Pawlenty, Rubio lead Romney's short list of possible running mates

Tim Pawlenty- the working class "Sam's Club Republican" whom long-time readers of this blog will recall was my first choice fot the 2012 GOP presidential nomination- has emerged as the favorite among Mitt Romney's staffers to be their man's running mate.

Pawlenty, who has been known to greet supporters by putting them in an affectionate headlock, has the common touch Romney notoriously lacks. As one Romney staffer puts it, Pawlenty provides "a good ying to Romney's yang." The two men have developed a warm personal relationship.

The former Minnesota governor has impressed Romney staffers by emerging as by far the most effective Romney surrogate in campaign speaking engagements. An evangelical Christian and a strong conservative with a reasonable, low-key style which causes moderates and secular voters to see him as non-threatening, Pawlenty could help Romney with several constituencies which have been slow to warm to the presumptive presidential nominee.


Sen. Marco Rubio, the charismatic Cuban-American senator from Florida, is also gaining cred around the country as a potential veep. The Romney campaign has admitted that Rubio is being vetted as a possible choice. A favorite of Republican conservatives, Sen. Rubio's Hispanic origins also would figure to help the ticket with an increasingly large and influential demographic.

Other leading possibilities include Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio, Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, and Sen. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire. If chosen, Sen. Ayotte would be only the third woman ever nominated for the vice-presidency. The late Rep. Geraldine Ferraro (D-NY) was Walter Mondale's running mate in 1984, and Republican former Gov. Sarah Palin, of course, ran with John McCain four years ago.

It would be difficult to imagine any of them not matching up pretty well with the Obama administration's human gaffe machine, Vice-President Joe Biden. Should President Obama be re-elected, Romney's choice would likely become the more-or-less automatic front runner for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. All of the six give every indication of being presidential timber.

HT: Drudge