Romney to announce running mate Saturday in Va.

In this Aug. 8, 2012 file photo, Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney campaigns in Des Moines, Iowa. / AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File

Updated August 11, 2012, 1:28 AM ET

(CBS/AP) NORFOLK, Va. - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney will announce his running mate Saturday morning in Norfolk, Va., his campaign said Friday night.

The short list of candidates -- if there is one -- is believed to include Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, Ohio Sen. Rob Portman and former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty. In a statement issued Friday night, the Romney campaign said the running mate would be revealed at 9 a.m. EDT at the Nauticus Museum. Romney is kicking off a four-day bus tour through swing states.

A source tells CBS News that Romney called Portman to say he wouldn't be vice president. Portman will be participating in a bike ride in Ohio Saturday, as planned, to raise money for cancer research.

Speculation has focused in recent days on Ryan, the seven-term congressman. Conservative pundits have been urging Romney to choose Ryan in large part because of his authorship of a House-backed budget plan that seeks to curb overall entitlement spending and changes Medicaid into a voucher-like system to save costs.

Pawlenty was maintaining his Saturday schedule campaigning for Romney in New Hampshire, an official close to Pawlenty's political team said. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak ahead of the formal announcement.

The Wall Street Journal, in an editorial on Thursday, praised Ryan as a strong choice for Romney: "The case for Mr. Ryan is that he best exemplifies the nature and stakes of this election. More than any other politician, the House budget chairman has defined those stakes well as a generational choice about the role of government and whether America will once again become a growth economy or sink into interest-group dominated decline."

Romney's choice comes as he tries to repair an image damaged by negative Democratic advertising and shift the trajectory of a campaign that's seen him lose ground to President Barack Obama.

The vice presidential selection will dominate headlines, and Romney's team has been relentlessly teasing the announcement for weeks.

Romney's bus tour was expected to include appearances with Portman, as well as two others talked about as possible contenders for running mate: Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.

The tour starts Saturday and will take Romney through four must-win states in as many days: North Carolina, Virginia, Florida and Ohio. All are battlegrounds where Obama won in 2008. While Obama could afford to lose in one or more of them and still reach the 270 electoral votes needed for another term, Romney almost certainly needs all four to beat him.

[occupy_cbs]

god has a sense of humor, first he gave us mitt romney as the republican candidate, then, just in case we didn't get the joke, he added paul ryan to the ticket! LOL!

[OldManWeaver]

What is the Opposite of Robinhood (Take from the Rich to give to the Poor)?
Ryanhood (Take from the Poor to give to the Rich) !

[smirk5]

Now, Romney will be forced to explain who's going to provide comprehensive and affordable medical coverage to elderly people with preexisting conditions for a small voucher. And, has Romney vetted Paul Ryan's tax returns? When do we get to see Mitt's returns?

[JV1970]

When do we get to see Obama's college transcripts and scholastic records? We've been asking for them for four years! We'll probably see them about the time you see Romney's returns and that's NEVER!

[tmittelstaed]

I think that Paul Ryan does indeed have a sense of the government's economic problems. Yes, he's proposed various unworkable budgets but remember he was doing this in an environment where he knew full well that the budget proposals would never be accepted even if they were carefully and thoughtfully written. He knew that his proposals were supposed to be outrageous to draw attention to the major problem in the budget - social security and medicare.

However, it is also perfectly clear that this is a politically idiotic choice. It is exactly like the McCain pick of Palin. It's a pick designed to make conservatives wet themselves in joy. And it is stupid because to win the election Romney needs to reach out to the moderates.

I think this pick indicates a real fear among Republicans that Romney is going to make many of their own rank and file stay home and not vote on Election Day. They are too scared of the Romney Mormon angle, the refusal to release tax returns, the Bain angle, and the fact that Romney is literally a billionaire and is so far beyond the typical Republican beer-swilling, Hannity-listening redneck that makes up their constituant base that this base is getting sick of him. Ryan is supposed to excite that base again and he may well do this. But, he's going to cut off all the old people.

Florida is full of old people and Florida gave the election to Bush Jr. Arizona is also full of old people. So right there Romney will lose Florida by picking Ryan. The Republicans are thinking there's enough conservatives in other swing states to tip the balance and make up for Florida. That is a very risky approach and I think it shows that the Republicans are afraid right now.

[skeezix06]

When is the Republican party going to announce they are now the Tea Party from this day forward? It's clear the hostile takeover has succeeded.

[Goldwater64s6]

Hey Mitt, let`s see some tax returns. Obama 2012!!

[saturn05]

Whoa! Romney and Ryan. What a team! They will destroy our society faster than Bush did. Bush had 8 years to wreck the U.S. and R & R will take a month. OMG! How scary!

[jimatmadison]

Mitt Romney's disastrous overseas tour showed that he's not equipped to deal with our foreign allies, let alone our adversaries.

So he brings in somebody with less foreign policy experience than he has?!?

I can just hear that 3 a.m. phone call coming in to the White House:

"We're sorry, but there's no one hear to help you right now. Please call back in 2017."

[jimatmadison]

"here"

[darth_dionysus]

Romney chooses Ryan and he just lost my vote. Is there a "None of the Above" selection on the ballot?

[smirk5]

Please let it be Eddie Munster. With his destroy Medicare plan and his obviously phony style, Obama should pick off Florida. Old people will see this guy coming from a mile away.