SPRINGFIELD, VA -- Sen. John Thune has some advice for Mitt Romney: Be Yourself.

The South Dakota senator told NBC News that the Romney he knows does not always come across on the campaign trail, and that may be why voters are having a tough time relating to the presumptive Republican nominee.

"I've traveled with him in Iowa and been on the bus with his family and him, and they're just incredible, wonderful, normal people," Thune said. "And that's a side of him that I hope voters in this country get an opportunity to see.  And I think really he just needs to be himself."

Thune was here today to address Romney supporters and volunteers at victory office opening. On Thursday, he traveled to Virginia Beach to do the same, joining a slew of other Romney surrogates who are making similar campaign stops in battleground states throughout the country this weekend.

Thune, who himself had considered entering the presidential race, said that the more Americans get to see Romney, the more they will be able to relate to him beyond simply being a former businessman and governor.

"I think often times in politics -- you have tendency to -- people sort of put you in a bubble," he said. "And I think the more that he [Romney] gets a chance to get out in front of the American people, interact with them, in a way that I've had an opportunity to interact with him, they're going to see someone, who I think they're going to find is an incredibly, not only strong leader for our country, but someone that they really will believe in and can have great trust will take this country in the right direction."

Much has been of late about Thune's own political future.  He is considered to be a top contender to be chosen as Romney's vice president. Though he declined to say whether or not he is being vetted, he said he does not expect Romney to ask him to join the ticket. But he added "any time you get a chance to serve your country and if you're really serious about public life obviously you don't rule  options out."

And if VP is not in the cards for him, speculation is rampant that he could be next in line to become Republicans' leader in the Senate. If that is in the cards, he is confident he'll have a Republican to work with in the White House.

"It's always hard when the lights go on, and you know...People have a tendency to perhaps be a little bit more conscious of things that they say, and do when you're in public life, said Thune. "But I will say this: If the American people can see what I've seen in Mitt Romney who out on the campaign trail is very relaxed, someone very comfortable in his own skin, someone who has a real sense of purpose of what he want to do for this country. It's a quality that I think the American people are really going to be drawn to. And I think they're going to see that between now and November, and I think they're starting to see that already."

GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Some of Mitt Romney's most deep-pocketed donors will flock to Utah for an exclusive gathering this weekend featuring top Republican political figures and strategists.

More than 100 of the GOP's top fundraisers and bundlers will attend the "First National Romney Victory Leadership Retreat," a weekend-long retreat intended to rally, educate and reward the men and women who have been the primary financial backers of the presumptive nominee's campaign thus far.

The attendees will be treated to presentations, briefing and panel discussions featuring an all-star cast of Republican politicians, including several thought to be among Romney's top vice presidential choices.

Among the possible VP contenders a Romney campaign adviser confirmed would be in attendance are former Govs. Tim Pawlenty (MN) and Jeb Bush (FL), Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The GOP's last presidential nominee, Arizona Sen. John McCain, will also attend, according to Republican sources familiar with the event's schedule.

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell will speak at one of the weekend's two major dinners, according to a McDonnell staffer.

The Washington Post has reported that Sen. John Thune, Rep. Paul Ryan -- two other rumored VP short-listers will attend, as will Republican power-broker Karl Rove. NBC News has not independently confirmed this information.

"All the major players of the party will be there," Dallas businessman Ray Washburne, who will attend the retreat, told NBC News. "Its kind of a reunion of all the people who worked hard on the campaign so far."

Washburne is indicative of the type of Republican rainmaker the Romney campaign intends to woo, and reward, at the retreat. The real estate developer, investor and restauranteur headed up a recent Romney fundraiser in Dallas that brought in $3.6 million for the campaign, and has co-chaired Romney's fundraising effort in the Lone Star state after the first candidate he supported -- Pawlenty -- dropped out of the race.

The invitees are primarily those donors who have raised enough money to qualify as national finance committee members, one Romney adviser said.

"The party is all falling in behind the candidate now, and this is kind of the first kind of anointment of Mitt by everyone," Washburne said.

On Saturday, attendees will be briefed by top Romney campaign officials, including political director Rich Beeson, and the famously media-averse campaign manager Matt Rhodes, on the state of the campaign and strategy going forward. That night they will also attend the second of two dinners with the candidate himself.

Attendees at the weekend-long retreat will at gather at a resort hotel in the mountains surrounding Salt Lake city, not far from where Romney first rose to prominence by running the Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002, and in the state where he still retains a rock star-like political status.

Romney and his guests will be far from the prying eyes of most media. The entire three-day conference is closed to the press, and Romney has no public events in Utah to draw reporters here otherwise. His campaign has refused most official requests for comment on the conference, including several made for this report.

When the conference concludes at the end of the weekend, the campaign will continue with one major question -- likely to be discussed all weekend -- that will remain unanswered: Was the vice presidential nominee among those in attendance?

"That's all anybody wants to know," Washburne said.

NBC's Alex Moe contributed.

CUSTER, SD -- South Dakota Sen. John Thune said he's open to serving as Mitt Romney's running mate, telling reporters in his home state on Wednesday that it would be tough to ever rule out that option.

"I don’t think you ever rule out or say no to opportunities to public service if you are really interested in making a difference for your country, you want to put your gifts and abilities to the highest and best use,” Thune told reporters following a town hall in the local firehouse here. But, he added, "I don’t expect that to happen but I don’t think you never say never when it comes to serving your country."

Thune seems to have shifted in the way he's spoken about about his contact with the Romney campaign. Just two weeks ago, the senator told The Hill, he had yet to be contacted by the Romney campaign. But today, Thune said, “We talk to him all the time.”

Other than knowing who is leading the search, Romney’s vice presidential selection process has been rather secretive. Thune’s comments come on the same day one of Romney’s top advisers, John Sununu, gave National Reviewone of the first glimpses into the grueling process. Sununu said Thune is “on the list for consideration” for VP.

The small town senator, who even flirted with running for president himself this cycle, seems happy with his current position as the third-ranking Republican in the U.S. Senate.

Being vice president for Thune, he says, is “not a job I aspire to.”

"I like the job I have. I look forward to working with a president, as a member of the United States Senate, that is interested in solving problems," he said. "I think that Gov. Romney and his team will make a very good choice. I think, some of the names I am hearing banging about out there are really good people."

Sources say the senator may soon hit the campaign trail for Romney, perhaps in neighboring Iowa. Thune endorsed Romney in Des Moines, Iowa just before Thanksgiving -– weeks before many other prominent Republicans picked a candidate.

“I came out and supported him [Romney] early because I thought he…represented our best opportunity to win in November and also the guy who was best experienced and had the best skills to govern our country for the next few years, which is not going to be easy,” Thune said, standing in front of a Custer fire truck the day after Romney secured the required 1,144 delegates for the party’s nomination. “I am delighted he has crossed that line and is going to be our nominee because I think it is going to be a great race this fall.”