Romney at the Mike

Could former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney be testing the waters for a possible broadcast career? And now, the rest of the story.

Ron Chapman, fill-in for Paul Harvey on that broadcast icon’s daily news and comment segments on ABC Radio, said Wednesday that on April 10, Romney will sub for Chapman on Harvey’s show.

It is not an unfamiliar spot for would-be Republican presidential contenders. Fred Thompson was a frequent Harvey fill-in before he got into the presidential race briefly.

Romney certainly has the looks to extend his media profile beyond the radio microphone.

Or could it be that the former Massachusetts governor wants to burnish his image with Harvey’s large, middle America audience just in case he is on that list of 20 or so possible vice presidential running mates for John McCain? (OK, let’s not be coy even if McCain is. Romney is on and probably near the top of that list.)

If so, he will need to get in his radio work now before it raises equal time issues. Thompson, remember, had to give up his day job on Law & Order to make his seemingly three-quarter-hearted run. My guess is Romney is angling hard for that number two spot.

Hmmmm. I just got an e-mail from the McCain campaign saying that Romney will also be in front of a mike Thursday (April 10) on the Senator’s behalf at the Willow Valley Resort and Conference Center in Lancaster, Pa.