Tom Ridge

The pro-choice duo of former Gov. Tom Ridge and U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) each now appear unlikely to be John McCain's vice president.

That's good news if the presumptive Republican presidential nominee wants to perform well enough in central Pennsylvania, said David Dumeyer, chairman of the Lancaster County Republican Party and RNC delegate.

If McCain (R-Ariz.) picked a pro-choice running mate, Dumeyer said, the candidate might not even receive his vote at the convention.

"Yeah, I might," he told PolitickerPa.com. "If I have to stand on principle."

Former Gov. Tom RidgeFormer Gov. Tom Ridge (R) will speak Tuesday night at the Republican National Convention.

His speech will follow ones made by former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee on a night the RNC says will "underscore his vision of a government that is transparent, principled and worthy of the American people."

A report from Time Magazine Tuesday said Ridge, who is pro-choice, is no longer a candidate for vice president. 

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Time magazine is reporting that former Gov. Tom Ridge (R) is no longer being considered as a vice presidential candidate.

Ridge, who is pro-choice, is considered a potentially risky selection because many hard-line conservatives dislike his stance on abortion. But he remains popular in Pennsylvania and could help John McCain overcome his deficit in a state many consider essential to his chances this fall.

Continuning what increasingly looks like his own personal campaign to be on U.S. Sen. John McCain's ticket, former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge said Sunday that the Republican Party would accept a vice presidential nominee who, like him, supports abortion rights.

At the same time, Ridge said any nominee should defer to McCain, the Arizona Republican, on the issue of abortion, The Associated Press reports.

"I think that would be up to, first of all, to John to decide whether he wants a pro-choice running mate; then we would have to see how the Republican Party would rally around it," Ridge said. "At the end of the day, I think the Republican Party will be comfortable with whatever choice John makes."

It was thought by many John McCain had probably removed Tom Ridge from consideration because of his stance on abortion.  McCain himself brought the idea up when he gold Chris Matthews last fall that picking a pro-choice candidate would be “difficult.” 

In an interview with the weekly Standard posted online today, McCain said he won’t rule out a pro-choice running mate. 

Former Gov. Tom RidgeYORK -- U.S. Sen. John McCain on Tuesday afternoon declined to answer perhaps one of the biggest questions on the minds of Keystone State voters.

Are you going to pick former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge (R) as your vice president?

"We can't talk about him as vice president," McCain told PolitickerPA.com and other local reporters gathered in the Straight Talk Express after his town hall meeting in York.

He and his campaign don't talk about any potential vice presidential candidates, he added.

John McCain is coming down the stretch in his search for a vice-presidential running mate and most reports over the last few weeks say he wants former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge, but won’t pick him.  Why?  Short answer is because Ridge is not pro-life. 

I decided to reach out to a prominent Pennsylvania Republican operative who has worked for many conservatives and he agreed to talk to me on background via AOL Instant Messenger. 

Former Gov. Tom Ridge (R) told PolitickerPA.com in an interview Monday that current Gov. Ed Rendell (D) is worth a few percentage points to U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) this fall.

"I don't know if it's 2 or 3 points, but he's got Democrats controlling the cities of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia," Ridge said. "There's a certain home-field advantage."

Rendell's presence, the state's undeniable leftward shift, and the resulting surge in liberal elected officials are big advantages for the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, the former governor said.

"It's a steep climb" for the presumptive Repubican nominee John McCain, Ridge said. "Nobody is operating under any illusions or delusions."