DENVER - With the Democratic National Convention coming to a close Thursday night and speculation surrounding when presumptive nominee John McCain will announce his running mate, several members of the Massachusetts delegation panned former Gov. Mitt  Romney (R-Belmont) as a possible vice presidential candidate.

U.S. Rep. John Tierney (D-Salem) questioned Romney's leadership abilities. "I don't think Mitt Romney would be a good national leader," he said.

Tierney characterized Romney's tenure in the Statehouse as a "failed governorship." When voters take a closer look at Romney's economic policies and record when he was governor, Tierney said, Romney  won't boost McCain's economic credentials - a reason often given for putting him on the ticket.

Gus Bickford, a Watertown superdelegate, also criticized Romney's handling of the state's finances. "If he think that his biography of management is what he's trying to sell," Bickford said. "I have two words for you: Big dig."

Asked if Romney would help McCain politically, Warren Tolman, a former state senator and current Democratic strategist, said, "No, I don't think it does."

"I wouldn't expect to see Mitt Romney on the national ticket," he said. "I don't think he and John McCain would be a good team and I don't think the conservative right would accept him as one of their own."

Tolman was referring to several evangelicals recently denouncing Romney as a possible vice presidential candidate. In particular, some of these evangelicals are distrustful of Romney's Mormonism, which they do not view as a legitimate branch of Christianity.

Lieutenant Gov. Tim Murray (D-Worcester) chuckled at the thought and blasted Romney's tenure on Beacon Hill. Romney only served "two years as governor," Murray said, and those were marked by "differed statements, differed decisions and benign neglect."

The more he thought about it, the more Murray, as a Democrat, appeared to like the idea of Romney on the ticket.

"Bring it," he said.