Romney quashes V.P. talk

Mitt Romney this afternoon dismissed speculation that he's auditioning to be John McCain's vice presidential pick.

The former Massachusetts governor said his former rival for the nomination has not told him he is on the list of about 20 names that McCain's campaign is vetting. "I don't think I'm very likely," Romney said on CNN.

Earlier today on CNN, McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, called Romney "a fine man, who has earned himself a large place in our Republican Party."

UPDATE: But a group of social conservatives, threatened today to pull its support from McCain if he picks Romney, citing his former positions favoring abortion rights and gay rights.

The group has bought a full-page ad Saturday in the local newspaper in Prescott, Ariz., where McCain will be campaigning that day. "For us the bottom line is this," the ad states. "The unvarnished facts of Mitt Romney's record as governor of Massachusetts make him utterly unacceptable as a Vice Presidential running mate. ...If Governor Romney is on your ticket, many social conservative voters will consider their values repudiated by the Republican Party."

The group, calling itself the Government is Not God PAC, includes Moral Majority founder Paul Weyrich, who endorsed Romney during the primaries.

In the interview this afternoon, Romney also downplayed the Democrats' fund-raising advantage thus far over McCain.

"He will have the money he needs to run a national campaign," said Romney, who attended fund-raiser in Colorado and Utah last week with McCain. The Arizona senator's success proves that "money is not what's critical in these races," Romney added.

Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are spending all their campaign cash to paint each other as unelectable in the fall, Romney said. "I frankly agree with both the Democrats. They're unelectable."