The debate over who should be Mitt Romney’s Vice President is in full swing, at least in the punditocracy. And from most of the articles, the “cool” thing to do this election is for every pundit to wail and moan about how much they hate their fellow pundits dishing about the “Veepstakes” and all of the bandying about of names…as they proceed to dish about the Veepstakes and bandy about all kinds of names from the plausible (McDonnell, Rubio, Daniels) to the absurd (West, Rand Paul, Haley). It’s like a mom complaining that the Tickle Me Elmo doll isn’t that cute anyway, and then chewing off her neighbors arm to get it for her kid.
I’m not going to do that. I think the choice of a Vice President is a big deal and it’s a decision that shouldn’t be made lightly. Besides, it’s an interesting thing to talk about, even if the eventual choice isn’t going to set the world on fire. Plus, Jim Hoeft gets mad if I don’t post enough, so like my fellow pundits, I’m going to take the easy road here.
I’ve read articles from Stu Rothenberg, Karl Rove and Ezra Klein on the Vice Presidential decision over the last few days, and one thing that the two pundits and one operator have all agreed on is this: Vice Presidential choices are no longer about delivering a region or state and are now about both complementing the Presidential candidate’s experience and message and also someone who can actually aid in the process of governing.
When I wrote my post a few weeks back about Bob McDonnell being the best choice for Romney’s Vice President, I touched on some of these points, and I’m glad to see that the rest of punditocracy has caught up to me.
Even after a few weeks with each other contenders being trotted out for a show, McDonnell remains choice that best compliments Mitt Romney. The Romney message is beginning to solidify around a few core concepts that should surprise no one – we can turn this economy around, but it’s going to take a focus on job creation and sound economic policies that only someone with experience can achieve. Romney has his record in Massachusetts and his record as a successful entrepreneur to point to. He couples this with attacks on Obama and Washington, pointing to the regulatory boondoggles and scandals that highlight the incompetence of those who have been captured by Washington.
You can’t run on a message attacking Washington if your running mate has been to Washington. This eliminates DC insiders like Daniels, Portman, and Ryan. And you can’t run on a message of job creation and executive experience with a partner who has no record on either, which eliminates Rubio, Christie and most of the other second-rate candidates.
Bob McDonnell stands alone as the best and most articulate complement to Mitt Romney’s messages as they have been rolled out to date.
Does that mean he’s a lock? Nope. Nobody really saw Dick Cheney, Sarah Palin, Joe Lieberman, Dan Quayle or Geraldine Ferraro coming, so there’s still a good chance that somebody no one is talking about makes it to the top of the list. And since the one area that Romney is truly lacking on is foreign policy experience, it’s entirely possible Romney may choose to go in that direction, especially if a foreign policy issue raises it’s head in the next few months. It was that exact problem – the Russian invasion of Georgia – that landed Joe Biden on Obama’s ticket over other front-running Vice Presidential choices like Evan Bayh.
So while the folks on TV spend the next 4,000 or so hours of time they need to fill between now and Tampa dishing on the Veepstakes and bandying about potential names, remember you heard it here first.
