Poll: Help Mitt Romney make his VP pick

ABC’s The Note reports that the Veepstakes are on for the Romney campaign:

BOSTON – Mitt Romney today revealed for the first time that he has put longtime adviser Beth Myers in charge of his vice presidential vetting process.

“I have selected someone who has been a counselor of mine for a number of years, Beth Myers. She was my chief of staff when I was governor,” the former Massachusetts governor told ABC News’ Diane Sawyer in an exclusive interview.

“I’ve asked her to be the person who oversees the process of the vice presidential selection and vetting an analysis and so she’s begun that process and is putting together the kinds of things you need to do to vet potential candidates,” Romney added.

Asked whether there is a deadline for choosing his running mate, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee said he does have a deadline in mind but would not reveal the specifics.

“It would certainly be by the time of the convention,” he said. “I don’t think we’ve chosen the time we’d actually make an announcement,” Romney said during a stroll through Fenway Park, where he is scheduled to join two contest winners at a Red Sox game.

Political pundits are throwing names out there like Rep. Paul Ryan (WI), Sen. Marco Rubio (FL), and even Gov. Christie (NJ). I don’t have a clue who Romney is going to decide on, but I feel fairly certain two out of the three are out of the picture (exception being Rubio).

Your guesses?

22 Responses to "Poll: Help Mitt Romney make his VP pick"

rrpjr says:

April 16, 2012 at 8:50 pm

I guarantee this: it will be the most risk-averse pick in decades.
FeeVert says:

April 16, 2012 at 8:51 pm

Paul Ryan would be the super safe neutral choice. I’d like to see a solid conservative like Allen West, or one of the former candidates, like Rick Santorum or Michele Bachmann, but, frankly, I don’t believe Mitt has the brains or the cojones to pick someone that cool.
Phineas says:

April 16, 2012 at 10:20 pm

Rob Portman (super-qualified for the fiscal crisis we face); Paul Ryan; Bobby Jindal; Bob McDonnell (VA governor)… There are several excellent choices out there. Seriously, the Republican bench is almost embarrassingly deep compared to the Democrats.
pluffmud says:

April 16, 2012 at 10:22 pm

Romney will be forced to pick a true conservative so as to buffer his upcoming pivot to the Center-Left (away from the “true believers,” whose ABO vote he takes for granted), ostensibly to capture the Independent/Women vote.

Ugh. Why are Republicans continually drawn into the divisive identity-politics strategy of the Left? When will they learn that principles — and not pandering — make for a good leader?
TillieGlockenspiel says:

April 16, 2012 at 10:43 pm

Allen West or Marco Rubio- Romney needs someone with charisma and straight talk. I’d suggest Gingrich because I’d like to see a VP with bold conservative ideas, but i’s not possible on a personality level.
Rhymes With Right says:

April 16, 2012 at 10:47 pm

I came up with my own little list — from the safe choices to the Tea Party favorites to the “flavors of the week” and even tossed in one long-shot all my own. Anyone for Vice President Brian Sandoval? http://rhymeswithright.mu.nu/archives/328472.php
Dave B says:

April 16, 2012 at 11:13 pm

With the caveat that everyone says they’re not interested this early in the process but “find Jesus” when asked my guess would be Nikki Haley.
EBL says:

April 16, 2012 at 11:18 pm

Rob Portman would be a disaster. It Mitt wants to lose part of the conservative base, go establish Republican.

Paul Ryan would be great because he is young, talented, can debate better than any of the democrats on this subject and would signal a real commitment to cutting spending. And yea, Romney cannot shield away from that.
EBL says:

April 16, 2012 at 11:18 pm

Rob Portman would be a disaster. It Mitt wants to lose part of the conservative base, go establish Republican.

Paul Ryan would be great because he is young, talented, can debate better than any of the democrats on this subject and would signal a real commitment to cutting spending. And yeah, Romney cannot run away from that.
EBL says:

April 16, 2012 at 11:20 pm

Mitt needs to send a conservative signal. Ryan does that.
DaveP. says:

April 17, 2012 at 12:05 am

Paul Ryan would be the smart choice, but he also might want to pick a candidate who would help him secure Philadelphia. The electoral college math gets a LOT better for us if we can lock down PA.
Great White Rat says:

April 17, 2012 at 12:18 am

I like Ryan, but I think he’s much more valuable in his current role in the House than he would be attending funerals overseas. I don’t want him to be Veep; I want him in Congress leading the battles for sound tax policy and against bloated budgets.

The one smart move the McCain campaign did in 2008 was putting Governor Palin on the ticket. In the same way, the best choice would be a conservative governor from the outside the northeast or from a swing state. McDonnell would be a good choice; Sandoval, although less well known, is an intriguing possibility.

One thing the GOP doesn’t have to worry about is looking bad in the VP debate. Compared with Slow Joe, any of the potential candidates mentioned in the posts above will look brilliant.
Great White Rat says:

April 17, 2012 at 12:24 am

As for some of the others mentioned: Christie isn’t going to run, so forget that one. Portman might be etremely well qualified to speak on budget and tax matters, but again, what impact does the VP have there? And as EBL points out, if he’s the nominee it will be difficult to get much enthusiasm out of the Tea Party types.

Marco Rubio will be President some day – I first predicted that here two years ago – but it’s not his time yet. Maybe in 2020. In the meantime, let him work on his resume in the Senate.
Drew the Infidel says:

April 17, 2012 at 5:30 am

I agree with Phineas’ assessment about the depth of the GOP bench. To say Biden is a dimwit is like saying the Titanic had a bad voyage. It is almost like Romney could play spin the bottle and come up with a winner, every time.
Mizz Plod says:

April 17, 2012 at 7:35 am

Isn’t Brian Sandoval pro-abortion-choice? Assuming so, he’d be a poor pick for Romney who needs, among several other critical tasks, to not encourage evangelical and other Christian voters to skip voting for pres/veep…and all the other candidates downballot plus initiatives/referenda, etc. Romney’s already mistrusted by many social conservatives, some of whom somehow fail to see that they must get out to vote against Obama if not for Romney. So the right veep candidate has to inspire them on the important “social” issues as well as economic.

I agree Paul Ryan is a very attractive veep candidate–but he’s invaluable where he is. Would only tap him for veep if it was necessary to do so to ensure a win for the ticket…which could possibly turn out to be the case. Ryan is sooo sincere, honest, earnest, decent, smart, hard-working, comes across as not a “political type”, is from a potential swing state (vs liberal-leaning though phenomenal wins in WI in 2010). He’s likeable too and a Catholic which might help a bit given the way Obama kicked the bishops in the teeth, and all people of faith by extension, in his deceptive, rotten HHS mandate of January 20th and floated (but never adopted) specious pseudo-compromise of February 10th.

Not sure that Nikki Haley is ready yet for this kind of gig as unfortunately I suspect she’d be treated more viciously than say Paul Ryan in particular; any woman will be dealt with mercilessly by the media and one has to have a lot of experience and/or enormous natural talent to be able to deftly dispose of those. Not that I’m suggesting Sarah Palin because I think she’s been too tarnished by the awful media conglomerate already and, despite the injustice of that, will have to bide her time and let people who were brainwashed so badly about her forget that; meanwhile she needs to burnish other credentials like perhaps as Romney’s Energy Secy (which position can be abolished over the ensuing several years post-Palin’s appointment to the position…after the USA is on its way to energy independence.). Attacks on Ryan seem like they won’t stick because he’s so non-combustible/the attacks would just come across as so non-credible when they wouldn’t generate a rise out of Ryan who would just very simply, calmly, dispassionately and entirely credibly dismiss them as absurd (as they’d surely be).

Rob Portman is likely on a short-list because he’d be calm and dispassionate like Ryan, though I’ve never seen him interviewed so not sure if he has sufficient pizzazz (which I think Ryan does–enough to hold one’s interest). Plus Portman’s been vetted for 2 cabinet posts and has worked in all sorts of roles in Washington including in Congress–so a plus as far as knowing how the heck things have worked so far and theoretically then, how to get things done which will need to happen in a hurry by the time Obama’s been there with his wrecking crew for 4 years. The knock against him made already above is that he’s been in govt too long–he’s therefore “establishment”. Maybe, but not necessarily. Some good people have been there a long time trying to make headway towards good, constitutional govt. against huge obstacles so shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand for (in some cases) heroic persistence.

Think it’s probably too early for Allen West, Marco Rubio, Chris Christie, Michelle Bachmann and probably Rand Paul too. Santorum would bring some perks (Pennsylvania?) with him but it’s unclear whether he’d have the discipline to stay on message and avoid ensnarement by the media and others into dangerously distracting and potentially voter-alienating non-central side issues. Hmm, I’ll bet his likely realization that his appeal as a possible veep candidate would vanish if he lost PA helped convince him to suspend his campaign for prez before that looked like it was clearly going to happen–and before Romney unleashed ~$3 million annihilating Santy in his self-same home state! Yeah, not sure why I didn’t think of that before/didn’t notice anyone else making that point among the pundits though would be easy to miss.

Seems like Ron Paul would make an unlikely veep for Romney, in part because RP is the older man of the two…and, more to the point, 76 years old. That said, there are many in Congress and on the Supreme Court who are of the same vintage if not a lot older; also RP is very fit and generally very healthy (plausibly moreso than the much younger Chris Christie).

Maybe Bob McDonnell is the guy for the job with a decent amount of all of the needed attributes. Or possibly the diminutive and wonderful La. Gov. Bobby Jindal.

Jan Brewer is pretty seasoned but has the immigration issue which could probably be easily demagogued by the Dems including the Media Dems–although if the Fast & Furious travesty gets more broadly written about and discussed (new book on this very Obama administration-damning matter released yest by Town Hall editor Katie —–; see Michelle Malkin’s plug yesterday), perhaps that gets more people thinking more about the border (and 2nd Amendment) and maybe helps her a bit.

Not convince the ideal candidate’s name has been raised yet, but we sure do have a great bench!

Apologies if any typos above.
Bob says:

April 17, 2012 at 9:49 am

Bob McDonnell would be a great selection.
A popular successful conservative Governor from a swing state who focuses on economic issues.
Great resume, articulate calm demeanor.
The ‘ultrasound’ issue was fleeting…
Carlos says:

April 17, 2012 at 10:13 am

There will be a lot of names bandied about in the next few months, but the one that would take the most withering, blasphemous and vitriolic would be Haley. She has had so many problems within her own party and state, just think what a riled-up and desperate Chicago machine woukd do to her.

At this point I have no real preference, but I’m sure the Republican elite will find some way to shoot off both legs and a significant portion of the Republican torso (forget about just shooting themselves in the foot – it’s not their style!) And if Portman is dry toast and Sandoval is pro-killer, look for one or the other to be a frontrunner come convention time.
Jiji says:

April 17, 2012 at 10:23 am

After all is said and done Condi Rice would be a terrific choice and I think could guarantee Romney a win.

First and foremost Rice has extensive experience on the world stage. There would be very little need to vet her and she would be outstanding at advising the president on foreign affairs.

Secondly she is black which would automatically secure a lot of black votes. For the first time ever blacks would have a choice among blacks. It would be very difficult for the democrats and the media to demonize her like they did Palin.

Thirdly she is female and I believe that would also be helpful in securing votes and disarm the War on Women farce.

Condi is one of the most intelligent and experienced people on the American scene.
Lucid Citizen says:

April 17, 2012 at 11:28 am

Allen West is the best strategic choice because he can call out Obama’s race-hustling diversions and absence of leadership. That’s vital to recapture swing voters whose sympathies have been deftly played over erroneous social causes. A female VP won’t give Romney the advantage he needs, it’ll come across as little more than a token gimmick to a broad and diverse female electorate. West is conservative, he’s dignified, he’s a positive role model; fence sitters will have a hard time dismissing his positives. Rubio is another good choice if he’s eligible. If Romney chooses a white guy for VP the election is as good as lost. I’m a white guy recognizing the current zeitgeist for what it is.
DaveinMinnesota says:

April 17, 2012 at 7:43 pm

Knowing the Republican Party as well as I do, I’ll say John McCain will be the choice.

There is one person who I still like who brought Republicans to power in ’94, helped enact welfare reform legislation, and who helped to (relatively) balance budgets for 3 or 4 years straight.

But, don’t think the world is quite ready for him yet.
Casey says:

April 19, 2012 at 9:48 pm

Oh. My. Lord. Condi Rice, again!?

For those of us not paying attention, Rice has zero experience as an elected official; this allows us to deduce that she also has zero experience as an executive branch politician.

Heck, she makes Sarah Palin look Churchellian by comparison. And, no, I’m not blasting Ms. Rice. I think she is an incredibly intelligent & talented woman, but this is not the time to pick yet another rookie for the starting team.

No strong preferences for anyone right now, except Gingrich, but as #5 pointed out above, that would be problematic. At the very least the Romney campaign should go all-out to get Newt on their team, somewhere. He puts the “attack” into “attack dog,” can can make the entire Obama administration look as dumb as Crazy Uncle Joe Biden.

Right now I’m kickin’ back and poppin’ popcorn.
Francesco says:

April 21, 2012 at 2:44 am

Governor Brian Sandoval.

Comments are closed.