Mitt Romney has selected longtime adviser Beth Myers to head up his search for a vice-presidential running mate in the 2012 presidential election, Romney told ABC News.
"I have selected someone who has been a counselor of mine for a number of years, Beth Myers," Romney told ABC's Diane Sawyer in an interview to be aired on Monday evening. "She's begun that process and is putting together the kinds of things you need to do to vet potential candidates."
Myers is at the center of Romney's inner circle. She was his chief of staff as Massachusetts governor for four years, and for his first presidential run she directed his political action committee. Myers first started working with Romney during his 2002 gubernatorial run, when she played his opponent Shannon O'Brien in mock debates.
Most recently, Myers took a lead role in accusing Democrats of waging a "war on moms," following a comment from Democratic adviser Hilary Rosen that Ann Romney has not worked a day in her life. Myers distributed a fundraising letter with the subject line: "Don't mess with Ann."
"As someone who has worked in partnership with Mitt Romney for years, I am honored to lead his search for a VP," Myers wrote in the inaugural tweet of an account opened today.
In choosing a member of his core Massachusetts team for the role, Romney defied predictions that he would bring in a figure from Washington, as he seeks to marry his campaign to the national party. Earlier this month the Romney campaign announced the appointment of one such figure, Ed Gillespie, as senior adviser.
Romney has repeatedly selected Myers for top staff posts. This time the selection means a woman will have the most prominent role in the most closely watched move the campaign will make in the coming months.
A North Carolina native, Myers graduated from Tufts University outside Boston in 1979. She worked with Karl Rove on Ronald Reagan's presidential campaign and worked on state campaigns in Massachusetts and Texas.
Myers is co-founder of the political consulting firm The Shawmut Group, along with Eric Fehrnstrom, the Romney aid who entered history by comparing the campaign to an Etch-a-Sketch.
In 1993 Myers became chief of staff to Joseph Malone, the Massachusetts state treasurer whose tenure was besmirched when it came to light that associates had embezzled a total of $9.4m from the state treasury over seven years. Neither Malone nor Myers was ever implicated in the case.
