The McCain VP Shell Game

Duping the Prince of Darkness is SOP for the GOP, as the Valerie Plame outing showed, but the McCain campaign is in "reprehensible" new territory by using him to distract attention from the Obama tour, Robert Novak is mournfully telling Fox News.

The VP shell game is definitely going on, as the Republican candidate goes to New Orleans today, suggesting Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal as the choice, while other reports ooze out that Mitt Romney is fast becoming McCain's best friend.

"I'm appreciative every time I see Mitt on television on my behalf," McCain says. "He does a better job for me than he did for himself, as a matter of fact."

But at a private Republican meeting in New Hampshire yesterday, reports CNN's Dana Bash, McCain "dropped a serious hint about Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, telling them "out of the blue" they are "really going to like" Pawlenty.

Of them all, Pawlenty sounds the most plausible. A former Congressman, former Catholic turned Protestant, experienced but young (47), socially conservative with an impressive record of fiscal management, he helps McCain on age and the economy without bringing any of the baggage Jindal and Romney would be toting. And the last thing the Republican campaign needs is baggage.

In the process, they may have even unloaded Novak.