is true Justice.
Are you implying that Romney did something illegal or does “crook” cover people who take advantage of US tax laws?
As for transcripts, most people would take that to mean college transcripts. From what I have read, Obama has been less than forthcoming on his college records. I find it incredibly hypocritical of Obama to demand “transparency” when he is anything but transparent. I say both release what is requested, simple as that.
Transcripts of his grades.
Obama refuses to comply with all the requests for documents that have been issued to him out of fear that his political opposition would use them against him, just as Massachusetts Democrats salivated to do to Romney. New Englanders all knew this to be true then and the push on Romney’s chest continues in this election.
Go ahead…..push him again…..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLo0Jwj03JU
I went through the same thing as this in the late 90’s , we built a fence around the parking lot at a Maine Plant and then were told that it was closed, we all sang the song as we cleaned out our lockers, It’s Closing timmmmeee, you don’t have to go home but you—- caaannnnn’t —-stayyyyy — herrrrrrreeee!
Great Video on what kind of Wall St Thug and Fraud Romney really is.
Because college transcripts are silly to request. This is especially true for a Harvard Law Review editor. Suffice it to say, with that recognition, Obama was the brightest and highest performing student in his law class. Whats more is that the very conservative University of Chicago hired him as a constitutional law professor. Again, high academic honor not a legacy hand out.
Nobody releases college transcripts because they do not tell us much about anything useful. He is not hiding them, there is just no reason to release them, its silly.
If he did, I have little doubt with his other achievements, you would be very disappointed to learn he was the best student wherever he went.
Romney not producing taxes is another matter. Tax avoidance by the wealthy does not play well with those of us who pay until it hurts. While the contents are probably LEGAL they are also likely to show how the rich avoid paying what the rest of us are called to pay.
Your theory depends upon whether any particular citizen considers Capitalism to be the villian or indeed, the Ivory Towers of Academia.
What are you expecting to see in his transcripts? What could possibly be in them to change someone’s mind about voting for him? Because I can imagine quite a bit in Romney’s tax returns that could do that.
You either fail to understand the request or are deliberately continuing the campaign of distract, deny and discredit. Then again…..perhaps both.
As leader of his Presidential team Obama has set a fine example for those who serve in his administration. Compliance (or lack thereof) is reflective of the content of his character. There is no valid reason why the American people should have been disrespected relative to his habit of keeping his personal documentation under lock and key. Why should anyone expect that he would encourage the Attorney General to comply with legal requests to hand over Fast and Furious documents in the spirit of transparency?
The People trusted him with the Office of President and this is what they get? Everyone charged with the task of getting him re-elected knows this well which is why they have to distract, deny and discredit Gov. Romney with every lying, manipulating, hyperbolized political tool in their bulging Progressive toolbox. The Governor went through political boot camp in Massachusetts and is battle ready.
What!? Tarren Bragdon was passed over?
I guess Ol’ Mitt is shunning the Teabullies.
“long time Republican operatives” does not sound good–usually means they are RINOS!
Charlie Webster is too busy recruiting his friends to run for Republican State Committee extras, since he opened up the slots to be voted on this weekend, as the state committee meets in “the County” with a lower attendance, during the Maine Potato Blossom Festival–after all, he has to figure out another way to keep himself in charge of ME Republicans.