Who should be Mitt Romney's VP???

[IndyFan]

So who is/should be Mitt Romney's VP candidate?

I don't have a dog in the fight and really don't think the VP candidate makes much difference in the final vote, and have no clue who he will pick.

Exercise your Political Prognostication and tell me who it's gonna be.

[behindmydesk]

I think he'll need a strong right to help out. Although that part of the right probably hates obama enough to vote for Romney either way. Maybe Christie from NJ

[b1e9a8r5s]

I've always been a fan of Jindal, despite is bad performance a few years back with the state of the union respone. I think he'd be a good pick.

I like Christie as well, but worry about how he'd do as a number 2. I just have a hard time picturing him being the #2. He chose not to run for a reason. I wouldn't think he'd chose to be VP.

[The Schmooze]

I've always been a fan of Jindal, despite is bad performance a few years back with the state of the union respone. I think he'd be a good pick.

I like Christie as well, but worry about how he'd do as a number 2. I just have a hard time picturing him being the #2. He chose not to run for a reason. I wouldn't think he'd chose to be VP.

"He looked up at the grocery shelf and said Americans can do anything!"

For Romney's VP, I'm going with Mitch Daniels. He seems like a safer choice after going outside the box and choosing Palin in 2008. I was hoping that Mitch McConnell would be the first Turtle-American to reach the VP spot, to break some barriers...but I doubt he gets picked.

[behindmydesk]

"He looked up at the grocery shelf and said Americans can do anything!"

For Romney's VP, I'm going with Mitch Daniels. He seems like a safer choice after going outside the box and choosing Palin in 2008. I was hoping that Mitch McConnell would be the first Turtle-American to reach the VP spot, to break some barriers...but I doubt he gets picked.

I agree with the above about about christie overshadowing.

I don't think it'll be mitch, he didn't want to run for reasons relating to his wife

[homestarunner93]

I think it will be Rubio or Jindal. Christie isn't feasible because he would overshadow Romney.

[flips333]

I think it will be Rubio or Jindal. Christie isn't feasible because he would overshadow Romney.

insert fat joke here

[Angry Norwegian]

Turtle-American... lmao

[whitesoxfan83]

Let's examine in no particular order...

1) Ron Paul

Face it, the Ron Paul people are not going away and even now are fighting against the mainstream GOP at every state convention to try and snag up as many delegates away from the establishment as they can. Ron Paul will end up with an army of delegates in Tampa that no one sees coming- this I will promise you. Click on the link in my sig if you don't believe me.

These people are young and consider themselves the future of the party. The vast majority of them hate Romney and flat out refuse to vote for him (based on the primary vote totals we can gauge the RPRepublicans make up about 10-15% of the party- a minority they can't lose). I think the GOP's plan to get the Ron Paul Republicans into the fold will be to at least ACT like they care about reforming the federal reserve.
I still do not believe that will be enough, if Romney wants to unite the party he'll pick Ron Paul as it will force a lot of his supporters to reluctantly vote for Romney if their hero is his running mate.

Picking Ron Paul also offers some crossover appeal among Anti-War Dems and Independents (a place Ron Paul has dominated).

2) Rand Paul

Let's face it, Ron is at least perceieved to be a little too crazy when it comes to certain things (though I contend if you research his more controversial views you'll understand where he's coming from) anyway... the GOP elite are not going to want to put Ron Paul on the ticket and disenfranchise the base that seems to detest the man. I also seriously doubt the GOP is going to want a man who advocates bringing ALL of our troops home 1 heartbeat away from Romney's oval office.
This leaves Rand Paul as the compromise. He's not beloved by the RPRepublicans but he isn't hated like the other NeoCons are. He's also not hated by the base in the same way Ron Paul is. He's the compromise for the Ron Paul people and would be the type of person they could build a candidacy around in 2020 uniting the old part of the party with the new part ( this is assuming Romney would win and get 8 years).

Now if the GOP says **** the Ron Paul people, which I imagine they will, this leaves the following options...

3) Marco Rubio

Romney is getting killed already in the minority gap and bringing in someone with Rubio's background might be able to bridge that gap. Furthermore the state of Florida will, once again, probably be one of THEE states that decides this election. Rubio is a nice ace in the hole and if I were to put money on it i'd say he gets it.

4) Nikki Haley

Another gap Romney and the GOP are getting murdered on is the female gap. They stupidly allowed the primaries to become about contraception a few months ago when the economy appeared to be recovering. They've since left this argument (as they realize how ****ing stupid it is for a general) but women's disgust for the GOP didn't not leave with it. Bringing in someone like Haley could bridge that gap. She's a smarter and more well versed version of Palin- but like Palin she does bring some baggage with her.

5) Rick Santorum

So it's hard for the base to rally around a super-mormon who is doing everything within his power to hide the fact he is a super mormon. Well, what better way to offset this than to bring in a guy who the media has already vetted and the people already know as a "true conservative christian" even if that's all a bunch of ******** the truth doesn't matter in these elections. Perception is everything and Santorum would be the guy to offset the anti-mormon element.

6) Chris Christie

For some reason people like this fat loud mouth piece of **** and voters are so angry these days that perhaps this is the type of person they need- a guy who seems as frustrated all the time as they are. My only thing with Christie is there's a reason he didn't want to run for POTUS and I imagine those reasons will be in the back of his mind if he's asked to be VP.

7) Mitch Daniels

A guy people really like but just like Christie he wanted no part of the national stage before so why would he now? He and Christie both have baggage I imagine they don't want on the national stage.

8) Jed Bush

Just because, the GOP is filled with Bush loving morons who would fail to see just how badly putting another Bush on the ticket would be in a general election. But again... Florida Florida Florida.

9) Remember this...The delegates are the ones who nominate the VP.

The Ron Paul people claim they have massive amounts of stealth delegates in the Romney camp and while they are all bound to vote for Romney on the 1st ballot (although there's some dispute on the legality of bound delegates which would mean Romney is not even close to locking up the nomination which is in part why Paul won't drop out) even if the convention isn't brokered and they never get to a 2nd ballot it won't matter. When it comes time to vote for the VP they aren't bound to anyone and all the delegates can vote the way they want.
If they go into the convention with a majority, even if they are bound to give Romney the nomination, they can nominate anyone they damn well please and odds are it will be a liberty candidate... Ron, Rand, Jim DeMint, who the hell knows. But if the Paul people do have a substantial portion of delegates it won't matter who the GOP wants.

This convention will be unlike any we have ever seen.

[GA16Angels]

Smart Picks:
Ron Paul
Rand Paul
Marco Rubio
Chris Christie (although he doesn't do much to help Romney except seem more personable)
Condelisa Rice
Someone from Ohio or Virginia

Dumb Picks:
Rick Santorum
Jeb Bush
A woman because she is a woman (unfortunately, I feel that if Romney chooses a female running mate, he's going to be criticized for doing the same thing McCain did).

[b1e9a8r5s]

Romney isn't picking Paul (either). I don't think Ron would accept if he did. Ironically, if Paul got the VP I think it would lessen his power/appeal.

[whitesoxfan83]

People I forgot...

Paul Ryan ("I've got a budget plan!")
Bobby Jindal (Read Marco Rubio)
Rob Portman (he's from Ohio, and history shows Ohio is the key.)

And in the "why the **** dont we turn this into a total madhouse" list...

Sarah Palin
Mike Huckabee
Newt Gingrich

[IndyFan]

People I forgot...

Paul Ryan ("I've got a budget plan!")
Bobby Jindal (Read Marco Rubio)
Rob Portman (he's from Ohio, and history shows Ohio is the key.)

And in the "why the **** dont we turn this into a total madhouse" list...

Sarah Palin
Mike Huckabee
Newt Gingrich

nice list, so who is it going to be?

[whitesoxfan83]

nice list, so who is it going to be?

Between the 14 names I listed off I think it will most likely be Rubio, Rand Paul, Portman, or Haley in that order.

Romney needs to get a minority of some kind whether it's latinos or women or Ron Paul people it doesn't matter... the GOP is the party of old white folks and outside of the Ron Paul element there really isn't anything outside of that old guard.

Unfortunately for them the old white guard doesn't win elections anymore. The Tea Party is what carried the GOP in 2010 and that was a spawn of the Ron Paul Revolution in 2008 (don't believe me? The tea party was started as a Ron Paul moneybomb on the anniversary of the Boston Tea Party with Ron himself participating in the throwing boxes which were labeled "taxes" "war" etc off of the Boston Harbor). The old guard hasn't won the GOP anything since 2004.

Rubio is the favorite because of his ethic background and the state he comes from.

Rand Paul is the darkhorse because like I said above the delegates are the ones who actually pick the VP and if Ron Paul does go into the convention with an army of delegates they may be forced to pick Rand even if they don't want to, and like I said above I like Jim DeMint as another darkhorse if this ends up being the case. Plus, even if they aren't forced to go with Rand, picking him could get a lot of the Ron Paul People into the fold and he would set up nicely in 2020 if Romney had 8 years in the White House.

Portman is from the most important state, Ohio. Which is why I think he's got a solid shot.

Haley is a more well versed version of Palin and Bachmann and unlike the other 2 is actually likable among Indy voters. I could see her being picked as well.

If I had to bet i'd say Rubio, but again, Romney isn't the one who actually picks. He needs to make sure he actually has the delegates under control which at this point I still find incredibly unlikely.

The truth is it doesn't matter who they pick because Romney cannot beat Obama.

[homestarunner93]

Between the 14 names I listed off I think it will most likely be Rubio, Rand Paul, Portman, or Haley in that order.

Romney needs to get a minority of some kind whether it's latinos or women or Ron Paul people it doesn't matter... the GOP is the party of old white folks and outside of the Ron Paul element there really isn't anything outside of that old guard.

Unfortunately for them the old white guard doesn't win elections anymore. The Tea Party is what carried the GOP in 2010 and that was a spawn of the Ron Paul Revolution in 2008 (don't believe me? The tea party was started as a Ron Paul moneybomb on the anniversary of the Boston Tea Party with Ron himself participating in the throwing boxes which were labeled "taxes" "war" etc off of the Boston Harbor). The old guard hasn't won the GOP anything since 2004.

Rubio is the favorite because of his ethic background and the state he comes from.

Rand Paul is the darkhorse because like I said above the delegates are the ones who actually pick the VP and if Ron Paul does go into the convention with an army of delegates they may be forced to pick Rand even if they don't want to, and like I said above I like Jim DeMint as another darkhorse if this ends up being the case. Plus, even if they aren't forced to go with Rand, picking him could get a lot of the Ron Paul People into the fold and he would set up nicely in 2020 if Romney had 8 years in the White House.

Portman is from the most important state, Ohio. Which is why I think he's got a solid shot.

Haley is a more well versed version of Palin and Bachmann and unlike the other 2 is actually likable among Indy voters. I could see her being picked as well.

If I had to bet i'd say Rubio, but again, Romney isn't the one who actually picks. He needs to make sure he actually has the delegates under control which at this point I still find incredibly unlikely.

The truth is it doesn't matter who they pick because Romney cannot beat Obama.

Haley would be a poor choice. She can barely handle her own state right now. She isn't a complete buffoon like Palin or Bachmann, but she would add nothing to a Romney ticket overall. She's also smug as hell, and has accusations of an affair with a blogger/adviser from her gubernatorial campaign days (although I think that guy was just looking for publicity, it could still pop back up).