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Haley Barbour was an awesome GOP Chair in the mid1990s - he led the victory in the Congress.

I have been mostly unimpressed with GOP chairs since.

I think as a southerner, he has some electoral disadvantage on the national stage, because northerners can be a bit bigotted towards the south.
He'd make a good Veep pick. Not that mississippi or the south would be in play, but he is quite articulate but in a good-ol-boy way that would help any campaign.

Yes, I was impressed with Haley Barbour as chair of the RNC. His leading the GOP to Congressional victory in the 90's is an impressive part of his resume. I have to agree with you about the chairmanships that followed Barbour, namely Racicot and Gillespie. I had high hopes for Racicot, since he was our Governor in Montana and I was impressed with his stewardship at the Governorship. He was impressive in helping the GOP cause in Florida after he stepped down as Montana Governor and become involved in the Florida recount in 2000, but he wasn't at all impressive as GOP chair. Gillespie falls short of his mark in my humble opinion. He's kind of leading the mushy middle Republican charge and not trying to steer the party away from the spend happy GOP they've become, rather than heeding to the GOP's cause of being fiscally responsible and not trying to imitate Democratic tactics by endorsing the proposal crap that is notoriously Democratic (ie open border immigration policies). The way the party is headed these days, only puts a slight sour taste in my mouth, that will only get worse if the GOP continues down the same track they're on.