Romney Returns To The Fray

CBS News chief political consultant Marc Ambinder has two items out today related to the future of former GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney.

The first report relates to a group of prominent conservatives who have formed a group to submit a petition calling on John McCain not to pick Romney as his running mate.

One of the group's sponsors, Moral Majority co-founder Paul Weyrich, had previously endorsed Romney's candidacy. But Ambinder writes that other sponsors are allies of former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee.

The group is paying for full-page newspaper ads, which tell McCain that Romney "would fatally harm your appeal to voters with deep constitutionalist and social conservative commitments."

And after a short stint out of the limelight, Romney appeared alongside McCain at fundraisers in Colorado and Utah last week. Now, Ambinder writes, Romney's "national leadership team" is scheduled to meet in Houston for a "reunion." A top Romney fundraiser writes in an email to the group that Romney "has asked his supporters to help Senator McCain's campaign financially."

The Beach Boys, who are apparently not among Romney's favorite musical artists, are on the bill to entertain the assembled group.