Does the GOP nominee really need to pick a woman or minority for a running mate?

[ShadowRocket]

Lately I've been thinking about this. Since the end of the 2012 cycle, it has been pretty much been conventional wisdom that whoever the GOP nominee is will probably need to pick a woman or minority for their running mate in order to be competitive, much less win.

But is this really true? I mean would say Rubio or Ayotte at the bottom of ticket really peel away votes cast by women or Hispanics from Hillary or whoever the Democratic nominee is?

Its started to seem to me that a woman or minority pick could reek of tokenism, and that the GOP nominee would be better off ensuring some moderation in rhetoric in regards to immigration, abortion, etc.