Best running mate for Mitt?

[Senator Cris]

Supposing that Mitt Romney wins the GOP nomination in 2016. Best running mate?

[Lincoln Republican]

Senator John Thune of South Dakota

[Attorney General, LGC Speaker, and Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

Kasich

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Kasich

[Maxwell]

Another Mittbot.

[Vega]

I feel like Romney has no choice but to pull a hail mary, considering it will be his second run in the GE.

Probably Rubio or Neel Kashkari.

[Yelnoc]

Neel Kashkari.

What a bizarre suggestion.

[Cobbler]

Martinez or Sandoval (unlikely for obvious reasons). He needs to work hard to try to win latino votes.

If not them, I think Snyder, Haslam, or Thune would be good choices.

[TDAS04]

He would probably pick Ryan again.

[Mister Mets]

Susanna Martinez-
Since she's a reelected Governor, her improved qualifications avoid the "Why wasn't she picked in 2012?" question. She adds diversity to the ticket as well as a strong surrogate in the west. She also amplifies arguments about Republican executive competence.

Nikki Haley-
Offers another reelected conservative female non-white Governor if Susanna Martinez says no.

Joni Ernst-
Checks a lot of boxes. Conservative Senator from midwestern swing state. Woman. Military experience. Blue-collar background.

Rick Snyder-
Doubles down on Michigan-born multimillionaires turned Republican Governors.

Rand Paul-
Potential unity ticket after a tough primary.

[Suburbia]

Ernst or Thune would be good choices.

[Mehmentum]

If they're going to pick Romney again, he might as well double down and go with Ryan.

[Mister Mets]

Scott Walker also seems like an okay match for Romney, especially after a strong result in the primaries.

It's worth looking at what second-time nominees have done in the past.

Tom Dewey followed a slighlty older state Attorney General turned reelected Governor (John W. Bricker of Ohio) with another slightly older state Attorney General turned reelected Governor (Earl Warren of California.)

Adlai Stevenson picked two Southern Senators.

Nixon went with an experienced foreign policy hand the first time (UN Ambassador and former Massachussets Senator Henry Cabot Lodge Jr) and an abrasive second-year Governor the second time, partly because he was the elder statesman in 1968.

Reagan had announced Senator Richard Schweiker of Pennsylvania, a moderate, as his running mate in the 1976 presidential primary before delegates opted for Ford. He seemed interested in unity tickets, trying to get Ford in 1980, before settling on second-place George HW Bush.

A difference in 2016 would be that Romney got along very well with Ryan, though they could both say it's more important to have Paul Ryan as the House Ways and Means Chairman with a President Romney.

[Cory]

Susana Martinez.

[Indy Texas]

Scott Walker also seems like an okay match for Romney, especially after a strong result in the primaries.

It's worth looking at what second-time nominees have done in the past.

Tom Dewey followed a slighlty older state Attorney General turned reelected Governor (John W. Bricker of Ohio) with another slightly older state Attorney General turned reelected Governor (Earl Warren of California.)

Adlai Stevenson picked two Southern Senators.

Nixon went with an experienced foreign policy hand the first time (UN Ambassador and former Massachussets Senator Henry Cabot Lodge Jr) and an abrasive second-year Governor the second time, partly because he was the elder statesman in 1968.

Reagan had announced Senator Richard Schweiker of Pennsylvania, a moderate, as his running mate in the 1976 presidential primary before delegates opted for Ford. He seemed interested in unity tickets, trying to get Ford in 1980, before settling on second-place George HW Bush.

A difference in 2016 would be that Romney got along very well with Ryan, though they could both say it's more important to have Paul Ryan as the House Ways and Means Chairman with a President Romney.

Dewey: Bricker was a conservative. Warren was a liberal.

Stevenson: Kefauver was a liberal. Sparkman was a conservative.

Nixon: Lodge was a liberal with a lot of credentials. Agnew was ideologically amorphous (originally a Rockefeller Republican) but was in his Populist-Conservative phase at the time he was picked for VP, and was very inexperienced.

[Mister Mets]

Scott Walker also seems like an okay match for Romney, especially after a strong result in the primaries.

It's worth looking at what second-time nominees have done in the past.

Tom Dewey followed a slighlty older state Attorney General turned reelected Governor (John W. Bricker of Ohio) with another slightly older state Attorney General turned reelected Governor (Earl Warren of California.)

Adlai Stevenson picked two Southern Senators.

Nixon went with an experienced foreign policy hand the first time (UN Ambassador and former Massachussets Senator Henry Cabot Lodge Jr) and an abrasive second-year Governor the second time, partly because he was the elder statesman in 1968.

Reagan had announced Senator Richard Schweiker of Pennsylvania, a moderate, as his running mate in the 1976 presidential primary before delegates opted for Ford. He seemed interested in unity tickets, trying to get Ford in 1980, before settling on second-place George HW Bush.

A difference in 2016 would be that Romney got along very well with Ryan, though they could both say it's more important to have Paul Ryan as the House Ways and Means Chairman with a President Romney.

Dewey: Bricker was a conservative. Warren was a liberal.

Stevenson: Kefauver was a liberal. Sparkman was a conservative.

Nixon: Lodge was a liberal with a lot of credentials. Agnew was ideologically amorphous (originally a Rockefeller Republican) but was in his Populist-Conservative phase at the time he was picked for VP, and was very inexperienced.

I also remembered that Stevenson didn't pick a running mate second time around. He left it to the DNC delegates, who went with the guy who finished second to him in the last primary.

It is an indication that people like to go to bold the second time around. Stevenson did something to excite the DNC/ press. Nixon went with a Governor few people ever heard of. Reagan (if we consider Schweiker as his first running mate) wanted a former President.  Romney might succumb to the same temptation.