Romney VP search: free-floating speculation and wish list thread

[AmericanNation]

Romney definitely should not pick another governor. 

It just might appear more 'balanced' somehow.  Whether in perception or reality, Romney could use a 'point man' with Federal legislature experience to complete his dominance of the experience issue.  

Portman or Ryan.      

[AmericanNation]

Thine is not bad. I just really can't believe people are choosing Paul Ryan. To me, that is just such an obvious disaster in the making.

He's the "Mr. Big" workhorse on the hill and has complete mastery of perhaps the most important issue of the day... he's 42, awesome on TV, Catholic, and from a swing state.  Mr Big's always have a way of ending up on their party's ticket... maybe next time for him.  He's the guy that you would pick if you were behind, but since it's even you don't risk it (unfortunately).     

[AmericanNation]

complete mastery of perhaps the most important issue of the day

...What?

Ok, issues.  Debt, deficit, budget, entitlements, sustainability, economic recovery, taxes, etc.  Basically every reform that needs to be done. 

[AmericanNation]

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He needs a southerner on the ticket. Going with Thune will show that Romney doesn't give a **** about the South.

Let's say you were serious, just promise Haley Barbour and Jeb Bush whatever job they want.  Problem solved. 

[AmericanNation]

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He needs a southerner on the ticket. Going with Thune will show that Romney doesn't give a **** about the South.

This is why he should go with Christine O'Donnell.

She's not married.

Also, I'm pretty sure she's a witch.

As I recall, the definitive point of her campaign was that she is NOT a witch.  I believe her.

[AmericanNation]

I maintain that Burr is an excellent pick.  He's Southern but not Haley Barbour Southern; he's from a swing state; conservative but not Jim DeMint crazy; he's won multiple elections; and he's scandal free.

I like Burr as well, and he can probably deliver strong GOTV in NC and VA.
But I think Thune is more popular with Evangelicals and has a higher national prominence. 
Burr has never seemed to indicate he has national aspirations, and therefore, he might not be well prepared to handle the VP media attention. 

I see this election similar to 2004.  Kerry could have won with General Clark or someone else besides Edwards.  All he needed was a few more votes in Ohio. 

Romney is very similar to Kerry in many ways, and he will face similar problems.  Are there any Republican Generals available for politics? 

Petreus is the only one with enough 'gravitas.'  Some wouldn't consider him 'available' though.   

[AmericanNation]

He's not an excellent pick, tho I don't think there is an excellent pick that would be a game-changer for the Mittbot.  Burr would be a safe pick, which is why I am surprised he doesn't get more press.  Mitt likes to play it safe.  He only leaves his comfort zone if he feels the need.  Right now he doesn't feel the need to take risks, which is probably one reason The Mitt won't call out The Donald for being an idiot.  If the June jobs report is similar to May's, the chances Romney makes a safe boring pick go up.

Game changers List: Rubio, Ryan, (Christie) end of list.  

edit: add Christie

[AmericanNation]

I just thought of this last night. What about...... John McCain?

I was shot down for suggesting this a while back. But I actually think it would be an inspired choice that I could get behind. The man may not be the most conservative guy in the world, but he's got some "down home" appeal that makes him a lot more relatable to voters than Romney or Obama.

It'll never happen though.

That'd be a terrible pick.  He really doesn't bring much to the table other than a "down home" appeal, and factoring in his 2008 campaign, he really wouldn't add much to Romney's numbers.

He doesn't help Romney electorally in any one region, but just as a VP, I think he'd be great. He fills the foreign policy void that Romney needs to fill.

I like McCain causing hell for Obama in the Senate much much better. 

[AmericanNation]

Portman's association with Bush makes this election about Bush...imagine the line from Obama and Biden when attacked over the deficit..."Romney's running mate was the budget director who presided over many deficits"

Portman won't work, folks...

What? you presided over budgets deficits 2 to 3 to 8 times smaller than us!!!   ...that isn't really a trump card.  

let me check my math here: over 2 trillion (1.3 trillion estimated + unfunded Obamacare state coercion, double counting, etc) is more than 8 times 250 billion right?  

[AmericanNation]

John Kerry lost an election because of accusations of hypocrisy that were arguably not true. What makes you think that accusing a Massachusetts politician of hypocrisy that manifestly is in fact a thing would go any better for the target?

Mitt Romney hasn't flipped on national health care at all (he implemented a state plan) and John Kerry appearing to be incoherent/Biden-ish crazy was the real issue behind "flip flopping."  Your comparison fails in my opinion.   

[AmericanNation]

3)  John Kerry lost an election because of accusations of hypocrisy that were arguably not true. What makes you think that accusing a Massachusetts politician of hypocrisy that manifestly is in fact a thing would go any better for the target?

Mitt Romney hasn't flipped on national health care at all (he implemented a state plan)

1) Which is a distinction most Americans won't notice.

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2)  Mitt Romney also appears to be pretty incoherent/out-of-touch.

1) The issue is noticeable.  Romney has campaigned on the issue of repeal for 2 years now.  Nobody cares about what happened in Massachusetts 10 years ago.  All bringing it up does, is make him look centrist and reasonable.   

2) I don't know what you mean by "appears" exactly, but he obviously isn't incoherent and he is less "out-of-touch" than Obama is or Kerry was/is.   

3) I think it is interesting how leftist-ish democrats always come up with simple/wrongheaded excuses (usually involving some supposed republican dirty trick) as to why they lost an election.  Kerry didn't lose because of "flip-flopping" and Dukakis didn't lose because of "Willie Horton."  They can never accept that they were wrong on dozens of important policy positions and america correctly rejected them on their merit, so they invent folklore.       

[AmericanNation]

No sh*t! No one is going to vote for the Obumbler, but they may stay home or vote 3rd party. That's why I say to pick a true conservative for VP: Palin, Gohmert, Bachmann, or - as a dark horse - Mo Brooks.

All of those people are completely off the reservation. Good luck giving President Obama a second term, though.

I agree, but you have to admit Joe Biden is insane and has been wrong on every foreign policy matter for over 30 years.  He even got the bin laden call wrong!  Him and 3 other people in the country are that stupid. 

[AmericanNation]

Very Unlikely, but Ron Johnson actually fits most criteria.  

Business / Fiscal experience -- He is the only Manufacture and one of the only Accountants in the Senate.  

Anti Obama Care bona fides -- His personal story that brought him to politics (sick daughter) is compelling and helps Romney with his only real weakness.  

He's cool with the Demint/ Rand Paul wing of the party, but doesn't have the negs of being super associated with it.  

He's a lot like Paul Ryan without the negs of the specific budget plan

Swing state guy (Wisconsin AND Minnesota)

He already has some kind of major role as Romney spokesman / transition team leader

Has these perfect positives,  and everything else is boring white guy...  

Could have more public office experience, but he has a better resume than Obama did and this is VP we're talking about.  Outsider+ private sector angle.  Zero bush angle.    

He really is interesting because you couldn't thread the needle any better if you tried
motivating the base
strengthening weaknesses
appealing to important swing states and swing voters.
bringing no negatives and doesn't overshadow Romney at all.  

He's actually better than Portman, except he isn't a Washington insider, which is a positive to most people outside the beltway. 

[AmericanNation]

Drudge is only doing this to distract from Bain. LOL.

Bain is what you call a " qualification. "  Qualifications are a positive thing that you don't distract from, so you are making zero sense.  This could be part of the VP announcement roll out though.       

[AmericanNation]

The Bain-ers are the New Birthers.   

[AmericanNation]

The Bain-ers are the New Birthers.   

Yeah, looking at Romney's business record is as crazy as saying Obama was born in Kenya.

Yeah,  Making up crazy crap, getting totally discredited and coming back with more crazy crap again and again in a deranged manner identical to the birthers is "looking at Romney's business record at Bain" the same way the Birthers were "just looking at Obama's birth certificate." 

Romney's loan requirement(qualification?) for being President is his work at Bain. He's based his entire campaign on being a business man. You should know you can't just say that and think the media and your opponent are gonna take oh at your word. This is more 2004 swift-boating. Taking your opponent's largest asset and turning it into an anchor. George Bush did it with Senator Kerry's military service and President Obama is doing it with Gov. Romney's private-sector experience.

 
Romney saved the Olympics and was a successful republican governor of the bluest state in the Union in addition to doing a spectacular job running Bain capitol.  Any one of the three makes him more qualified (and suggests he would do a better job) than Obama. 

The media (shockingly) is actually doing its job slapping down this Pinocchio fest coming out of the Obama campaign. 

This would only be swift-boating if 50 of the 52 highest ranking-still living employees of Bain (while Romney was there) ran an ad at their own expense testifying to something (negative and true) about Romney.  That isn't what this is, obviously.
           

[AmericanNation]

Huckabee would have wiped floor w/ Romney this year.

...could have done serious damage in/to the primary.  I don't think he would have a chance in the GE, so I respect him for sparing us from both of those disasters.   

[AmericanNation]

This Pawlenty thing is either a fake out, or he is the pick and it will be announced before the Olympics start.  I think it's a fake out, but he could be announcing the pick before the Olympics. 

I still think it's Portman, Ryan and everyone else. 

I have updated my analysis of McDonnell and improved his grade/ chances.  The climate of the past few months have been good for him.  War on Women crap has fizzled out and Virginia hasn't moved toward the Romney column the way almost every other battleground state has.  He's a Catholic and a veteran.  If you think McDonnell can help you win VA and NC, than all you have left to win is Ohio.

1A) Portman
1B) Ryan
3)   McDonnell
4)   Pawlenty
5)   Rubio
6)   everyone else             

[AmericanNation]

Would Romney really leak the pick days in advance?

Portman: Doubtful. He's the Bushiest of Bushies not named Bush, plus by most accounts he failed the chem test.

McDonnell: He blew it with his sycophancy/yes-man shtick and publicly campaigning for the job a la John Edwards '04. I said at the time it would come back to haunt him and it did. Last I heard he said he wasn't being vetted.

I've been overly cautious about Ryan's chances, but he's just so perfect for it.  People always say his budget is a liability, but Obama is so so so so so so SO so SO so weak on that issue that the sum total comes out as a huge positive.  It is the perfect trap to bait the Obama campaign into talking about the budget (and other related matters) and than have Paul Ryan going on TV everyday for the next 4 months slapping them around.  Nobody in the Obama camp is close to being in his league AND he is better on TV than all of them. 

He:
did the best on the CHEM test.
is the least likely to make a gaff.  / best on TV.
is probably the smartest guy on the list.
He actually inspires confidence that a problem can be fixed in Washington.

like I've said, he's been (tied at least) at the top of the list the entire time.