Veteran Republican strategist Tom Rath of Concord has chosen his candidate for the 2008 Presidential election: Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts.

Officially, Rath has joined Romney's Commonwealth Political Action Committee as a senior adviser. The PAC is the forerunner of what is expected to be a Presidential campaign organization.

Once the Massachusetts chief executive becomes a candidate for President, as expected, Rath will almost certainly stay on as a senior campaign adviser through the New Hampshire Presidential primary and €" if Romney fares well €" beyond.

Rath told the New Hampshire Union Leader the choice was "difficult, because there are a lot of quality people out there, but it feels good to have made it."

He said he likes Romney's message, "which is strong fiscal conservatism, a commitment to traditional family values and challenging the conventional wisdom that things cannot get better."

Rath said Romney "demonstrated as a strong chief executive in both the public and private sectors an ability to make difficult decisions to ensure that things improve. And that's a quality Republicans need to talk about as we go through this election year."

Republicans and Democrats who are considering running for President in 2008 have set up political action committees to both make contributions to state and local candidates throughout the country and to have a presence in key primary and caucus states.

Two Republican examples are Arizona Sen. John McCain's Straight Talk America PAC and New York Gov. George Pataki's 21st Century Freedom PAC.

Rath, 61, a former state attorney general who has been in private practice since 1980, has become recognized as an expert in political analysis and strategy.

He is also a New Hampshire representative on the Republican National Committee and serves on its rules committee. In that capacity, Rath has been a watchdog against any GOP efforts to challenge or dilute the impact of the state's first-in-the-nation Presidential primary.

Now that he has signed on with Romney, Rath said, he will offer his resignation to state Republican Chairman Wayne Semprini to preserve the neutrality he believes is required in the RNC position.

Since 1980, Rath has advised the Presidential campaigns of former Sens. Howard Baker and Bob Dole, former President George H.W. Bush, Sen. Lamar Alexander and President George W. Bush. He has also been a strategist for current and former U.S. Sens. Judd Gregg and Warren Rudman.

Romney said in a statement his PAC was "very fortunate" to have Rath on board. He called Rath "a respected national leader in the Republican Party (who) knows New Hampshire better than anyone."

Other major players in New Hampshire politics are expected to sign on with Romney and other candidates before the end of the year, especially after the Nov. 7 mid-term elections.

McCain has already received the support of Executive Councilor Peter Spaulding, former state GOP Chairman Steve Duprey, and Duprey's wife, Manchester attorney Susan Duprey.

Pataki's PAC has hired Meridian Communications, headed by activists Jack Heath and Michael Biundo, while strategist/lobbyists Michael Dennehy and Richard Killion are working with McCain and Romney, respectively.