Mitt Romney: VP Selection Still 'Early In The Process'

Mitt Romney offered some details on his search for a running mate Wednesday, saying he was still considering a wide selection of candidates.

"We're looking at a pretty significant group of people, and we've got a great group of Republican leaders, and I want to take a very careful look and make sure we select someone who has the capacity to become president if that were necessary," Romney said in a radio interview with Denver's NewsRadio 850 KOA.

Asked about the chance that he would choose a female vice presidential candidate, Romney said, "I can't give you a specific probability, of course, but certainly among those people that we will consider will be people of both genders, and we'll hope that the best person is the one that I select. We're early in the process at this point."

He also indicated that the timing of his announcement has not yet been decided.

"Classically, people have made the decision on their running mate either during the convention or just a few days before the convention, so that's probably the last point that you'd think about doing it," Romney said. "But it's also possible to go before then. There's no hard and fast rule about when the selection process has to be completed."

Romney hit back against suggestions there is a growing rift in the Republican Party, saying the Democrats face a greater problem. He pointed to Keith Judd, the prison inmate who won 40 percent of the vote running against President Barack Obama in West Virginia's Democratic primary on Tuesday.

"I think they've got more problems on that side of the aisle than we do on ours," Romney said.