As I said earlier, it now looks almost certain that Mitt Romney will clinch the nomination. The primaries may not quite be over yet, but it’s never too early to speculate about who he’ll pick to be his Vice Presidential candidate. Indeed, 2008 Republican nominee John McCain weighed in this morning. ‘I think it should be Sarah Palin,’ he chuckled. ‘We have a wealth of talent out there and I’m sure that Mitt will make the right choice,’ he added more seriously, before breaking into laughter again as he said ’Obviously, it’s a tough decision’.
The favourite for the job is still Florida Senator Marco Rubio. His odds lengthened somewhat at the end of last year, particularly following the revelation that he embellished the story of his parents move to the United States from Cuba. But they shortened again when he endorsed Romney last week.
The most likely alternatives include four fellow prominent Romney-endorsers: Chris Christie, Bob McDonnell, Rob Portman and Paul Ryan. Here are the six main contenders for the VP slot, according to
the bettors on Intrade:
Romney could make history by making Rubio or Martinez the first Hispanic on a major party’s Presidential ticket. Rubio has the added benefit of representing a key large swing-state (Florida) that
could be crucial to Romney’s chances of winning the electoral college in November. That’s also true of Bob McDonnell (Virginia) and Rob Portman (Ohio).
The other striking feature of this list is how many of them were among the post-Bush Republican success stories of the 2009 and 2010 elections. In fact, the only one not to have scored an important GOP victory since Obama’s inauguration is Paul Ryan, who has instead made a name for himself pushing Republican alternatives to the President’s fiscal policy as chair of the Budget Committee in the House.
Of course, we probably won’t know the choice for several months yet. Vice Presidential candidates are usually announced in July or August, just ahead of the party conventions.
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