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his decision-making. Ann Romney, an influential counsel to her husband, recently said that compatability would matter.

"I think it's going to take someone else that's going to be there with Mitt," she said in a recent interview with CBS News, "with the same personality type that, that will enjoy spending time with them, and also competent, capable, and willing to serve this country."

Below are some of Romney's most buzzed-about potential running mates, roughly in the order in which they've been mentioned lately:

Tim Pawlenty

Former Minnesota governor

Age: 51.

Upside: A hockey-playing conservative with a "regular guy" image, Pawlenty is from a blue-collar background. He's an evangelical Christian, perhaps the most crucial group in the GOP base, and could reassure those concerned about Romney's Mormonism. Pawlenty, a dry personality, would not upstage the sometimes-awkward Romney, and their personal chemistry is strong.

Downside: He raised cigarette taxes, frowned upon by the no-new-taxes hardliners in the party, and once backed a program to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, another departure from conservative orthodoxy. Pawlenty would probably not put blue-ish Minnesota in play; he barely won a second term as governor.

Rob Portman

U.S. senator from Ohio

Age: 56.

Upside: The former Office of Management and Budget director, who served in both Bush administrations, has deep fiscal credentials, matching up with Romney's economic focus. He could help win Ohio, the most crucial of the swing states. He has plenty of experience as a congressman and senator and in the executive branch. Portman has a calm temperament, and he is described as so bland that he would make Romney look like a rock star.

Downside: Portman is tied to the Bush family and the policies of George W. Bush, which Obama and others blame for cratering the economy in the first place.

Bobby Jindal

Louisiana governor

Age: 41.

Upside: Jindal is a whip-smart Rhodes scholar and an expert on health-care policy, in his second term as governor. An Indian American, he would add ethnic diversity to the ticket. Conservatives love him.

Downside: Some believe Jindal stumbled in decisions made during the BP oil spill two years ago; his debut on the national stage, giving the GOP response to Obama's State of the Union message, earned bad reviews. An evangelical Catholic, he has written about having witnessed an exorcism that cured a friend of cancer.

Chris Christie

New Jersey governor

Age: 49.

Upside: Christie's blunt, tell-it-like-it-is persona and his confrontations with public employee unions have made him popular with Republicans and independents, especially in big industrial states such as Pennsylvania. He's seen as a problem-solver and a warrior who could go toe-to-toe with President Obama (or Vice President Biden in a debate) in the classic No. 2 attack-dog role.

Downside: Christie is unpredictable and volatile (witness the recent YouTube moment of his berating a constituent on the Seaside Heights boardwalk). Recent polls have shown that more voters view him as a bully. Though he is in good health, Christie's weight could raise issues for some. He opposes abortion rights, but his moderate views on issues such as gun control and immigration might hurt with the right-wing base that is the energetic heart of the Republican party in 2012.

Kelly Ayotte

U.S. senator from New Hampshire

Age: 44.

Upside: She's young, energetic, and conservative, great on television. As a woman, Ayotte might help dent the gender gap Romney has with Obama. And New Hampshire, albeit small, is a swing state.

Downside: Ayotte has served in the Senate less than two years, which could draw unfortunate comparisons to Palin. She also offers no geographic diversity. Romney, domiciled in a neighboring state, owns a home in New Hampshire.

Marco Rubio

U.S. senator from Florida

Age: 41.

Upside: A charismatic Cuban American, Rubio is a tea party favorite and could, in theory, appeal to Latino voters, who are trending Democratic in large numbers and represent a growing slice of the nation's electorate.

Downside: Rubio has less than two years in the Senate, so he does not have the experience Romney has said he wanted to have in his No. 2. There are also concerns that he has not been thoroughly vetted.

Paul D. Ryan

Wisconsin congressman

Age: 42.

Upside: Ryan is hailed by both parties as a serious, substantive ideas man. He is a deficit hawk who wants to streamline the federal government, and he has a detailed, serious proposal to do it.

Downside: While Ryan has garnered respect for his budget-cutting proposals, some of the specifics -- including cuts to Medicare and conversion of it to a partial voucher program -- are unpopular.

Also receiving a bit of chatter are South Dakota U.S. Sen. John Thune, New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez, and Bob McDonnell, the governor of Virginia.

For a time, McDonnell's name was mentioned often, and Virginia is a swing states that Romney wants badly.

But he also wants to cut into Obama's advantage with women. As a graduate student at Liberty University, McDonnell wrote that feminism was "detrimental" to the family and took issue with a court decision striking down state bans on birth control. More recently, as governor, his stock plummeted with women voters after he signed a law requiring ultrasounds before abortions.