According to Politico.com, McCain is going to hold a rally at a baseball stadium in the St. Louis area on Sunday with both Romney and Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor, by his side. The online political news source suggested that meant Romney was indeed McCain's choice.

Other contenders for the GOP vice-presidential nomination include Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and independent Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman.

The decision must be made soon so McCain's choice can be formally nominated for the November ballot at the Republican National Convention that is set to start Sept. 1, in St. Paul, Minn.

Romney, who ended his own bid for the White House in February, has become one of McCain's most vocal supporters. But a spokesman for the former Massachusetts governor downplayed Romney's interest in the vice-presidency.

"As Governor Romney has said many times, there is a long list of Republicans who would make good running mates for John McCain. Governor Romney's expectation is that he will be campaigning for John McCain as a supporter of the ticket and not as a member of it," his spokesman, Eric Fehrnstrom, said.

Utahns have supported Romney's political aspirations, with millions of dollars in campaign donations and at the polls. The former leader of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City won an overwhelming 90 percent of the vote in Utah's Feb. 5 Republican primary.

Because the majority of Utahns share Romney's Mormon faith, they have also closely followed the role of religion in the campaign. Huckabee angered some Utahns earlier this year by asking if Mormons believed that Jesus and the devil are brothers and later apologized.

Huckabee, now a commentator for Fox News, has recently criticized Romney for changing his positions on conservative issues. "I think there are better choices for Sen. McCain that have the approval of value voters," Huckabee said.

Kirk Jowers, head of the University of Utah's Hinckley Institute of Politics and a longtime supporter of Romney who now leads Utah Lawyers for McCain, said Romney remains a strong candidate for vice president despite the recent pressure from evangelicals.

"The resistance is not as great as people had feared. There is a small minority that is religiously bigoted against Mormons," Jowers said. "As long as the v.p. is pro-life, they will get over any of their other concerns."

But, he said, supporters shouldn't read too much into Romney's appearance in Denver today. "The GOP would want Romney in Denver regardless of whether he was certain to become v.p. or had no chance," Jowers said, "because he's the GOP 'go-to' guy."

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