Thirty-two contenders have been whittled down to just two! Our survivors who will face-off in the last match-up of the VP tournament are Congressman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, and Senator Marco Rubio of Florida.

Here’s the current bracket with Round 4 results included:

[Click on the chart to view larger version]

Paul and Rubio could not have taken more differing paths on their march to the finals. Paul Ryan’s course matched him up against 4 excellent and currently serving GOP Governors: Jan Brewer (AZ), Nikki Haley (SC), Bob McDonnell (VA) and Chris Christie (NJ). While Rubio’s route was much more varied including a Senator (Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania), a Governor of a U.S. territory (Luis Fortuño of Puerto Rico), a former Secretary of State (Condoleeza Rice), and another fellow Senator (Jim DeMint of South Carolina).

Good luck to Congressman Ryan and Senator Rubio in the last round of voting. The winner will be announced on Monday!

——————————————————————————————

The poll: Whom would you most like to see as Mitt Romney’s VP pick?

The Finalists!

Please note the following:
-This is not an official Mitt Romney website
-This poll is simply for fun and has no bearing on the real selection
-We don’t seek to influence Governor Romney and his campaign with the outcome of our poll

~Nate Gunderson

We have four #1 seeds and four Division Champs! This is the round where one of them will finally have to fall, well… two of them actually.

Here’s the current bracket with Round 3 results included:

[Click on image to view larger version]

Round 3 recap: It seems the #1 seeds are the heavy favorites no matter where they go. (1)Marco Rubio still pulled out a hefty 81-19 victory over (2)Jim DeMint. The closest round was a 16 point win (58-42) in the (1)Rob Portman vs (3)Jeb Bush match-up.

The #1 seeds have plowed through 3 rounds unscathed, now something will have to give. Put in your votes below, and let us know why you chose your picks in the comments. Have fun!

Please note the following:
-This is not an official Mitt Romney website
-This poll is simply for fun and has no bearing on the real selection
-We don’t seek to influence Governor Romney and his campaign with the outcome of our poll

~Nate Gunderson

The polls:

Division A Champ vs Division B Champ

Division C Champ vs Division D Champ

After a long hiatus I am finally ready to put up round 3 of our Veep Madness poll. I have to apologize, but when real-life work calls I have to submit, and this is the busiest time of year for my work. I will make the final rounds of the tournament move much faster; round 4 will start on Tuesday, and the final round will begin next Friday.

Here’s the current bracket with Round 2 results included:

[Click on image to view larger version]

Round 2 recap: Most of the higher seeds won unscathed again this round, with only 2 minor upsets (according to my seeding.) Blowout victories were achieved a second time for (1) Chris Christie, (1) Paul Ryan and (1) Marco Rubio. Though they didn’t dominate quite to the extent that they did in round one I think all 3 faced must more staunch opponents, making their big wins even more impressive. We had the closest win in any competition yet with (2) Jim DeMint squeaking out a 51-49 victory over (3) Mitch Daniels by only a 22 vote margin.

Round 3: The Elite 8 contests feature two #1 vs #2 match-ups, and two #1 vs #3 match-ups. Will any of the #1 seeds fall or will all the #1′s be division champs? Which competition will be the tightest race? Will there be any blowouts? Feel free to comment below.

Please note the following:
-This is not an official Mitt Romney website
-This poll is simply for fun and has no bearing on the real selection
-We don’t seek to influence Governor Romney and his campaign with the outcome of our poll

The polls:

DIVISION A

DIVISION B

DIVISION C

DIVISION D

The Republican National Committee is throwing their official support and all of its weight behind Governor Romney.

WaPo:

Less than 24 hours after sweeping five primaries and declaring the Republican presidential nomination fight officially over, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and the Republican National Committee are moving quickly to coordinate their efforts.

“Governor Romney’s strong performance and delegate count at this stage of the primary process has made him our party’s presumptive nominee,” said RNC Chairman Reince Priebus. “In order to maximize our efforts I have directed my staff at the RNC to open lines of communication with the Romney campaign.”

The leading edge of the synchronization will be four liaisons between the two organizations. Brian Jones, who has been serving as an adviser to Romney since late last year, will lead that effort. Kevin Madden, who served as the press secretary for Romney’s 2008 presidential bid, will advise the communications operation and serve as a DC-based television surrogate for the Romney/RNC effort. Ward Baker, a veteran Tennessee-based GOP strategist, will help coordinate the political and field teams. Ron Kaufman, a veteran RNC member, and Ben Ginsberg, who served as national counsel to Romney’s 2008 race, will also facilitate interaction between the two groups.

From the beginning of the Romney’s primary campaign they stated that his planning and fundraising would be designed to perform a long slog through the primary season in order to win the nomination. They have done just that and a new election season begins. For many Romney diehards this moment has been six years in the making. For myself it almost seems surreal that it is finally happening.

The time has come to rally around the nominee. Please consider donating to Romney’s campaign what you can. Maybe pick up some promotional t-shirts and bumpers stickers too. Learn where and how you can volunteer to help the campaign. It’s only six and a half months until election day – let’s gear up for a tough fight now. You can start by watching Mitt’s speech from last night’s victories.

MRC Announcement: I’m pleased to inform you that my brother Luke Gunderson and I, along with staff writer David Parker, were elected as alternate national delegates for the RNC convention in Tampa and will be attending it in August. We look forward to doing some live blogging and tweeting directly from the big event.

~Nate Gunderson

UPDATE: The RNC has made good on their word to help Romney and have done so extremely quickly. Check out the new video they made entitled A Tale of Two Leaders

Have you heard the story about when Mitt Romney closed his company for a few days so he along with his fellow co-workers and employees could go search for a co-worker’s missing daughter in New York? What about the one where Romney (while Governor) and his boys saved a family of six and their dog from a sinking boat? Those are a couple of the character defining anecdotes that you don’t hear much of in the media that continually tries to portray him as a plastic automatron devoid of emotion and personality. Those who have studied Romney and his life know that such is not the case.

The CBS videos below touch on what is perhaps my favorite of these “personalizing” anecdotes: Mitt digging up a tree stump at a home after the San Diego fires of October 2007. Why is this one my favorite? Perhaps it’s because Mitt performed this act of service without any heraldry while he was in the midst of a presidential campaign. Or perhaps because it’s the only one we have pictures and video of the events as they unfolded, and we have the homeowner to thanks for that. Wouldn’t you take pictures if a potential future president showed up on your lawn to help out?

The reason for the CBS segment about Romney is due to a new chapter about Mitt Romney being added to a book published in 2007 called The Mormon Way of Doing Business. (The videos below are much more about Romney than Mormons.)

Video highlighting Romney digging up the stump:

Video discussion with book author Jeff Benedict (and others) discussing “stories about Mitt Romney”:

Did you get a good look at Mitt vigorously swinging that axe in the first video? I’ve been to more than a few Scout Camps and have seen both men and boys swinging an axe to chop wood. You can tell instantly if they have experience at it, and to me it’s obvious that Mitt has done this more than a few times.

For more info (and pictures) on the tree stump story check out our older posts where we have highlighted it:
MUST SEE: Mitt Romney Doing Bad Hair and Blue Jeans… in 2007!
VIDEO: Mitt Romney on the The Tonight Show w/ Jay Leno
Mitt Romney has Literally Defined the Meaning of “Service” by Example
Mitt Romney’s Best Stump Speech — Examples of Servant Leadership

~Nate Gunderson

Addendum: Another good read–> The Mitt Romney You Don’t Know

Polls are now open for round 2 of our Veep Madness tournament and we are down to 16 candidates! In each contests vote for the candidate you would most like to see as a potential running-mate for Governor Romney.

Here’s the current bracket with Round 1 results included:

[Click on image to view larger version]

Round 1 recap: Sixteen contests… sixteen non-upsets. All of the higher seeded candidates sailed through the first round with the sole competitive contest being between Mike Huckabee and Susana Martinez. Governor Martinez edges out the former Governor of Arkansas by 4 points and continues on to face Bob McDonnell in round two. Paul Ryan and Marco Rubio both pass their first round by an enormous 88-12 margin. Both candidates face tougher competitors in this phase.

Please note the following:
-This is not an official Mitt Romney website
-We know Romney hasn’t completely sealed the nomination
-This poll is simply for fun and has no bearing on the real selection
-We don’t seek to influence Governor Romney and his campaign with the outcome of our poll

Good luck candidates, and may the odds be ever in your favor.
~Nate Gunderson

Note: This round will run until Midnight on Monday.

CLICK HERE TO CAST YOUR VOTES

VEEP MADNESS IS HERE!

As the nomination looks more and more like a lock for Governor Romney and the VP rumor begin to swirl in media, right now is a perfect time to launch our own pick-your-VP-candidate tournament!

The 32-candidate bracket is laid out in the image below. Just like NCAA March Madness this is single elimination. Voting for Round 1 will close Wednesday at midnight.

[Click on image to view larger version]

Please note the following:
-This is not an official Mitt Romney website
-We know Romney hasn’t completely sealed the nomination
-This poll is simply for fun and has no bearing on the real selection
-We don’t seek to influence Governor Romney and his campaign with the outcome of our poll

Have fun!
~Nate Gunderson

CLICK HERE TO CAST YOUR VOTES

The Keystone State race just got a little more interesting. According to a poll released last night by Public Policy Polling Governor Romney leads former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum by a 5 point margin, and whereas Romney was down by 18 points last month that makes for a 23 point swing in one month!

The PA numbers:

Candidate	April 2012	March 2012	Difference
Romney	42	25	+17
Santorum	37	43	-6
Paul	9	9	0
Gingrich	6	13	-7

Rick Santorum has staked his continued candidacy hopes in winning his home state. Pennsylvania is one of five states to hold their primary contests coming up on April 24. The other four states (NY, DE, CT, RI) are each a “gimme” for the Governor. If Romney wins a clean sweep of those four PLUS Pennsylvania… well it will officially be more over than it already is now.

Anyone else think it’s quite telling that Santorum may lose his home state, and Romney won his 72-12? A 60 point margin!

Below the fold: cross-tab takeaways, and a “When will Santorum exit the race?” poll.
Read more…

We will be running a Veep Madness poll very soon, just as we did last year. Though this year’s poll won’t coincide with March Madness, we will use the same bracket-type single elimination competition. But before we start we want to know who do you want to see on the list!

Our poll will include 32 potential candidates so we need to see some names. Please leave your nominations in the comments section below.

Please note the following:
-This is not an official Mitt Romney website
-We know Romney hasn’t completely sealed the nomination
-This poll is simply for fun and has no bearing on the real selection
-We don’t seek to influence Governor Romney and his campaign with the outcome of our poll

Thanks, and let’s have some fun with this!
-Nate G.

For a guy who purports to be the ardent social warrior of the Republican party, Rick Santorum sure seems cozy at the right hand side of Arlen Specter, applauding him as he berates those in the “radical” wing of our party — you know, those crazy people who are fighting for justice for the unborn and religious freedoms.

Take note, Wisconsin social conservatives. The guy who is selling himself as someone who will fight for your values is becoming, well, unraveled.