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| Mitt Romney to announce candidate for vice-president | Mitt Romney to announce candidate for vice-president |
| (40 minutes later) | |
| US Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is to reveal his choice for running mate in the November election on Saturday, his campaign says. | US Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is to reveal his choice for running mate in the November election on Saturday, his campaign says. |
| The vice-presidential candidate will be unveiled at an event on a former warship, the USS Wisconsin, in Norfolk, Virginia, at 09:00 EDT (13:00 GMT). | |
| Congressmen Rob Portman and Paul Ryan as well as former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty are said to be on Mr Romney's shortlist. | |
| But the campaign has given no names. | |
| Mr Romney is challenging President Barack Obama in the 6 November vote. | Mr Romney is challenging President Barack Obama in the 6 November vote. |
| Analysts say Mr Romney will be hoping to wrest back momentum in the campaign after a series of pro-Obama campaign ads attacking his record. | |
| The former governor of Massachusetts is set to begin a four-day bus tour through key battleground states. | The former governor of Massachusetts is set to begin a four-day bus tour through key battleground states. |
| The trip campaign will visit the states of Virginia, North Carolina and Florida before finishing in Ohio. | The trip campaign will visit the states of Virginia, North Carolina and Florida before finishing in Ohio. |
| In particular, Mr Romney will seek to fight back against the Democrats' push to portray him as upper-class and out-of-touch with ordinary Americans, observers say. | |
| Recent opinion polls suggest a close race between the two men, with Mr Obama tending to have a slight lead in most surveys. | |
| Battleship | |
| The most recent speculation has focused on Paul Ryan, 42, US representative from the state of Wisconsin, as the leading contender to be Mr Romney's running mate. | |
| The vice-presidential announcement is expected to be made during a tour of the USS Wisconsin, a decommissioned battleship docked in Norfolk's Nauticus Museum. | |
| Dating back to the World War II-era, the vessel also saw service during Operation Desert Storm in 1991. | |
| As chairman of the Budget committee in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, Mr Ryan is seen as likely to add electoral firepower on what are expected to be the key election issues - jobs, the economy and the budget deficit. | |
| He is also a staunch conservative who could enthuse the Republican base, and counteract some conservatives' scepticism about Mr Romney's political past as governor of the traditionally liberal state of Massachusetts. | |
| Of the other possible choices, Ohio representative Rob Portman, 56, could help Mr Romney gain votes in the important swing state of Ohio, while former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty is seen as likely to improve Mr Romney's appeal to working-class voters. | |
| In a little over two weeks' time, Mr Romney will be formally confirmed as candidate at the Republican Party convention in Tampa, Florida. | |
| His bitter rival in the primaries, Rick Santorum, will be a speaker at the convention, it was announced earlier in the week. |