Romney to announce running mate on Saturday @9am ET in Norfolk, VA

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

If he does, though, the Democrats will tear him a new one.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

If he does, though, the Democrats will tear him a new one.

What, pray tell, would the Dems say that they haven't been saying for 2 years now? Romney is running on that budget and both men have literally put their arms around each other quite enthusiastically (unlike Dole/Kemp). If Romney's unafraid of a de facto ticket, no reason to be afraid of a de jure one.

If Ryan is Romney's actual VP, the connection will be even more permanent and the Democratic attacks will be relentless. They won't say anything different, they'll just be saying it more.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Remember, Romney needs to keep this election a referendum on Obama's performance on the economy, or else he won't win. If his campaign gets distracted or put on the defensive over Ryan's budget plans, Romney will be in serious trouble. Thus I think Ryan ultimately violates the "do no harm" rule, and we can rule him out.

Like Kathy Hochul. She won in a Republican-leaning district based solely on opposition to the Ryan plan.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Jindal - interesting...the Natural Born Issue and his poor speaking style are problems.  His access to a powerful ethnic group and lots of money lend to his pick; Louisiana does nothing
to "balance" the ticket geographically where Romney needs balance;

Rubio - great choice by my criteria.  He also has the natural born issue to hurdle;

Baton Rouge and Miami are both in the United States of America.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Jindal - interesting...the Natural Born Issue and his poor speaking style are problems.  His access to a powerful ethnic group and lots of money lend to his pick; Louisiana does nothing
to "balance" the ticket geographically where Romney needs balance;

Rubio - great choice by my criteria.  He also has the natural born issue to hurdle;

Baton Rouge and Miami are both in the United States of America.

They are brown and thus suspicious.

Rubio isn't even brown...

But his name is.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Pawlenty will not get Minnesota.

Is Portman really off the list?

Where did you get the idea that Portman's off? If GOP 12- LOL. Any report that the list doesn't include Portman and Ryan is probably junk IMO.

Of course, Romney may know something you don't.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Picking a leading member of Congress in this kind of climate doesn't seem like a particularly good idea.

Especially not one who authored a plan to end Medicare.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

CBS has this to say about the short list:

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57456927-503544/whos-still-in-the-running-to-be-romneys-running-mate/

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They also link to a video showing Ayotte denying that she's been contacted by the Romney campaign for vetting.  (Her earlier comment on this seemed more ambiguous, because the quote was truncated.)

So, for the record, the list of people who've said that they have *not* been contacted by the Romney campaign for vetting info, who have not ended up backtracking (so far):

Ayotte
Burr
Bush
Daniels
Haley
Huckabee
McDonnell
Santorum

Wait, did Thune un-deny? I remember he was vehemently saying that they weren't vetting him a while ago.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Yes, he did un-deny.  His new line is:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/story/2012-06-13/john-thune-romney-vice-president/55586686/1

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His initial denial was just a couple of days after the Romney campaign started sending out questionnaires to the candidates, so it's possible they just hadn't gotten to him yet.

Ah, OK. Thanks.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Pawlenty?

He's coming.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

What happened to Rubio, by the way? Did they stop vetting him, and if so, why?

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

I actually forgot Portman's first name for a while

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN!?

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Maybe the bus tour is for the purpose of telling some of the VP prospects in their home states that they're off the short list.  For example, when Romney is at a campaign stop in Virginia, he says:

"Bob McDonnell....Is Governor McDonnell here?  There you are Governor, please come up to the podium with me.  Isn't he a fantastic governor, Virginia?"  [cheers erupt from the crowd]

"Now Governor, I just wanted to tell you in front of all of these constituents of yours, and all of these news cameras, that you are........NOT going to be my running mate."  [The smile on McDonnell's face slowly fades, and his eyes well up with tears.]

Then he does the same in Florida with Rubio and in Ohio with Portman.  

The tribe has spoken, now place your extinguished torch over there and leave VP island.

So it'll be a surprise pick in Jeff Probst?

Survivor: Tampa.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Ryan is looking more and more likely...

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

I think this is definitely a dead heat between Portman and Ryan. Pawlenty's just Portman's BWG second fiddle, so he's not important. If I were Mitt, I'd definitely pick Portman. Better to be safe than sorry.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

I would explode with happiness if it were actually Cain.