This is anything but verified, but it’s the most specific and piquant word we’ve heard about the GOP veepstakes in quite a while. In Michigan, at least, the word going round McCain’s campaign and its top supporters is that Minnesota will be the place to be next Friday, August 29 — John McCain’s 72nd birthday and the date on which it’s thought he’ll announce his VP pick to the world.

A source there with ties to the McCain campaign told a reporter for our sister site the Michigan Messenger that insiders are being advised to travel to Minnesota on that date and not to go to Ohio, where an event scheduled on that date is rumored to be a misdirection play on the part of the McCain campaign.

Pawlenty’s schedule is expected to take him to Denver next week for some surrogate campaigning on the last two days of the convention, August 27-28, though the Strib notes TP is playing coy about it.

Locally, we’ve spoken with other media types who have heard intermittent rumblings about a possible McCain event at the Target Center on August 29 since before the speculation started that McCain would name his running mate on that day. It’s listed as open on the Target Center’s schedule, and a staffer there tells MnIndy’s Paul Schmelzer that there are no political events scheduled that day.