DAYTON — John McCain landed in Dayton on Thursday night but didn't say a word — not about Barack Obama, not about the Democratic Convention and certainly not about his vice presidential pick.

The secret appears safe — at least until today, Aug. 29.

McCain and his wife Cindy arrived at Dayton International Airport on his Straight Talk Express campaign plane at 6:55 p.m. Aug. 28.

Montgomery County GOP Chairman Greg Gantt and several local campaign volunteers greeted the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, but it was a quick visit.

The senator from Arizona then left by motorcade for the Dayton Marriott.

"I said, 'We've got a big party planned for you,' " Gantt said he told McCain.

Carol Wilson of Xenia Twp. said McCain remarked on the beautiful weather.

His wife was wearing a bright pink arm brace on her right arm, he explained, because of a sprain from a handshake with an overexuberant fan.

McCain did not take questions from reporters, and the volunteers who greeted him didn't ask the one question that is on everyone's mind: Who will be his running mate?

"We did not ask him for that. We think that's for him to tell when he's ready to divulge that information," Wilson said. "We're hoping it's at the Nutter Center."

McCain will speak at noon at the Ervin J. Nutter Center on the Wright State University campus in Fairborn.

Gantt said he's heard new reports that several prominent Republicans, including some named as possible vice presidential candidates, may appear with McCain. But Gantt said the campaign has not told local officials if that is true.

"I hope he picks somebody who complements him," Gantt said. "Someone who rounds out, someone that's with him ideology-wise."

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7455 or

lhulsey@DaytonDailyNews.com.