Anyway, I think he needs a reform conservative. I mean, the trick is to keep conservatives happy, add some energy to the ticket, and have a genuine reformer. I think that's -- two young governors stand out for me, Sarah Palin of Alaska, Bobby Jindal of Louisiana.

Jindal's had a rough couple of weeks in Louisiana. He said he would veto a pay raise, then said he wouldn't, and then ended up doing so, a legislative pay raise.

I think I've got to say Sarah Palin, whom I've only met once but I was awfully impressed by, a genuine reformer, defeated the establishment up there. It would be pretty wild to pick a young female Alaska governor, and I think, you know, McCain might as well go for it.

Mitt Romney is soliciting his donor list for contributions to the McCain campaign.

He sent a letter to supporters that came with a "Mitt Romney, Belmont, Massachusetts," letterhead but was paid for by McCain's campaign.

"Barack Obama is a great politician, but he's a politician who's caught between a rock and a hard place, politically" -- the rock being his anti-war voting base and the hard place being the realities on the ground in Iraq, Cantor said. "His words have been -- to me -- very unclear about where he really is on his original unilateral 16-month withdrawal proposal from Iraq."

Crist on Thursday popped the question to his girlfriend of nine months, New York socialite Carole Rome, presenting her with a blue sapphire and diamond ring in his gulf-side condo in St. Petersburg.

"I'm very happy," Crist said Thursday evening. "I had a nice ring. It was very romantic. And she said `yes.'

McCain turns 72 years old on August 29, the day after the Democrats' convention. So while the Arizona senator could swipe some media attention from Obama by announcing his vice presidential choice during the time between the conventions, the senator's birthday and age will be a prominent media story. And it will be contrasted even further with the age of his running mate.

For the record, I think Mitt Romney would make a pretty good middle-of-the-road technocratic president, especially if events allowed him to focus primarily on domestic issues. Despite my respect for Romney's abilities, I am very disturbed by this talk that he is being considered as McCain's running mate because of his presumed ability to raise money and possibly even finance a good chunk of the campaign himself.