The hunt for Mitt Romney’s running mate has entered the final sprint and the betting money is coalescing around Tim Pawlenty and Rob Portman.Posted on 08/01/2012 9:42:17 PM PDT by Red Steel
The hunt for Mitt Romney’s running mate has entered the final sprint and the betting money is coalescing around Tim Pawlenty and Rob Portman.
They are both without scandal lurking in their background—and both so bland they make Romney look charismatic by comparison.
There are even oddsmakers weighing in on the process. In London, the safest bets are on Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio at 2-1 odds and former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty at 11-8. The company Intrade, which allows the public to bet on political outcomes, this morning had the chances of Portman being picked at 30.7 percent, while it put Pawlenty at 26.3 percent. (Intrade, by the way, also put President Obama’s chance of re-election at 57.8 percent.) How about Sarah Palin? Mccain’s 2008 choice isn’t looking so good at 0.6 percent chance.
The woman in charge of Romney’s selection team is Beth Myers, a 55-year-old Boston lawyer who ran Romney’s 2008 presidential campaign.
Most observers believe the key criterion Myers and Romney is looking for is someone who is as safe as possible. In other words, the anti-Palin. Traditionally vice presidential picks are seen as someone who can add to the ticket qualities or constituencies the candidate lacks. That would point to someone like Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who is Latino and could help Romney trim away at Obama’s huge lead with that crucial constituency. But Rubio has had questions raised about his personal finances—missing payments on his $100,000 student loan bill or on a Florida home that is significantly underwater. It is almost quaint to be talking about Rubio struggling with payments of several thousand dollars a month when Romney is sitting on personal wealth that might top $300 million. Though Rubio’s struggles with personal finances might make him even more relatable to the average voter in this recession age, Romney’s people will likely avoid anyone with anything remotely questionable in his background.
Huffington Post writer Howard Fineman said picking Rubio in this scandal-obsessed age would be like throwing an entire hog in the “shark tank.”
Last Friday Myers sent out a mysterious tweet that many took as a list of names she is considering—though it had the hashtag #ff, which in Twitter land is a popular name for something called “follow Friday,” suggesting things for Twitter users to follow. Among the names on her list were Rob Portman, Tim Pawlenty, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Marco Rubio, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and Newt Gingrich. About Gingrich, Fineman said on the Huffington Post, that he “must have been included for entertainment purposes.”
Looks like she’s glad to see me....
I've been thinking it is going to be Portman for a while now.
Good heavens, the only 2 people in America more boring than Romney...
ZZZZZZzzzzzzzz
And the march of the RINOs continues. DULL RINOs at that. Well, guess the Romney VP pick will be meaningless,
Oh my wouldn’t that be fun!
Not I. I will never vote for Romney. A vote for Romney is a vote to end Conservatism. If he is elected, conservatism dies.
I wait til 2016.
Well, he is the betting favorite at 2-1. So it's not really some great 'inside tip'. :)
If I were the VP candidate I would insist on seeing 12 years of tax returns before committing my axx to anything. I think Mitt is holding of on showing them for fear of a revolt at the Convention, or else contributors sitting on their hands when they see how little taxes he has paid. Harry Reid says an insider who knows the Romney tax situation said there were 10 years when Mitt paid ZERO taxes. Time will tell if there is any truth to this amazing statement.
Yeah, just what the Tea Party ordered.
You cannot mix red hot chili peppers, which is West, with plain artificially flavored synthetic vanilla lo-fat sugar-free, 0-fat, 0-calorie, non-dairy, frozen yogurt, which is Romney.
I guess Rubio would be about the best choice of the current possibilities. Too bad DeMint isn’t in the running.
I will not consider voting for Romney unless he picks Palin for VP and promises to resign after 2 years.
Obama is about as bad as bad can get. He has to go.
It needs to be a VP who can step in and one who can follow on in the next election for pres.. And someone who doesn’t distract from the nominee... Sarah hasn’t even endorsed the nominee, so that’s a no-brainer that she wouldn’t be asked - probably would accept anyway, she’s on a different career path.
It’s a tough decision. I don’t know anyone who fits it right now.
YAWWWN
Mitt has to run unopposed - even from his own VP - for people to “like” him
My goodness. What a shock. No making the “Palin mistake” for Mr Wonder Bread!
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzz
If he chooses either of these 2 snoozers he loses my vote .
2nd that ...but it ain’t gonna happen . Next to Ramney ( sic ) he’ll look like Superman . Mitts isn’t having any of that .
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