Vice presidential speculation megathread

[Vosem]

Thing is, Cruz/Brown is a ticket whose total experience is 7 years in the Senate. That's...not a lot.

Cruz needs a governor or a prominent businessman/military type. Walker and Haley are the two most logical choices if he decides to go the first route, with Mitch Daniels or John Kasich being dark horses if they really want it. (Tim Pawlenty, who's already been vetted twice, might've been very logical, but he's moved on to lobbying, so probably not; Brian Sandoval might be too moderate, and there'd be visible disagreements between the top and bottom of the ticket). James Mattis, a retired general who is also renowned for speaking his mind, might be an effective way of appealing to _trump folks without alienating everyone else (or Stanley McChrystal could serve basically the same function). Not sure who a choice from the business world would be -- the only names coming to mind are Carly Fiorina and Meg Whitman, who both have very obvious problems.

EDIT: McChrystal has a history of endorsing congressional Democrats and speaking out in favor of gun control (apparently, he was involved in Seth Moulton's 2014 campaign) -- as _trump showed, this doesn't necessarily have to be a deal-breaker, but I'm inclined to think for Ted Cruz it would be.

[Vosem]

i maintain that drumpf's perfect vp candidate would be joni ernst, a female veteran from a swing state who is considered an outsider but does not totally lack experience/legitimacy.

cruz, on the other hand, would be likely imo to pick a running mate from within the establishment, given what his path to the nomination would look like. probably nobody really moderate, but a mainstream republican like chris christie, or john thune. rubio is also a possibility. if he does venture outside of those bounds, it'd be mia love or a different token woman/minority.

clinton or sanders would likely pick someone incredibly boring (kaine, warner, …)

The chance of Cruz picking a _trump-supporter who is very personally unpopular his own home non-swing state is basically zero. Christie is probably done with politics after 2017, though he perhaps has a chance at a Cabinet appointment in some future administration someday (though he bet on the wrong horse, both for 2016 and in the long-term).