No Love Lost on Jon Jr.

[Veep Wars] So. I'm driving along the freeway at 3:19 p.m. yesterday, and surfing the radio dial. I drift to the Sean Hannity Show on KSL-AM, where I hover briefly over a familiar voice.

It's Mitt Romney. He's yakking it up with Sean, who's doing his best "I believe you would make a fine running mate for John McCain" suck-up.

Anyway, after much mutual admiration between the two, Hannity finally asks Romney if he would accept an invitation from McCain to run for veep. Romney tap dances, and finally responds something to the effect that there are many qualified Republican governors who would do a fine job as vice president. To which Hannity follows up: "Name some."

Well, says Romney, there's Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota. There's Mark Sanford of South Carolina, there's ... well, there are just a lot of fine governors out there.

You'd think with their shared Mormon/Utah/Scions of Capitalism roots, that Mitt would have had Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, Jr. on the tip of his tongue. But he didn't mention Jon--whose name has actually been tossed around seriously as a McCain running mate.

But then, people with an ounce of memory will recall there's no love lost between these two perfectly-coiffed sons of famous fathers. It's been rumored for years that Huntsman Jr. and Romney were bitter rivals to head up the 2002 Winter Olympics; Romney won that round and Huntsman trundled off to Singapore as a diplomat. Also, Jon Huntsman Sr. supported Romney in his failed presidential bid; Huntsman Jr. sidled up to McCain.

Political memories are l-o-o-n-g. (Holly Mullen)