[quote]Mufasa wrote:
Ah!
I forgot about the Governor Haley endorsement!
Do you think that she is on a Romney “short list” of VP candidates, Zeb?
Somehow I have the feeling that he almost “has” to pick a Southern Conservative to be on the ticket, because that is where he is the most vulnerable.
Mufasa
(EDIT: She is young, though…and has shown some political naivity…)[/quote]
I’m not fond of politically inexperienced running mates. I remember well what the media did to Dan Quayle. And Loyd Bentsen made Quayle’s life miserable during the debate,
Quayle: “I’m about the same age as Jack Kennedy when he ran for President.”
Bentsen: "I knew John Kennedy, I workd with John Kennedy, and Senator, you’re no John Kennedy. And the crowd roared as Dan Quayle stood there red faced looking hurt and said “That was uncalled for.”
It was a horrible moment in my political life—Just awufl.
Bush (Sr.) went on to win handily anyway carrying 40 states. But he won inspight of Quayle not because of him.
On the other hand some very wise picks through the years was Kennedy picking LBJ. Since Kennedy was perceived as being young he went with a very powerful Senate leader who had some mileage on him. And he was from Texas so the ticket was balanced quite well.
Romney doesn’t need to go that route as he is pervceived as having plenty of experience. So, he needs someone who can balance the ticket and if possible attract either more women or minority’s neither are fond of the republican party.
So who can do that? Or who can do at least one of those things?
I woudld never pick somone like Gingrich who has been around Washington for 30+ years. Not to mention that he comes off as nasty. the one person that can bring both an important state and a minority group is Senator Marco Rubio. He’s exceptionally smart has charisma and is an incredibly good speaker. I’m actually in awe of this guy given that he’s only 40 years old. Of course the knock on him would be his lack of experience. But they might be hesitant to use that given Obama’s own lack of experiecne prior to winning the Presidency.
Rubio will also pull the Hispanic vote which is currently larger than the black vote in the US. He’s from Florida and that is a state that would be great to have in the bag and it balances the ticket out nicely given the fact that Romney is from the northeast.
If for some reason Rubio turns it down there’s also John Kasich the Governor of Ohio. He’d be great but he’s also a new Governor and the people of Ohio may not react well if he leaves them to run on the ticket. But as far as experience he’s got plenty as a former Congressman. He too is an excellent speaker and handles himself well on stage.
And I would not leave out putting Rick Santorum on the bottom of the ticket. As I said on another thread I don’t think that Santorum will be blasting Romney for this very reason. Santorum would be thrilled to run on the Romney ticket and he could also deliver the key state of PA.
Electoral votes per state:
Pa–20
OH–18
FLA–29 (up from 27)
PA, Ohio, and Florida are all key states that the GOP would love to win so any of the three people above would be fine. But the best choice in my opinion would be Rick Rubio based upon several factors, not the least of which is the 29 electoral votes in Florida.
One more point, if Obama saw a Romney/Rubio ticket coming at him (or anything that is equally strong) I think he just might dump Biden and put Hillary on the ticket. He would make it look acceptable as if old Joe wanted to retire. And I think Hillary would jump at the chance for many reasons.
If there is an Obama/Clinton ticket it will be most difficult to beat by any republican duo. But very possible depending on where the economy is by election day.
