Posted on 04/06/2012 8:01:06 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Political Insiders in both parties have noticeably cooled on the vice presidential prospects of Marco Rubio.
Democratic and Republican strategists alike said Republican senator from Florida was the strongest GOP option for vice president in this week's National Journal Insiders Poll, but he carried only slim pluralities among both groups. That's a significant drop-off from the same survey taken in October, when 60 percent of Republicans and 65 percent of Democrats and considered him the party's best possible running mate.
Now, just 34 percent of GOP insiders and 28 percent of Democrats say Rubio is the party's best hope for the No. 2 spot on the presidential ticket.
(Excerpt) Read more at hotlineoncall.nationaljournal.com ...
FROM THE ARTICLE ( TABLE OF PREFERENCES INCLUDED ):
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The decrease could be attributable to a sense that the senator, while popular among conservative activists, has yet to be vetted or tested nationally. Those fears are particularly acute among GOP officials after the selection of Sarah Palin as John McCain’s running mate four years ago, a decision that ultimately politically backfired on the Republican presidential nominee.
Still, Rubio’s promise remains: He’s young, telegenic, from a key state and - most importantly of all - Latino. The likely GOP nominee, Mitt Romney, is none of those things, and has struggled to attract Hispanic support even as the group is poised to play a decisive role in the presidential election.
“[Rubio’s] a three-fer: young, Hispanic, and from what may be the most important state - a la 2000,” said one Democratic iInsider.
Another Democrat said, “Rubio disrupts Obama’s Hispanic strategy in Florida, Arizona, New Mexico, and other states.”
He’s great on paper, a GOP Insider says. It’s just a question if he’ll handle the spotlight.
“Hispanic, swing state, conservative,” the Republican said. “The only question - is he ready?”
As Rubio’s popularity wanes, support for Rep. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, has surged. Barely a consideration six months ago, the former White House budget director was the second-most frequent choice for both sets of strategists - receiving 23 percent support among Republicans and 22 percent for Democrats.
Portman was a key backer of Romney’s during the Ohio GOP primary and is considered a safe, well-vetted pick from a crucial swing state.
“Not only is he eminently qualified to be president, but even more importantly no Republican as ever been elected President without carrying the state of Ohio,” said one GOP strategist.
Added another Democrat: “It is not about sizzle. Portman would make a great VP - highly qualified, highly competent, and from Ohio.”
CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE REST...
FROM THE ARTICLE ( TABLE OF PREFERENCES INCLUDED ):
________________
The decrease could be attributable to a sense that the senator, while popular among conservative activists, has yet to be vetted or tested nationally. Those fears are particularly acute among GOP officials after the selection of Sarah Palin as John McCain’s running mate four years ago, a decision that ultimately politically backfired on the Republican presidential nominee.
Still, Rubio’s promise remains: He’s young, telegenic, from a key state and - most importantly of all - Latino. The likely GOP nominee, Mitt Romney, is none of those things, and has struggled to attract Hispanic support even as the group is poised to play a decisive role in the presidential election.
“[Rubio’s] a three-fer: young, Hispanic, and from what may be the most important state - a la 2000,” said one Democratic iInsider.
Another Democrat said, “Rubio disrupts Obama’s Hispanic strategy in Florida, Arizona, New Mexico, and other states.”
He’s great on paper, a GOP Insider says. It’s just a question if he’ll handle the spotlight.
“Hispanic, swing state, conservative,” the Republican said. “The only question - is he ready?”
As Rubio’s popularity wanes, support for Rep. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, has surged. Barely a consideration six months ago, the former White House budget director was the second-most frequent choice for both sets of strategists - receiving 23 percent support among Republicans and 22 percent for Democrats.
Portman was a key backer of Romney’s during the Ohio GOP primary and is considered a safe, well-vetted pick from a crucial swing state.
“Not only is he eminently qualified to be president, but even more importantly no Republican as ever been elected President without carrying the state of Ohio,” said one GOP strategist.
Added another Democrat: “It is not about sizzle. Portman would make a great VP - highly qualified, highly competent, and from Ohio.”
CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE REST...
Rob Portman is a smart guy, but would be easy to attack for his work in the Bush Administration.
Who is Rob Portman???
Totally out of Left Field PING.
Who in the world is “Rob Portman”. (never even heard of him)
And who wrote this silliness?
Rubio keeps saying no, so I gotta believe he knows something we don’t.
I think the VP pick will depend on how things look in late August. If Romney is in good shape and looks like he can really win, I suspect he’ll go with either Rubio, Christie or Ryan and it’ll be a real donnybrook between those 3.
But if we get to August and it’s starting to look like a Clinton/Dole scenario and Obama has a solid/steady lead I suspect the party and establishment won’t want to hurt their chances in 2016 by having one of the stars on the bench go down with the ship. A guy like Portman(or Jon Kyl) is perfect in that case. He has no ambitions of his own and no one else does for him and him being part of a losing ticket wouldn’t hurt anyone else going forward and it would leave all the rising stars unscathed and ready for 2016.
In retrospect that was a mistake Palin made by tying herself to McCain. I don’t blame her really and obviously she accepted before anyone had any idea about what was going to happen to the economy in Sept and Oct. If Lehman had collapsed on Aug 15 instead of Sep 15 there’s no way she’d have accepted in my view. It’s interesting to think where she’d be now if she hadn’t taken the VP nod. There are pros and cons for both sides.
But I think it all depends on how things look. It’ll either be a glamour pick like Rubio/Christie/Ryan if Romney really looks like he has a good chance or it’ll be a guy like Portman or Kyl if the party is looking for someone like Jack Kemp in 96 to be a good soldier, take one for the team and get a nice reward for years of loyal service and as a wya to sort cap their career.
RE: Who in the world is “Rob Portman”. (never even heard of him)
Robert Jones “Rob” Portman (born December 19, 1955) is the junior United States Senator from Ohio. He is a member of the Republican Party. He succeeded retiring Senator George Voinovich.
FROM WIKIPEDIA:
Portman was born in 1955 in Cincinnati, Ohio, the son of Joan (née Jones) and entrepreneur William C. “Bill” Portman II. [8] When he was young, his father borrowed money to start the Portman Equipment Company, a forklift dealership where he and his siblings all worked growing up. The company grew from a small business with five employees and Joan Portman as bookkeeper to one that employed over 300 people.[9]
According to a 2010 Weekly Standard profile, Portman “developed a political philosophy grounded in entrepreneurship,” having grown up “[hearing] talk about regulations, and taxes, and government getting in the way of small business” because of his early experiences with his family business.[3]
Portman graduated from Cincinnati Country Day School in 1974 and went on to attend Dartmouth College, where he majored in anthropology and earned a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in 1979. He earned his Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from the University of Michigan Law School in 1984[10][11] and worked for two years as an international trade attorney at the Washington, D.C., law firm of Patton Boggs.[citation needed]
Portman returned to Cincinnati in 1986 and was employed at the law firm Graydon, Head, and Ritchey (GH&R).[citation needed] In 1989, he began his career in public service working for President George H. W. Bush as Associate White House Counsel. He later served as Director of the White House Office of Legislative Affairs until 1991 when he returned to Cincinnati and became a partner at GH&R. Two years later, he was elected to the House of Representatives.[citation needed]
Portman and his wife Jane are residents of Terrace Park in Hamilton County. They have three children.
You are not supposed to hear about Portman. The Ohio GOP likes to install behind the scenes NWO types to serve as Ohio US Senators. Think of former Senator George Voinovitch ... RINO to the core, but you rarely heard from him except when he was crying for some socialist liberal cause.
Never heard of him either. Rubio’s out because he got blacklash from the pro-Romney shoutout.
If Obama wins, it won’t matter because we won’t have a country in 4 years.
I hate still seeing these articles that say picking Palin backfired on McCain. It did no such thing. The pick was brilliant and did everything McCain wanted it to do.
It instantly ended any attention/coverage of Obama’s speech and the DNC
It stopped any Obama bounce cold
It gave McCain tons of media attention and coverage, pop culture appeal and a “cool”/historic factor that he clearly lacked against Obama
It gave him a huge bounce among white women, the very demographic he was aiming for when he picked her
It rallied conservatives and the base and evangelicals to his side and generated tons of enthusiasm and excitement in the party
It gave him a lead in the polls(nationally and in key swing states) and put him in great shape heading into the fall campaign, when many thought he had no chance whatsoever only days before.
It was all going great...until Lehman collapsed, the markets crashed, and the economy melted down. That’s what backfired on him and the GOP. Once that happened the election was over. Just as the election will be over this year in Sep if the market drops 3000 pts in a couple weeks and has a few days of 800+ pt drops. No matter how good Obama, Axelrod and Plouffe are.
Palin had nothing to do with any of that. Just as she had nothing to do with McCain’s idiotic decision to suspend his campaign and tie himself once again to W over the bailout just as Palin had helped distance him from Bush and create some breathing room for him. That was all that genius Steve Schmidt.
Just as she had nothing to do with his relatively weak 3 debate performances vs Obama.
In the end, though, the collapse of the economy, the dislike of the Iraq War, Obama outspending McCain by 400+ million dollars, and most importantly the fatc the George W Bush was throughout all of 2008 the most unpopular President in the history of modern polling was just too much to overcome. Again, none of those factors had anything to do with her. No republican was going to win in 2008. It just wasn’t going to happen. It was a Dem year. Just like 2010 was a GOP year. Palin didn’t backfire at all. She did everything she was supposed to do and they wanted her to do and then the economy fell apart and the die was cast.
Quite honestly the fact that McCain still won 22 states and got 46% of the vote and 60,000,000 total votes is astonishing to me. I’m still surprised the GOP ticket got more than 30% period. By all accounts 2008 should have been a replay of 1984, 1980, 1972, 1964. It wasn’t. And it could have been even closer. States like IN and NC were both decided by less than 1%. FL was a 3 pt margin. OH was a 4 pt margin.
I’ll always wonder what would have happened if Lehman didn’t go down and the economy just stayed the same in Sep/Oct as it was in August. I think McCain would have won a very close victor ya la Bush in 2004.
Unfortunately she’s ineligible. Born in Jerusalem. The birthers would go nuts.
The economy didn’t just fall apart in Sept 08; It was deliberately sabotaged by the Dems that ran Fanny and Freddie, and by Buffet, Gates, and Soros.
George Bush did his part too, by going along with the charade, and by signing TARP (which was nothing but a payback for those that had just sabotaged the economy)
.
juan would have lost by a landslide of Biblical proportions... if not for Palin.
LLS
Portman was a solid conservative congressman in Cincinnati for a long time. He’s one of the good guys. He left congress to be budget director under Bush ( not that that is necessarily a plus).
I don’t know much about Portman, in spite of the info posted on this thread.
As far as Rubio...we need him in the Senate at this point where he can do some good. jmho
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