We now have an official countdown to McCain VP announcement! I will be very glad for the drama to be over and for the real competition to start.

Politico.com is reporting that McCain will make his selection know at a rally in Dayton Ohio next Friday. August 29 happens to be his 72nd birthday as well. What a way to kick off your birthday celebration at a huge rally (said to be 10,000 people) in the important battleground state of Ohio. I think the timing and planning is perfect.

Quotes from the article:

Sources close to McCain say he has wrestled with the choice, torn between a high-stakes, high-reward pick like Ridge or Connecticut Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman — the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 2000 — or a safer and more conventional selection such as Romney or Pawlenty.

Friends say he has yet to make a final decision, and is not expected to do so until after Sen. Barack Obama announces his choice.

McCain friends emphasized that he talks about the decision with almost no one, and could even change the announcement plans and go sooner.

“McCain views this as the one decision that he has total, utter, nonnegotiable control over,” one campaign official said.

The announcement strategy — provided McCain doesn’t change it — calls for naming the pick early Friday morning to try to suppress Obama’s bounce coming out of his convention.

PolitickerOH.com reported Monday morning that the event will be at the 10,000-seat Ervin J. Nutter Center, a sports and entertainment complex at Wright State University.

Also, Marc Ambinder has a short commentary on why perhaps McCain chose the date and venue. Click here to read “McCain Pre-Announces The Announcement”

I’m rootin’ for Mitt or T-Paw, I think I have very good odds in those two.

~Nate Gunderson