Mitt Romney Running Mate Speculation Thread

why don't you send Romney an email?

i guess it needs to be someone superficially exciting to the press and more 'substantively' exciting to the base. so yeah rubio i guess.

xp lol

I'm looking at that list and thinking "no chance in hell" for pretty much all of them

funny the logic of this seems to push toward another "shake things up!!!" kind of pick.

Romney/Arpaio '12

^^ finally, a ticket we can get behind

the prob is he still hasn't won over the base but any pick that will is gonna alienate a lot of people. if he wanted to 'shake things up' and stay on msg he could pick some CEO w/ no political trail maybe. meg whitman woulda been an okay choice if she had won california.

girl power!

Is Jan Brewer a possibility at all?

nooo way

I guess if Romney's interested in frightening the few "Latinos" who'll consider him.

Yeah, I guess that goes along with the first sentence in your last post, iatee.

I hate Paul Ryan so much. Even if his politics weren't reprehensible, he's just completely smarmy.

Romney/Duffy '12

idk, my leaning toward Rubio mostly comes from the math of how many Latino votes Romney will need to even have a chance and even though he's never going to convert those kind of numbers, i can still see them going with Rubio to at least keep up an appearance

that kind of calculation betrays a lack of understanding of the (lack of) solidarity of the USA Latino community...which means it's likely just how the Romney camp is thinking

I thought Rubio was already deemned LINO

Has anyone any evidence that Rubio's appeal to Hispanics extends beyond Cuban-Americans?

can we just put the kibosh on the whole "*INO" thing now

the prob is he still hasn't won over the base but any pick that will is gonna alienate a lot of people.

this is the beauty of the situation

I think Santorum might have picked Jindal, but I think Romney'll want somebody more Romney-ish - I assume that the party will have figured out that the "match an evidently sane candidate with a totally batshit veep" strategy was a non-starter. McDonnell seems the savviest pick: he's Catholic, southern, ex-military, vocal Romney supporter

right, Alfred, that's my point

Romney/Maturo Jr '12

xpost

yes, please. I figured by using it in the stupidest situations we can get it out of the running

Hologram Tupac is the obvious answer

that kind of calculation betrays a lack of understanding of the (lack of) solidarity of the USA Latino community...which means it's likely just how the Romney camp is thinking

exactly! i don't think they'll do it because it IS the smart thing to do, they'll do it because they THINK its the smart thing to do.

if this was a poll I'd vote Paul Ryan. he plays to the economy theme and has social con bona-fides over Christie who's squishy on guns and gays

can we not use the adjective "squishy" to describe Christie on anything

Christie squishy on gays, film at 11

how about gelatinous

how bout Wellesian?

jeezus, and it's only 4 months til the pick is made

Hmm, maybe he'll pick the person in charge of helping him pick the right person?

Sorry, I don't know which current politics thread is the right one, but does anyone else get the impression that all or most of Mitt's battles have been fought for him? I'm never been impressed by the guy on the stump or stage - too much frenzied stammering, unconvincing line readings, poor turns of phrases and avoidable gaffes - but I wonder if all will simply get worse now that the spotlight is his and his alone, let alone once compared with Obama, who thrives on all those rhetorical fronts.

Ohio senator Portman maybe not

http://www.ontheissues.org/oh/rob_portman.htm

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/04/10/the-portman-bubble.html

National Journal’s Major Garrett flatly declared that Portman will get the nod, in part because he and Romney have a “genuine rapport.” Garrett acknowledged the downside:

“Portman’s a bore, and their ticket would be boredom squared, or squares squared; he offers nothing to women voters or Latino voters; he carries the taint of Bush-Cheney policies; and he’s not conservative enough for the Tea Party. To one degree or another, these are all valid complaints. But Romney has the same perceived ‘flaws’ and he’s going to win the nomination.”

The Portman boomlet picked up momentum when Politico ran this headline: “Rob Portman tops veepstakes.” The evidence for this? “The name on the lips of most GOP strategists is Ohio senator and former George W. Bush administration official Rob Portman.”

Newsweek’s own Paul Begala was nothing if not definitive:

“You heard it here first: Mitt Romney is going to select Rob Portman, the junior senator from Ohio, to be his running mate…I’m betting that Romney’s choice will reflect who he is: a bloodless technocrat who wants to double down on trickle down.”

"Newsweek's Paul Begala."

offers nothing to women voters or Latino voters

New GOP slogan.

to continue the Hillary 2008: Needs More Kahlua theme from the other head

http://cdn.theatlanticwire.com/img/upload/2012/04/16/RTR30SAA/large.jpg

not true, Newt will offer marriage and/or yard work to both

xp

GIS for Portman suggests I search for Kelly Ayotte

I like the two gay staffers behind HRC already wondering which hotel room they're going back to

what is HRC holding?

She's gonna flick a bottle cap at somebody.

a popper

missing a comma

what, is HRC holding?

The SOS doesn't have all the nuclear codes, right? These photos are starting to make me nervous.

After a few drinks Clinton is known to chuck D batteries at staffers. [citation needed]

lol, these photos are making me wish I'd gone to college with HR because she'd fit right into my peer group

After a few drinks Clinton is known to chuck D batteries at staffers. [citation needed]

don't believe the hype

how low can she go?!

CNN just went through this--all the usual names plus, because Romney's supposedly losing women so badly, Condoleezza Rice. Meanwhile, Ralph Reed, who's been creeping me out for two decades, says that Romney needs more unscripted moments, so people get to know him better. Hasn't every one of Romney's self-inflicted wounds the past few months been an unscripted moment?

hush, let Ralph have his illusions

One of the main reasons Bush 41 settled on Quayle was the latter opposing most of Reagan's late term dealing with Gorby.

how was Palin in the Biden-Palin debate in '08? are these running-mate debates a big deal? i don't recall hearing about them over here much last time around.

repost dirty gif of Biden and Palin during debate plz

http://lifesteez.com/miscimg/gotthatbitch.gif

By the time of that debate, the Palin bar of expectations had been set so low that all she had to do was not be completely embarrassing for it to count as a triumph. I think the general consensus was that it didn't really help or hurt either of them.

so who will Obama pick as veep?

biden was really good in the debate, he said some plainly heartfelt things about his family which made palin's bear mama (or whatever it was ...) rhetoric look patently empty. the story was just 'palin fails to embarrass self', though

(xpost) Yes--although she still managed to fall short of those abysmally lowered expectations. I feel like I should apologize in advance for knowing this, but Biden was the "winner" in all the post-debate polls by about a 2-1 margin. On the other hand, she did get off one immortal line: "Mind if I call you Joe?"

It'd be fun to use that line in real life with some of you. "Mind if I call you Thomp?" "Mind if I call you Schlump?" "Mind if I call you A Regina Spektor Is Haunting Europe?"

My secret hope for this is that educating the public about Ayn Rand will turn into her becoming this election's Jeremiah Wright. WHY WON'T RYAN DENOUNCE HIS EXTREMIST IDEOLOGICAL MENTOR?

VP debates were handily Biden's but yeah, the CW was that Palin needed to not come out in clown makeup reciting nursery rhymes backwards, so it was a "win." Biden did have that alternately cringe-worthy/heartfelt speech about his roots. (Jon Stewart: "Oh yeah, Sarah Palin? You're from one shithole town? Joe Biden's from four."

Back to back:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=638sSV5WByQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4QCcwJjk54

Maybe until you're actually elected it's hard to get your head around the idea that the next president might be you.

And, if you're running for President, you're constantly hearing people introduce someone on stage (you) as "the next President of the United States!" Could imagine that just getting lodged in your head.

A simple explanation that makes perfect sense. Don't think it's a coincidence, though.

My secret hope for this is that educating the public about Ayn Rand will turn into her becoming this election's Jeremiah Wright. WHY WON'T RYAN DENOUNCE HIS EXTREMIST IDEOLOGICAL MENTOR?

considering that ryan is one of the new breed of "professional catholic" politicians his devotion to a notorious atheist is ripe for picking apart

yeah if ayn rand does come up its gonna be in the context of IS THE REPUBLICAN PARTY BEING RUN BY ATHEISTS

Frum's thing is pretty interesting--#4 is LBJ's inside-pissing-out theory:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/08/11/paul-ryan.html

who SHOULD have mitt picked?

lol frum was damn near apopleptic about this pick last night - https://twitter.com/davidfrum/status/234147333850406912

Max Twain‏@MaxTwain

@davidfrum We get it, you are petrified to defend conservatism. That's why you are so comfortable among the Deweys/Fords/Doles/Bushes #tcot

#3 on that frum list was my first thought when i saw the pick -- the most obvious-seeming answer to the who is this for question, right? it's not really for "the base" cuz the base hates obama so much that romney shouldn't have to worry about them; it's not really for "swing voters" because this isn't the guy to get them; but the kochs of the country, the ultrariches with their heads stuffed full of rand, love this guy (the natl review had a hilarious piece where they said ryan was just the kind of brilliant analytical "uber-competent thinker" romney would have hired at bain; he's a ceo's idea of a genius) and w romney's numbers slipping i thought maybe he was hoping for a huge cash injection from a newly enthusiastic plutocracy. who knows tho right.

anagram fun - "Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan" -> "Immoral Ayn Rand-type nut"

awesome!

the most obvious-seeming answer to the who is this for question, right?

Duh, it's for the good of the country, and, by extension, the good of the whole world.

http://swampland.time.com/2013/11/02/the-hunt-for-pufferfish/

Based on their junk-food-saturated vetting diet, they called their undertaking Project Goldfish (after the crackers)—ultimately giving each of the VP finalists an aquatic code name. Myers’ plan was to have Project Goldfish completed by Memorial Day. In April she presented Romney with a list of two dozen names, which he whittled down to 11: Kelly Ayotte, John Cornyn, Chris Christie, Mitch Daniels, Bill Frist, Mike Huckabee, Bob McDonnell, Tim Pawlenty, Rob Portman, Marco Rubio and Paul Ryan.

Within a month, the vetters had assembled preliminary research books on the 11, which Romney perused and then rendered his short list: Christie (Pufferfish), Pawlenty (Lakefish), Portman (Filet o Fish), Rubio (Pescado) and Ryan (Fishconsin).

huck

http://datxvsvmsae0p.cloudfront.net/sw56586001.jpg

should've selected gov. pufferfish.