Did y’all see this story yesterday?
Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney may not yet know who will be his vice presidential pick, but S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley has some ideas for him.
“There are amazing candidates for VP and (I) believe whoever Gov. Romney chooses will be part of a dream team. My preference would be Bobby Jindal or Condi Rice,” Haley wrote Wednesday when asked her vice presidential favorites during a Facebook chat with South Carolinians.
I didn’t know Nikki was the subliminal-message type. I thought she was more direct than that.
It’s like she’s swinging a pocket watch in front of him, and saying Miiiiiitt… Miiiiitt… You’re getting sleepy… What do you want in a running mate?… You want an Indian-American… like Bobby Jindal… and you want a female minority… like Condi Rice… oh, nooooo… you can only pick onnnnne… how are you going to get everything you want in one personnnnnn?…
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I think/hope Romney is smart enough to realize at this point Haley would be lucky to come away with a primary win for re-election.
Believe me, Mitt Romney’s people are vetting VP candidates pretty thoroughly, and they are not going anywhere near Nikki Haley, whatever subliminal messages she may be sending them.
Y’all are completely right.
I don’t think Romney has any interest in repeating McCain’s mistake.
Well, one of McCain’s mistakes. His other biggie was running in the year when the economy collapsed between Labor Day and Election Day.
Mindy Kaling would be an awesome choice!
There she goes again. SC Governot Nikki Haley playing the race card again.
Well, she is all about transparency.
He’s gonna pick Rubio. Hispanic Republican from a populous likely swing state. Book it. Done.
Maybe there’s someone from Ohio or Pennsylvania out there who could lock down their state, though. I dunno. Any other states in play with a large number of electoral votes? Georgia maybe? Is GA in play? Could Romney carry NJ with Christie on the ticket? Is NC really in play this year?
@Silence–the GOP has issues with Latinos over their anti-immigration stance, so that’s a good call. Santorum is from PA, but they don’t seem to like him much there, just as we don’t seem to like Haley as much as they do nationally.
Brad, I don’t think it’s that Romney would rule out Haley because she would turn out to be a divisive idiot ditz like Palin. I actually think Haley can think faster on her feet than Palin. She doesn’t bring in a swing state, but her superficial national appeal (the TV appearances, Vogue, etc.) would spruce up the boring-ness of Romney. No, the reason he won’t go near her is the whiff of scandal and dubious ethics surrounding her.
I agree with Silence, it seems Rubio is the obvious choice. Once again, the election to me comes down to Ohio, PA, and FL, as it has the last two elections. Whoever wins two out of three of those is President.
Yeah, a Santorium pick would spell doom. There’s no need for Romney to pander to the religious right at this point.
re: Ohio – John Kasich, maybe?
re: Georgia – Saxby Chambliss? He would being good foreign policy and conservative credentials. Certainly not Newt.
re: PA – also, nobody I can think of. Santorum’s not it.
re: NY – Giuliani, maybe? Would he put NY in play?
re: NC – Nobody really comes to mind here either. Maybe Richard Burr?
Michigan would also be important. Maybe Rick Snyder, although I don’t know that he could flip Michigan to native son Romney.
The only other pick I could think of who would help Romney carry the (less solid) south would be: Lamar! Alexander. TN’s not really in play, though. However, Lamar’s got a high enough profile and solid experience both campaigning and being a Governor and Senator. He’s also moderate, yet safe. TN has a good track record producing national politicians, too.
I don’t think Bobby Jindal is a good pick, Louisiana is too different from the rest of the South to be helpful, plus it should go republican anyhow.
Florida: Jeb Bush, or is he another patrician pol’s son?
While I don’t care for her, Condi Rice would be a great pick in terms of balancing the ticket. Foreign policy experience, links to the George Bush lovers fan club, might pick up some of the black/woman vote. Colin Powell probably wouldn’t accept the offer but he’d be a big plus for Romney.
Haley? No chance. Zip. Nada. I seriously doubt she will even get through another primary unless all the other candidates shoot themselves in the foot with their ethical issues.
Phillip is right – it’s really going to come down to a couple states… and latest polls show Romney with a decent lead in Florida. If today’s unemployment news and the revisions to prior months showing less growth than previously hyped continue as a trend for the rest of the summer, Obama will not win. And if Obamacare is struck down by the Supreme Court, it will be another body blow.
@ ‘Kathryn – I think the Bush name is still a little too polarizing, nationally. He’s a non-starter.
@ Doug – I don’t think Condi would accept, plus she may be too closely associated with Bush/Cheney and therefore be a little too toxic or polarizing as well.
Looking at the 2008 voting numbers a little further, (addl 2012 electoral votes in parentheses):
ST Votes Margin % 2008
MO 11(-1) .1% R
NC 15 .3 D
IN 11 1 D
MT 3 2.2 R
FL 27(+2) 2.8 D
OH 20(-2) 4.5 D
GE 15(+1) 5.2 R
VA 13 6.3% D
Assume that the above states are in play this year. FL would seem the easiest to flip, and has the most electoral votes. If there was someone who could guarantee carrying Ohio, they’d make sense too.
also:
PA 21 10.3% D
NJ 15(-1) 15.5% D
I assume that PA and NJ are too far out to flip, even with a strong VP nominee, maybe a Christie could do it though, probably not Santorum.
Other electoral states of note that should not be in play:
CA 55 24% D
TX 34(+4) 11.7% R
NY 31(-2) 26.8% D
MI 17(-1) 16.4% D
Again, maybe a prominent local name could pull one of these states, a Giuliani in NY, there doesn’t seem to be anyone who could flip TX, CA or MI at this point. These states seem out of play.
And the candidates home states:
IL 21(-1) 25.1% D
MA 12(-1) 25.8% D
So, do we assume that Romney can carry his home state of MA, and its 11 electors? That’s be a big flip.
Anyways, Rubio makes the most sense, if he’d lock up FL. Right behind him I’d put Kasich, then Christie then Giuliani.
I seriously doubt that Rubio could “lock up FL.” Right now (according to family members living there), Rick Scott has so alienated many Florida voters that he’s put a stink on the Republican brand.
@ Steve – You may be right. So do you go after NC, GA, OH or PA?
It does seem like someone from Florida or Ohio would be the best VP pick if a state is a consideration. Not sure it matters that much. I’d say the biggest factor right now is for the VP to do no harm. McCain probably lost a point or two net with the Palin pick but that wasn’t enough to change the election. All in all I’d say there is way more interest in the VP pick than it really warrants. The last time a VP choice actually may have mattered was Lyndon Johnson in 1960. Since then they only have served as place holders.
On second thought, the Republicans are well on their way to stealing Florida (again) so it probably doesn’t matter there. They’ll probably win GA and NC anyway and lose PA so scratch those off. If I was Romney I’d go for either OH or possibly VA or WI if I was making a state-oriented pick.
Nobody ever “stole” Florida.
Anyway, who’d want to? It’s full of people who can’t even figure out how to vote on a punch card…
@ bud – I disagree. In a lot of cases, I think the right VP can add valuable experience or depth to a camapaign. Walter Mondale, George HW Bush, Al Gore, & Dick Cheney all added foreign policy knowledge and Beltway credibility to a campaign for a DC outsider. Gov. Carter, Gov. Reagan, Gov Clinton, Gov. Bush all benefited. In President Obama’s case, he benefited from Senator Biden’s lenght of tenure and ostensibly from his foreign policy experience. Heck, even GHW Bush, the ultimate DC insider, picked a 12 year legislator for his VP.
I think the VP matters when completing a marketable ticket.
“Nobody ever “stole” Florida.”
Shhh… I want to see where he’s going with this, I need a good laugh today.
Silence, I’d go with someone like Pawlenty. He’s demonstrated an ability to win in a blue state.
If Team Romney is looking to select a VP candidate from a swing state with almost zero liability and plenty of political experience then the dark horse candidate could be Sen Rob Portman of Ohio.
@ Steve – He’d be a good individual, but MN doesn’t have enough electoral votes, I think it’s got 8?
I’d go with the Portman dude. Seems like a safe pick that could help win OH.