This is — no doubt — entirely speculation, but I saw it and thought it was interesting and maybe worth some discussion:
Former Massachussets governor and presidential aspirant Mitt Romney was in Virginia Beach yesterday attending a fundraiser at the home of State Sen. Jeff McWaters.
[...]
Romney said that McDonnell has been an “incredible governor” and will be on “any candidate’s short-list” for Vice President. Now, considering that the candidate was in Virginia Beach – effectively McDonnell’s hometurf, that statement should be taken with a grain of sand. But he reiterated that the short list is “McDonnell, Governor Christie of New Jersey and Marco Rubio of Florida.”
Personally, I’d be happy with any of ‘em — but my preference would be: 1st Christie, 2nd Rubio, and 3rd McDonnell. What do you think?
-Luke G.
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Two of the three people on my short list are not mentioned here. Those are Bobby Jindal and Jim DeMint. Rubio is the other on my list. I honestly don’t know enough about McDonnell to have an opinion about him. Christie is good, but the fact that the ticket would have 2 people from the north east might not strengthen the ticket. I do like Christie’s tough guy/no nonsense approach.
I think Mitt should choose John Bolton,Condi Rice,David Petraeus, Allen West, or someone with expertise in National Security and Foreign Policy because those are his weakest points.
I believe that Rubio would be a good choice. I would also like to see Mitch Daniels (Gov-Indiana) on the short list as well.
All three of those would be very poor choices.
Marco Rubio has no executive experience. The whole argument in favor of Mr. Romney is that he has executive experience. If he picks Marco Rubio for his running mate, he throws away the argument that this experience is important. Senator Rubio won his senate seat in a very good year for the GOP, but he hasn’t shown a consistent ability to get votes on a statewide level. He would probably swing Florida, but if Florida doesn’t go to the GOP anyway, he might not make a difference.
Chris Christie likewise is very low on executive experience. On top of that, he’s been something of a backer of gun control. His choice as a running mate would excite all of the suspicions that people have about Mitt Romney not really being a friend of the Second Amendment. While he won the New Jersey governorship, the chances that he would swing New Jersey to the GOP in the general election are very low.
Bob McDonnell isn’t a bad candidate, but a longer record as governor would make him a better candidate. He’s still primarily a state legislator and lawyer. He’d do more good for the country if he were the governor of Virginia. He is the sitting governor of a swing state, and he would have a reasonable chance of swinging Virginia to the GOP in the general election.
The better choices for Mr. Romney’s running mate would be folks who don’t currently hold an elected office. Bill Owens of Colorado has good experience as a governor, is a supporter of Mr. Romney, and is from a swing state. Jim Talent of Missouri is a respected conservative. He doesn’t have the executive experience that I’d like, but he’s another long-time supporter. Tim Pawlenty also has excellent experience as a governor. Mr. Pawlenty may not be able to swing Minnesota, but he could help to swing Iowa. Mr. Romney’s opting out of the Ames straw poll could hurt him in Iowa in the general election.
i still think it will be a suprise as to who he will pick:))
I was also going to say #1 Christie, #2 choice, Rubio, 3rd Mc Donnell, however…”Bill” above makes some very good points. We already have a President who only knows how to make speeches and campaign,…so we need to choose VERY carefully this time. Mitt Romney/Condi Rice is worth looking into. However, whoever is #2…
Mitt Romney is definetly My #1!!!!
Condi Rice would be my first choice; he needs a National Security VP. MR has all the credentials for the top job but needs a boost on National Security, what a better person than Condi. Christie/ Rubio need more time in their current positions to gain more exprience. Condi has that. MR/CR #1
I like any of them. But my preference is Paul Ryan. The two of them together would look like a very serious roll-up-our-sleeves-and-get-to-work kind of team. They would be less polarizing than some others.
I can not believe that Christie would be agreeable to Vice President. Marco Rubio is a great choice!
Condoleeza Rice
Condoleezza Rice is my first choice.
@broses
Spelling error ;-/
Whoever is leaking should be fired.
Condo Rice should be the candidate for President!!
A great choice for VP would be Condoleeza Rice! Florida needs Rubio for a while but he also would be a great choice. Go Mitt!
Condoleeza Rice would be another terrible choice. She favors legalized abortion, so her choice as vice-president would bring back all of the “flip-flop” rhetoric about Mr. Romney and abortion. That pick could cause many pro-life voters to stay home or vote third party. One of the secrets to winning Pennsylvania will be persuading pro-life voters there to vote strong for the GOP ticket. A ticket with a pro-abortion running mate will not bring about enthusiastic support from that community. She also voted for Obama, and that vote means that she really doesn’t have good judgment. Her foreign policy expertise is primarily in the Cold War, and the situation has changed since then. She is an academic with no real executive or business experience. She would be another running mate whose choice would squander all of the strengths that we could use to persuade people to vote for the GOP ticket.
Mitch Daniels would be a good choice if he hadn’t made the “truce” comment and hadn’t said that he would pick Dr. Rice as a running mate. The truce comment wouldn’t have sunk him as the candidate if he had picked a strong social conservative as his running mate, but he’d be a poor choice for someone like Mitt Romney who has a few problems with the social conservative base.
Jim Gilmore, former governor of Virginia would have been a good choice if he hadn’t done so poorly in the 2008 primary campaign and lost the 2008 Virginia Senate seat race. He had one term as governor of Virginia and had been in Army intelligence for five or six years. He would have brought military experience, some foreign policy experience as a military intelligence guy, a full term as a governor, and some experience as a lawyer and attorney general. As governor, he was involved in assessing domestic terrorism. He has excellent conservative credentials although he was a little softer on abortion in 2008 than what most anti-abortion voters want. He’s on the NRA board and is still very involved in homeland security issues.
@Gregory Kennedy
I agree… I really like Allen West. The more I hear/learn about him the more I like him! I would totally support a Romney/West ticket!!!
I think the national security advisor would be the miitary pick. He should have special operations experience preferably senior enlisted people who are masters of chaos. The VP pick is tricky as Romney needs to carry the southern vote. So a southern former govenor would be important. I would not bring former Bush anything to the ticket as the dems would demagogue the team. Rubio is greta but is not going to run and lacks the experience for VP. I love him as a senator.
One more thing as VP pick they should be able to carry the torch after 8 years of Romney. Rick perry would be an excellent pick or Jindal.
Christie would bring the house down. The others, including Perry, would be excellent picks.
Ted Poe of Texas’ 2nd Congressional District would be an excellent VP candidate. Poe has a high and no-nonsense level of judicial acumen and would be valuable in helping deal with the Supreme Court. Though I believe Texas is thoroughly a Romney state, Texans also has an excellent employment record and potentia … and citizens are thoroughly patriotic … and Texas is distanced enough from Massachusetts, Michigan, and Florida to help squeeze those in the middle in the final months.
@jon
Good thoughs Bill. I like what your ideas. Practical, which will win in 2012.
Where does it actually say that Mitt said anything about his short list involving all three. The other two names aren’t in the story linked to…
Allen West and Michele Bachmann for attorney general.
WE MUST WORK VERY HARD FOR ROMNEY. OBAMA IS WORKING WITH THE UNIONS TO OVERTHROW THE 7 REBUBLICANS IN WISCONSIN. SAME IN OHIO. WHERE IS THE 20 MILLION COMING FROM. THERE ARE MILLIONS OF DOLLARS COMING IN THE BACK DOOR TO BEAT ROMNEY. OBAMA IS OUT ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL ALREADY. HE DOES NOT CARE ABOUT THIS COUNTRY. PLEASE SUPPORT ROMNEY. REQUEST A BUMPER STICKER. WORK LIKE YOU HAVE NEVER WORKED BEFORE. WE MUST SAVE OUR COUNTRY.
Marco Rubio is a great senator and would make a great VP except for the fact that his parents were Cuban citizens at the time of his birth and thus he is not a natural born citizen but a native born one. It shows a lack of judgement on Mitt’s part to put his ticket or administration in the position of facing a lawsuit by a progressive wanting paybacks or a patriot wanting to uphold the constitution. It also shows a contempt for the 50% of Americans who want Obama’s eligibility investigated. Principles matter.
I think running the two old Republican white guy ticket is a mistake. Romney/Haley imo.