McCain plans 3-state VP rollout

John McCain is planning to roll out his vice presidential nominee in three battleground states this weekend, with large-scale rallies planned for Ohio, Pennsylvania and Missouri, according to aides and advisers.

Speculation is increasingly centered on former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, although Connecticut Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman remains an option and remains in the final mix.

Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's long-shot prospect for vice president is getting a push from conservative and other pundits in the lead-up to next week's Republican National Convention.

"She's been around for decades and is not going to start making mistakes now," they wrote. "Her nomination would be a signal to American women that McCain takes their aspirations seriously, even if Obama does not. Hutchison is not charismatic. But her circumstances would be if she were nominated. The prospect of a woman vice president would electrify women throughout the nation."