Mitt Romney has made up his mind about his running mate, and will announce who he is as soon as this week, The New York Times' Jeff Zeleny reports. Romney's allies had some success at getting people to talk about campaign news other than Bain Capital last week, at least for a few hours, when Matt Drudge floated Condoleezza Rice's name as a potential vice presidential nominee. There is virtually no chance that Rice will be his eventual pick. But the trial balloon was a proof of concept of sorts that naming his veep pick would hit reset on the news cycle.

The real nominee probably won't be as exciting as Rice. Zeleny says the veep nominee will probably be one of two guys: former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty or Ohio Sen. Rob Portman. Pawlenty brings the folksiness and blue-collar background that Romney lacks. Portman brings experience and possibly Ohio.

The impending decision means we're reaching the very last moments for Republican politicians to get the career-benefitting buzz that comes with maybe being considered to maybe be Romney's running mate. On Monday, Sen. John Thune got a little buzz at the last minute, telling The Hill's Alexander Bolton that he met with Romney's senior advisers and Beth Myers, the woman in charge of Romney's veep vetting.

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Elspeth Reeve