Rick Santorum's VP?

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Tom Coburn or Mike Huckabee.

[© tweed]

I don't think he would be able to get an A-lister to hitch their wagon to him.  at least Rubio or Christie would not.

[Paleobrazilian]

I don't think Bob McDonnell will take that risk as well - he'd prefer to wait and see if Mark Warner will run for the governorship in 2013, vacating a Senate seat.

[© tweed]

I don't think Bob McDonnell will take that risk as well - he'd prefer to wait and see if Mark Warner will run for the governorship in 2013, vacating a Senate seat.

why would Warner leave the Senate?  his refusal to be vetted by Obama (or run for pres) in 08 suggests that he isn't going to pursue national politics and will try to ascend the seniority ranks...

[Paleobrazilian]

I don't think Bob McDonnell will take that risk as well - he'd prefer to wait and see if Mark Warner will run for the governorship in 2013, vacating a Senate seat.

why would Warner leave the Senate?  his refusal to be vetted by Obama (or run for pres) in 08 suggests that he isn't going to pursue national politics and will try to ascend the seniority ranks...

Larry Sabato suggested this week that the rumor in Virginia is that he's disgusted with the Senate and wants to move back to his home state.

[hotpprs]

I think Rick Perry would be a good choice. Santorum may need help in the South, and Perry could help with organization and money. And he will help with Hispanic voters.
Susana Martinez might be a good pick, but she would have to be well vetted first.

Perry is an embarrassing gaffe machine who will never get out of Texas again, and whose epic fail of a presidential campaign was so bad that it put his day job in jeopardy. Also, the last thing Santorum (or Romney for that matter) needs is a VP who reminds people of Dubya or Palin, and Perry combines the worst characteristics of both.

Really, I'm not trying to be wise with this remark, but aren't most VPs gaffe machines?
And maybe that is by design to make the guy at the top of the ticket look good?
Look at either the VPs that were actually in office, or were just on a ticket in the last 40 years.
Quite a bunch of controversial characters.

[hotpprs]

A moderate. Scott Brown, Jon Huntsman, or Mitch Daniels.

If he wants to lose, but pick someone close to his values, I would pick my Congressman, Allen West.

I thought of Allen West also, I see him on FOX news a lot but do not know much about him.
Santorum was a contributor on FOX news for the last few years. So I wouldn't be surprised if it would be someone who is also on FOX news often. (Maybe Ann Coulter.....HA HA HA).

[Wisconsin+17]

Well, if you want a Southerner- Santorum/Cain.

[RodPresident]

Did anyone know who were the closest friends of Santorum in Congress? Maybe he choose one of them to be his running-mate.

[Keystone Phil]

John Ensign was Santorum's best friend is the Senate. Er...next...

[Politico]

Did anyone know who were the closest friends of Santorum in Congress? Maybe he choose one of them to be his running-mate.

Yeah, maybe he can choose Arlen Specter, a man he stood with more times than anybody can count. And Santorum has the nerve to question Romney's conservative credentials? Romney has never defended Specter and hobnobbed with union stooges, unlike Santorum.

[Averroës Nix]

Did anyone know who were the closest friends of Santorum in Congress? Maybe he choose one of them to be his running-mate.

Yeah, maybe he can choose Arlen Specter, a man he stood with more times than anybody can count. And Santorum has the nerve to question Romney's conservative credentials? Romney has never defended Specter and hobnobbed with union stooges, unlike Santorum.

I disagree. Specter wouldn't be a good choice, but Romney would be even worse. Specter doesn't have the baggage that Romney has, and generally speaking he's not unpredictable. Why would any sane candidate add someone as gaffe-prone as Romney to the ticket?

Believe me, I'm sure there are plenty of Romney supporters who, like you, would love nothing more than a Santorum-Romney ticket... but Santorum needs to be careful lest he spoil his chances of winning, however tempted he may be to excite the base by adding Romney to the ticket.

[Keystone Phil]

I like this argument! "Romney never defended Specter! He's just horrible himself!"

[Reaganfan]

I would LOVE a Santorum/Bush ticket but Jeb would never go for it.

[Badger]

Rubio (if he's smart), Portman, Romney, or (dare I say it) the Grinch, the latter as a ploy more for the nomination rather than the general.

And with that, I smell a new thread topic coming....

[Grumpier Than Thou]

Rick Santorum/Dick Armey 2012

[Lincoln Republican]

Jeanine Pirro, former District Attorney for Westchester County, NY.

[© tweed]

Jeanine Pirro, former District Attorney for Westchester County, NY.

it may be tough to drag her away from her Judge Judy show.

[Brittain33]

Sonny Perdue? One of the Texas statewide officials with nowhere to go because of competition? How about Mary Fallin?

[I'm JewCon in name only.]

Jon Huntsman seems like a good choice for VP. (As much as i dislike Huntsman... I gotta admit it)
Bill Haslam of Tennessee would be good too. He's a generic conservative who doesnt piss off moderates.

[Del Tachi]

A moderate from the South or West with executive experience. 

I think that Mitch Daniels would be the best. 

[Brittain33]

I was skeptical of Jon Huntsman wanting to take on this responsibility, but if you consider it an express ticket to the front of the line for the 2016 nomination no matter how badly the ticket loses, it makes more sense.

If Sarah Palin had been a cannier, more disciplined politician she would have easily been the front runner despite the '08 loss.

[Torie]

I was skeptical of Jon Huntsman wanting to take on this responsibility, but if you consider it an express ticket to the front of the line for the 2016 nomination no matter how badly the ticket loses, it makes more sense.

If Sarah Palin had been a cannier, more disciplined politician she would have easily been the front runner despite the '08 loss.

Rick and John would be a very odd couple ticket. Among other things, John has a rather calm and realistic view of America's role in the world, and what it is prudent for it to do, and not do, and Rick wants to go to war with Iran ASAP as it were. Huntsman is also a free trader, and Ricks wants to get tough with anyone who takes away American manufacturing jobs, and as part of an "industrialization" policy, give special tax breaks to rust belt manufacturing. John is more of an IT guy, for whom it is time to just recognize that America's economy has changed forever, and Dorothy isn't in Kansas anymore, and in this case, won't ever be going home again, and that Chinese bashing is not going to accomplish anything positive, other than perhaps as therapy for America's bruised ego.

But it is a strange year, where predictions including mine are more often wrong than right.

[Indy Texas]

I know geographical balance is not as popular anymore.

But I still see a Westerner or a Southerner being key. Thus no needs for Santorum to be vp, less Romney is desperate during conventioning time.

Westerner for the all important arizona-colorado-new mexico-Nevada. One needs to come home. A Southerner...well, the South doesn't seem to like good ol' Mitt very much... And I suspect even Santorum has the problem of being really a Yankee.

Geographic balance was thrown out the window with Clinton-Gore (two Southerners), Bush-Cheney (two Westerners) and now Obama-Biden (two Yankees; there's really nothing Midwestern about Obama). People aren't as parochial as they used to be.

It's also worth mentioning that the Republican Party has never put a Southerner on its ticket, either for president or VP. The closest you get are the two Bushes, but there's nothing Southern about being from West Texas by way of New England.

[TheGlobalizer]

I would LOVE a Santorum/Bush ticket but Jeb would never go for it.

So would about 25-30% of the US population.  The remainder would scream a collective "Hell no".