Some of the very same Republicans who have spent the last two weeks bashing Mitt Romney were, indeed, sucking up to him at a massive rally the Friday before the election — even angling for jobs in the Romney administration — a Romney adviser complains. At a rally with 100 Romney surrogates in West Chester, Ohio, Romney aide Dan Senor revealed on MSNBC Wednesday, the Romney bashers were Romney fawners. "I’m backstage with some of them, I won’t mention their names, but they’re talking about Romney like he’s Reagan," Senor said. "'His debate performances were the best performances of any Republican nominee in presidential history.' 'He’s iconic.' They were talking about him because they believed he was going to win in four or five days. And in fact, some of them were already talking to our transition to position themselves for a Romney cabinet."

So, Senor says won't name names, but we have some clues. Attendees of the rally included Sen. Rob Portman, Sen. Marco Rubio, Sen. John McCain, Sen. Kelly Ayotte, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal. You can see some of their smiling faces in this Associated Press photo of the rally as Romney walks out with his wife. Since audio of Romney explaining his loss as the result of "gifts" from President Obama to young people and minorities, Jindal has said, "That is absolutely wrong... I don’t think that represents where we are as a party and where we’re going as a party." Rubio was a little nicer, saying, "[Some] have said that maybe the American electorate has changed. That what people want from government now is they’re just going to vote for whomever promises them more. I don’t believe that’s true, I can’t believe that’s true." We wonder which Romney cabinet position they were applying for.

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Elspeth Reeve