Romney backers still hope he'll get a Cabinet position

Former governor Mitt Romney, outside the Democratic Convention Tuesday, made no public appearances yesterday. (Yoon S. Byun/Globe Staff-file)

Supporters of Mitt Romney, disappointed that John McCain bypassed him and chose Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska as his running mate, consoled themselves yesterday with hopes that Romney could still emerge as a top choice for a Cabinet position if the Arizona senator wins the White House.

"I would be shocked if he would not be in the Cabinet in a McCain presidency," said Doug Gross, who was chairman of Romney's presidential campaign in Iowa. "He's clearly a guy who has got all the executive tools to solve some of the problems our country faces. I very much expect that."

Added former Massachusetts governor Paul Cellucci: "Governor Romney will continue to be a pretty powerful force in the Republican Party nationally. Obviously, if John McCain is elected, I suspect he'd be considered for the Cabinet."

Ron Kaufman - a member of the Republican National Committee from Massachusetts and a senior adviser to Romney - said he was let down that McCain did not choose the former Massachusetts governor, who had emerged from a bruising primary as one of McCain's most vocal supporters.

"Of course, I'd be a liar if I said otherwise," Kaufman said. "I'm a huge fan of Mitt Romney, and I think he's a tremendously talented person, and would bring lots to the table in ways that are different than the governor of Alaska."

Kaufman, who was in Minnesota yesterday, preparing for the Republican National Convention, said that 85 percent of the party activists he spoke to this week wanted Romney on the ticket. But he said McCain chose not to go with "your leading contender, popular within the party," and instead picked someone outside the typical vice presidential mold.

"Two different résumés, if you will - it's no disrespect to Mitt in any way," he said. "It's nothing that he lacked."

Romney made no public appearances and granted no interviews yesterday as McCain appeared in Ohio with a beaming Palin and her family. Romney plans to campaign with McCain in Missouri tomorrow and to speak at the Republican convention in St. Paul on Wednesday, the same night that Palin accepts the vice presidential nomination.

In a statement issued yesterday through his political action committee, Romney did not express any disappointment: "Governor Palin's story is one that all Americans will find inspiring. She's a Washington outsider with a commitment to the conservative principles that will make our nation stronger. I look forward to campaigning for Senator McCain, Governor Palin and Republicans all across the country."

Romney and McCain were bitter rivals during the Republican presidential primary, with Romney accusing McCain of being a creature of Washington and McCain accusing Romney of being a flip-flopper.

But soon after his dropping out of the race, Romney campaigned so enthusiastically for McCain that the senator joked that his one-time rival was "doing a better job for me than he did for himself." The thawing fueled speculation that McCain would put Romney on the ticket.

"They developed a very solid relationship, which I think is one of the biggest prides of the last two months," Kaufman said.

Richard A. Galen, a strategist who worked on former Tennessee senator Fred Thompson's campaign, said Democrat Barack Obama's choice of longtime Senator Joseph Biden as his running mate probably encouraged McCain to make a bolder choice for his running mate.

By that calculus, Romney, a wealthy 61-year-old venture capitalist, looked like one of the "usual suspects," Galen said.

Gross said Romney would have been a "good choice," but that Palin - a 44-year-old former small-town mayor who gained prominence as a whistleblower against fellow Republicans in Alaska - seemed to better suit McCain's style.

"This is a maverick picking a maverick, and I think it makes sense," he said.

Galen said Romney is a "big boy" who knows how to bounce back from defeat, such as his loss to Edward M. Kennedy in the 1994 US Senate race.

"I'd be shocked if he did not throw himself fully into this fall campaign and be a huge asset," Galen said.

"I'm sure he's going to do everything he can to help the McCain-Palin ticket over the next 67 days," agreed Charlie Manning, a Republican strategist from Massachusetts who called himself "the biggest Mitt fan in the world."

And if McCain loses? Supporters, and even a foe, said Romney could run for the White House - again.