Supporters of Sen. John McCain are urging him to make a bold, last minute move to shore up his image on the economy by announcing the appointment of Mitt Romney to the post of Secretary of the Treasury.
In an email sent to a McCain adviser, Greg Green, a managing director at the private real estate firm Broadway Partners, laid out the logic behind making such a preemptive declaration.
"The idea is that to many Americans -- Independents, Republicans and Democrats -- in today's economic environment, the Treasury Secretary is more important than the selection of the VP and second only to the President, and that said, why not announce today or tomorrow Senator McCain's selection of Treasury Secretary, which would ideally be Mitt Romney. Mitt is vetted, presidential, and ran Bain Capital, which is hugely successful and the Goldman Sachs of private equity. Meg Whitman, Jack Kemp, Phil Gramm, John Thain and Warren Buffett are smart people, but it takes a vetted presidential type person along with big-time financial expertise and credibility to be the second most important person in the US and world. Palin as a reformer and Biden as a foreign policy expert made political sense for the campaigns when announced, but today, an economic expert for treasury secretary would rule. I have a hunch this selection of Romney would resonate well with independents in the swing states."
The note, obtained by the Huffington Post, was authored on Wednesday morning and came, Green writes, after discussion with another McCain supporter who recommended getting in touch with the campaign.
Green, it should be noted, was a maxed out donor to both Sen. Joseph Biden and Gov. Bill Richardson's presidential runs earlier this election cycle. Reached by phone and asked why he was offering the McCain camp advice after once supporting Democratic candidates, he said the issue "has no relevance to you."
"An email I sent to Patrick is a private email," he added. "Why would I comment on that?"
Without deeper knowledge, it is difficult to determine what role Green plays in McCain's strategic decisions beyond offering occasional bits of advise to advisers -- in this case Patrick Durkin, a member of the McCain Victory Committee. But his plea to make a cabinet announcement even before the election has been bantered around by other political strategists as a dramatic late-stage move to turn the electoral tides. It also underscores just how hard the Republican ticket has been hurt both by the current financial crisis and the perception that McCain is somewhat unsuited to handle economic matters.
Green himself writes, "I assume the McCain Campaign has heard many times over," before signing off his email: "Anyhow, it's just an idea. Let's pray that Senator McCain is elected."