Playing second fiddle to Mitt Romney won't be easy, but somebody
has to be his running mate. Let's handicap the field:
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio: The choice who offers the biggest
potential reward -- for the biggest risk.
The telegenic young Cuban-American could potentially shore up
three of the Romney campaign's weaknesses: He is an unambiguous
conservative, elected with tea party backing, who would temper
Romney's "Massachusetts moderate" image. He could lure back some of
the Hispanic voters driven away by Republican policies. And he
happens to come from a huge swing state that Romney must win.
But Rubio would be a roll of the dice. How would he perform under
the microscopic scrutiny that any candidate for national office
must endure? Pitted against Vice President Biden in a debate, would
he seem callow and uninformed?
Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan: A safer choice, yet one that would
restrict Romney's freedom to maneuver. Romney and Ryan campaigned
together last week, and there is an obvious rapport between them.
But Ryan is the author of the House Republican budget, a document
that has become the main target of President Obama's re-election
campaign. Romney has said nice things about the Ryan budget, but
there's a difference between owning the thing and chaining yourself
to its creator.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie: A potential game-changer who
could save the ticket or doom it -- either way, spectacularly.
I think of Christie as the "fasten your seat belts" choice. He
has credibility as a conservative Republican, yet manages to
survive in a state where appealing to independents is crucial.
But Jersey-style bombast wouldn't necessarily play well in many
parts of the country and Christie has a tendency to get carried
away. One ill-timed eruption of invective could do fatal damage to
the ticket's chances.
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal: Plausible but why?
Romney has survived the primary campaign by declaring himself to
be an ideologically pure conservative, but nothing in his history
suggests this is actually the case. He's a dedicated believer in
the free market, without question. Beyond that, however, he's
basically a technocrat who lets data, not ideology, lead him to
solutions -- as with the health insurance mandate he instituted in
Massachusetts. So why would he choose another data-driven
technocrat as his running mate?
Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell: Looked much better a few months ago.
McDonnell has it all -- he's the moderate, good-looking governor
of a key state. At least, that was his image before he placed
himself on the front lines of what Democrats call the GOP's "war on
women."
In February, McDonnell supported state legislation that would
have defined a fetus as a person and required women to submit to an
intrusive vaginal ultrasound exam before having an abortion. With
female voters deserting the party in droves, would Romney want to
ensure that the words "war on women" are on every Democrat's lips
until Election Day?
Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, South Dakota
Sen. John Thune, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty: Safe, safe,
safe, safe. Not much excitement here, which may be the way Romney
wants it. Maybe a slight edge to Portman because he's from Ohio.
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley: Given her talent for
controversy, I'm begging on behalf of columnists everywhere, Mr.
Romney. Please. Make our day.
