From the NYT

April 2, 2008, 8:35 am
McCain Considering Vice President Picks
By Michael Cooper

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Senator John McCain said Wednesday that he had begun the process of weighing the names of possible running mates, and that he hoped to be able to make a selection before the Republican convention in early September.
“We just started this process of getting together a list of names and having them looked at, and I don’t know how long it takes,’’ Mr. McCain said in a radio interview Wednesday morning with Don Imus. “But if I had a personal preference, I’d like to do it before the convention to avoid some of the mistakes that I’ve seen made in the past, as you get into a time crunch and maybe sometimes don’t make the announcement right.’’
Previously Mr. McCain and his aides had said that they were merely trying to settle on a process to try to select a vice presidential running mate, but that they were not yet making up a list of names.
Mr. McCain, 71, told Mr. Imus “I’m aware of enhanced importance of this issue given my age.’’

A number of younger officials have been mentioned as potential running mates. They include governors, including Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, an early supporter; Charlie Crist of Florida, whose 11th-hour endorsement helped Mr. McCain win the primary; Jon Huntsman Jr. of Utah, an early supporter despite Mitt Romney’s popularity in his state; and Mark Sanford of South Carolina, whose conservative reputation could help Mr. McCain with the base but who did not endorse him in the primary there.
Some ex-governors have been mentioned as well, including Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania, whose support of abortion rights could cause Mr. McCain trouble with conservatives who are already wary of him, and two of Mr. McCain’s former primary opponents, Mr. Romney and Mike Huckabee.
Mr. Huckabee, a former governor of Arkansas, gained a reputation for wit on the campaign trail but irked some economic conservatives for raising taxes while in office. Mr. Romney, a former Massachusetts governor with a business background, sparred brutally with Mr. McCain, but endorsed him swiftly; he would bring a financial background to the ticket.
Rob Portman, a former Ohio congressman and director of the Office of Management and Budget, is also mentioned as a possible running mate who could bring a financial background to the ticket. And Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice has been mentioned as a possible running mate for Mr. McCain as well.
Mr. McCain planned to travel to Annapolis, where he attended the Naval Academy, later Wednesday morning to give a speech as part of his weeklong “Service to America” tour, which is meant to highlight his biography.
“In truth, my four years at the Naval Academy were not notable for exemplary virtue or academic achievement but, rather, for the impressive catalogue of demerits I managed to accumulate,’’ Mr. McCain said in an advance copy of his speech. “By my reckoning, at the end of my second class year, I had marched enough extra duty to take me to Baltimore and back seventeen times — which, if not a record, certainly ranks somewhere very near the top.’’
But he added: “If I had ignored some of the less important conventions of the Academy, I was careful not to defame its more compelling traditions: the veneration of courage and resilience; the honor code that simply assumed your fidelity to its principles; the homage paid to Americans who had sacrificed greatly for our country; the expectation that you, too, would prove worthy of your country’s trust.’’