It’s hard to tell if this is the short list or not, but John McCain has invited former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, Governor Charlie Crist of Florida and Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana to join him in Arizona for a holiday weekend meeting. 

The McCain campaign is claiming the get-together as a social event, but that’s hard to accept.

McCain strategist Charlie Black insisted the gathering would be “purely social” and had “nothing whatsoever to do with the vice presidential selection process.”

“Wouldn’t it be difficult to interview people for vice president with the other competitors there?” he said.

They won’t be partying alone at the Hidden Valley Ranch.

McCain has invited nine couples this weekend, including Black and his wife. Black declined to name the other guests.

Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas, former EBay Chief Executive Meg Whitman and FedEx Corp. Chief Executive Frederick W. Smith are also expected to attend, according to campaign and Republican sources who asked not to be named when discussing the guest list.

Whether any among the three named possibilities are really on the short list remains to be seen.  But, the get-together is a good way to draw attention to the McCain campaign. 

In recent weeks, no one has taken much notice of John McCain or his campaign, so he is left to something resembling Penelope on Saturday Night Live to get a little attention.  Maybe during the taping of the show on which McCain made a guest appearance, Kristin Wiig gave McCain some tips on inserting himself into the national conversation.