Newt to McCain: No boring white guys for VP

Former House Speaker and "Contract with America" architect Newt Gingrich told John McCain to steer clear of a "boring, normal, mainstream Republican white guy" in his vice presidential selection via an audio recording made Monday and posted on his website Wednesday.

"What I'm afraid of is that if Sen. McCain picks one more relatively boring, normal, mainstream Republican white guy who would be like, you know, a cookie cutter…he just makes the ticket seem boring compared to the level of energy and drive and excitement that Obama has," Gingrich said.

Certain revelations, however, make it appear as though McCain is ignoring - arguably - one of the brightest Republicans of the last half century.

Media reports tonight indicate that McCain has cancelled several planned events in the next day or so ... and added a stop to Columbus, Ohio. The reason for the Columbus stop won't be released, however.

This leads some to speculate that McCain will attempt to divert the news attention from Barack Obama's Germany lovefest ... by announcing a vice presidential candidate.

If that is the case, the most obvious choice would be former Rep. Rob Portman. Other potentials include former governor and current senator George Voinovich ... and former Rep. John Kasich.

Of course, all three of them are boring white guys.

If this plays through, maybe it's an indication of just how desperate McCain is for Ohio to stay in the red column. Zogby currently lists Ohio as purple, with Obama holding a slight lead over McCain, 43/38 ... with Bob Barr at 7 percent.

Obama has previously said, though, that his strategy does not include Ohio and Florida.

It's all very interesting.