US:JOHN McCAIN will host three potential running mates tomorrow when former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, Florida governor Charlie Crist and Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal join him at his Arizona ranch.
The meeting comes amid reports that Barack Obama has also started vetting possible vice-presidential candidates in preparation for the general election campaign.
Mr McCain's campaign is already undergoing its own vetting process, not of potential running mates but of campaign staff who may have lobbied for foreign governments. Five of the Republican presumptive nominee's senior advisers have resigned in recent days as Mr McCain has instituted new guidelines to prevent a conflict of interest.
The Arizona senator created the new policy when it emerged in the wake of the Burmese cyclone that that two advisers worked for a firm that had represented Burma's military junta.
"We have enacted the most comprehensive and transparent policy in any presidential campaign in history, and I challenge Senator Obama to adopt the same policy," Mr McCain said this week.
The announcement was followed by three further resignations and Democrats are now demanding that Mr McCain sack his chief strategist, former lobbyist Charlie Black.
The Washington Post reported yesterday that, during the 1980s, Mr Black represented the right-wing Angolan guerilla leader Jonas Savimbi, as well as former Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos, Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire, Nigerian general Ibrahim Babangida, Somali president Mohamed Siad Barre, and the countries of Kenya and Equatorial Guinea.
Mr Black, who has retired from his lobbying firm, insists that he never represented any foreign leader without first receiving clearance from the White House and the State Department. As soon as the US government turned against any of his clients, Mr Black dropped them.
"Anyone that knows John McCain and his record understands that he's a public servant who stands on principle. Any suggestion otherwise isn't rooted in fact," said Mr McCain's campaign spokesman, Tucker Bounds.
Lobbyists are ubiquitous in American political campaigns, both as fundraisers and campaign advisers. They offer expertise and useful contacts to candidates and in turn gain access to politicians and their key advisers.
Mr Obama does not take campaign contributions from federal lobbyists but some of his advisers are employed by private lobbying firms. Hillary Clinton sidelined her chief strategist, Mark Penn, after it was revealed that he was advising the Colombian government on how to promote a trade deal Mrs Clinton opposes.
The issue is especially sensitive, however, for Mr McCain, who has made ethics and reform key issues during his political career. During the 1990s, he introduced two bills to prohibit lobbyists from working on political campaigns.
Democratic party sources said yesterday that Mr Obama has asked businessman Jim Johnson to begin vetting potential vice presidential nominees. Mr Johnson did the same job for Democratic nominees John Kerry in 2004 and Walter Mondale in 1984 but Mr Obama yesterday refused to confirm that he would play that role for him.