CHICAGO — Former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge said Sunday he thinks Republicans would accept a vice presidential candidate who supports abortion rights.
But, he said, whomever Sen. John McCain picks as a running mate should defer to McCain on the issue.
McCain opposes abortion rights, but he riled some conservatives last week when he suggested his running mate could — like Ridge — support abortion rights.
“What he was saying to the rest of the world is that we need to accept both points of view,” Ridge said. “He’s not judgmental about me or my belief. He just disagrees with me.”
“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.”
With vice presidential picks coming any day now, several possible candidates for the No. 2 spot appeared on the Sunday talk shows.
Sen. Barack Obama will choose soon; the Democratic National Convention, where Obama and his running mate will be nominated, is just a week away.
Obama and his closest advisers are refusing to talk about the process, leaving his schedule as a source for speculation. Today, he planned to visit New Mexico, home of Gov. Bill Richardson, and he planned to spend Wednesday and Thursday in Virginia, home of Gov. Tim Kaine.
But Obama’s travels to Virginia and New Mexico don’t necessarily mean anything about the vice presidential search; both are swing states that have been getting attention from his campaign.
On Saturday night during a forum at Sadddleback Church, Obama brought up another potential running mate — former Georgia Sen. Sam Nunn — when asked to name three people he would rely on for counsel as president. Obama listed Nunn after his wife and grandmother.
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