“whoever gets the nomination will need a partner on the ticket with DC experience.”
Whoever gets the nomination will need a VP who can bring in substantial parts of the country’s vote, OR Cut Obama’s base off at the knees.
The nominee will have to bring in those substantial parts of the country; the VP is usually a supporting/ complementing character. Other than ‘08, the VP candidate hasn’t done that much to affect the ticket.
The last winning race I can remember where geographic balance was important and effective was 1960. As it appears today, the likely GOP nominee will be either Romney or Perry or Cain. From the cast of characters in tonight’s debate, I don’t see any who can pull a given state that wouldn’t go GOP under most circumstances. Could Bachmann pull MN into the GOP column? Or Santorum pull in PA? I’m not even convinced (think it more unlikely) that Romney could win MA’s electoral votes. TX and GA are already pretty dependably GOP. It’s extremely unlikely that Cain would cut into Obama’s base. Ask Michael Steele about that. His base may not show up but they won’t vote Republican.
The top of the ticket will have to swing PA/VA/NC/FL/OH back to the ‘red’ column and pick up a few. I think most of those states are primed if the GOP gives the right ticket. But voters have to have some assurance the newly elected GOP POTUS/Administration would be ready to govern from Day One. They’ve learned a novice can’t do it.
So if the ‘likely’ nominee is drawn from among those three, his executive experience has to be complemented by someone who knows how the federal government works. That means someone who’s served in Congress or in a Cabinet or other high government office.