Soundcheck Points to Clint Eastwood Cameo at RNC; Planners Stay Mum

ABC News (NEW YORK) -- Republicans have not yet officially confirmed the identity of the “mystery speaker” who will appear before Mitt Romney and Marco Rubio during primetime Thursday night.

In the 10 p.m. hour of Thursday night’s Republican National Convention, a six-minute chunk of time between Rubio’s speech and Romney’s speech has been allotted for “applause.” That’s plenty of time for a standing ovation and a five-minute speech from Clint Eastwood, the respected director and long-ago star of Dirty Harry.

All week, the buzz in Tampa has been that Eastwood would make a cameo appearance, and Thursday offered what may be an important audio clue that those expectations are correct.

During a soundcheck for the night’s activities, the distinctive whistling theme to The Good the Bad and the Ugly, an Eastwood Western, was played in the convention hall.

Earlier Thursday, Romney staffers refused to address the subject.

“Because if it was a mystery speaker, it wouldn’t be a mystery anymore,” said Romney adviser Russ Schriefer on a conference call with reporters.

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