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What does Romney need in a VP?
What do you think Romney needs in a VP candidate?
Conventional wisdom is that he has to have a conservative, but both this year and in 2008, the Republican primaries yielded a moderate nominee. Doesn't that say something about the voice of the party? Perhaps it says more about the primary process itself, but if McCain and Romney can both come out nominees when only Republicans are voting, perhaps he should consider a fellow moderate Republican.
Sarah Palin certainly fired up the conservative base, but she scared away plenty of independents. Obviously that was largely due to her being batsh*t crazy and completely un-vetted by the McCain campaign, so IDK how much weight I want to give to her as an example of a conservative VP not helping the ticket... But I think firing up the base does you no good if you scare off independents in the process. Given the way Romney is polling with women, choosing a hard right Republican doesn't seem like it would help him that much.
After the Palin debacle, I don't think Romney will choose a woman unless it's a woman he believes can substantially help him swing a big state. If he chooses a woman who is more or less the female version of Rick Santorum, that's not going to help him with independent female voters.
Admittedly, I'm a liberal Democrat, so take my ramblings with a grain of salt. I'm interested to see what everyone else thinks.
Meredith, 6-1-06 and Alex, 11-5-09
Re: What does Romney need in a VP?
Is there a formula yet to how many states it is likely Romney will take and then how many he can swing to win? If so, I'd expect a pick from one of those states. I'm thinking PA and maybe Pat Toomey? Not sure how much PA is in play this cycle though.
538 is now under the NYTimes wing and I don't see much on the general election there. Is there a similar source that is doing the electoral college math?
Or possibly worse: somehow managing to win in the electoral college, but having a MASSIVE difference in the popular vote. He might win the Southern states, but having a real voter count that is significant even with a win would be a huge scandal.