DENVER -- Looking toward his turn in the spotlight, Republican presidential nominee-in-waiting John McCain sought to siphon attention from Democrat Barack Obama's show in Denver by playing coy about his pick for vice president.

McCain is widely expected to name his choice for vice president in the coming days, possibly Friday, but said in an interview aired Thursday that he still hadn't made up his mind. Far from quieting speculation, this seemed only to fuel it.

The hope in the McCain camp - with both the eventual pick and the effort to keep buzz alive beforehand - is to curb any uptick in polling that Obama might get from his convention, which wraps up Thursday, and to create momentum heading into the gathering of GOP delegates for McCain next week in St. Paul, Minn.

For months, McCain's vice presidential search has been kept closely held by a small group of his advisers. But details have increasingly trickled out this week, including word from two Republicans that McCain met with his senior advisers in Arizona on Wednesday to discuss the pick and conflicting information about whether or not he had settled on a choice. It was a strategy McCain's campaign all but certainly employed to inject McCain into news coverage dominated by Obama.

Republicans with ties to McCain's campaign said final deliberations this week were focused on former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, and Democrat-turned-independent Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut.

Former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, too, was still a possibility, as was the idea that McCain would choose a dark horse from any number of names that have circulated. One of those, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, was quickly taken out of contention by a spokeswoman. Peggy Cifrino said Powell "is not interested in serving on either ticket."

McCain and his No. 2 are expected to appear together for the first time at one or more rallies planned for Ohio, Pennsylvania and Missouri in the run-up to the convention.

In a radio interview with KDKA News Radio in Pittsburgh that was taped Wednesday, McCain said that he was bringing along to the Pennsylvania event on Saturday both Ridge an Romney. But he cautioned against assuming that meant either one would be the pick.

Asked to hint which way he is leaning, McCain turned - as he has for days - to a joke, saying it would be actor Wilford Brimley. "He's a former Marine and great guy and he's older than I am, so that might work," said the four-term Arizona senator who turns 72 on Friday.