The Republican Vice-Presidential Spectulation Thread.

[GLPman]

Let's go through the current Senators and see which ones we can disqualify and which ones are possibilities.

Two Rules:
1. They must have been in office by 2009 at the latest.
2. They cannot be older than 60.

I'm going to go from youngest to oldest.
1. David Vitter, 51, 2005- (LA). Nope. DC Madam Prostitute Scandal.
2. John Thune, 51, 2005- (SD) Yes.
3. Lisa Murkowski, 55, 2002- (AK) Nope. Pro-choice.
4. Richard Burr, 57, 2005- (NC) Yes.
5. Lindsey Graham, 57, 2003- (GA) Yes.

And that's about it. There are a few that are 60. John Cornyn (TX), Bob Corker (TN), John Barrasso (WY), and Susan Collins (ME). Collins is disqualified because she is pro-choice.

So that leaves this list, which I rank in order of how good of a vp choice I think they would be.

1. John Thune
2. Richard Burr
3. Lindsey Graham
4. John Corynyn
5. Bob Corker
6. John Barrasso.

Good analysis, but do you really think Thune would be better than Burr?

[GLPman]

I've been thinking about this a lot recently, especially since it's obvious at this point that Romney will be the nominee. There are three people that stand out in my mind as the best picks for Romney at this point:

1) Bob McDonnell - A southern governor that will help Romney with the base of the party. He might even help swing Virginia towards Romney. He's proven to be an effective campaigner, as well. The only problem is that he might come off as a little too conservative to independents.

2) Marco Rubio - Obvious, perhaps, but nonetheless an overall solid choice. Rubio could help deliver Florida. He's conservative enough to help Romney with the base. Any Rubio-Palin analogy is flawed because Palin was fairly well unknown, plus Rubio actually has some experience. One flaw, though, is that Obama could tie Rubio to the "Do-Nothing" Congress.

3) Bobby Jindal -  Relatively popular governor of a southern state who would certainly help Romney with the base. In addition, his Indian heritage certainly doesn't hurt. While he isn't from a swing state, he is certainly more well-known than the other candidates. One set back is his SOTU response, though.

I'm convinced it will be one of these three individuals. All three of these men offer more than Martinez, Portman, Burr, Thune, or other discussed candidates.

[GLPman]

3) Bobby Jindal -One set back is his SOTU response, though.

I don't think anyone really cares about that anymore. Like I said earlier he's a good convention speech away from it having virtually never happened.

Except I'm not sure if Jindal could really pull off that good convention speech. He's not exactly very charismatic.

[GLPman]

I don't think Rice is completely out of consideration, but it would really surprise me if she did end up as the pick.

[GLPman]

Is it possible that we are dismissing Huckabee too quickly?