Paul would be just as lethal a running mate as Santorum. Plus, his foreign policy views are just too outside the GOP mainstream.
If no Paul or Santorum, then whom? Would Romney pick Huntsman? (The evangelicals seem to pick Romney as the lesser of two evils, and Huntsman appeals to independents).
There's no need for it to be one of the current contenders. Rubio, Christie, Daniels, etc all are possibilities as well.
You have a point, neither vice presidental candidate last race was a serious presidential candidate. But, for a guy like Christie- who might run in 2016- does it serve him better to run as Romney's VP (where he can either do something to embarass himself on the national stage or delay his bid until 2020 if Romney wins) or does he benefit from Romney losing, and the GOP looking elsewhere in 2016.
Right? I mean even if, like, the Rockets are in the finals against the Heat and the ticket is lower level game 7... if it has even one smudge of santorum on it, I probably couldn't accept it.
Don't think Christie will do it. He said he declined the presidential run because he wanted to finish the job in NJ... so how can he leave the NJ job now to run for VP? Seems it will make him look like an ass.
Meh... that's aways easy to spin. Didn't Obama say he wasn't going to run before he did? "Compelled by history" "forced to reconsider given the circumstances" etc.
via TPM You probably thought you knew Newt Gingrich: he was the man who hated government so much that as Republican House Speaker he even shut it down. He was the thorn in Bill Clinton’s side througout the 1990s. He was undeniably a significant figure in modern conservatism. Well, it turns out you were wrong. Newt Gingrich is in fact a communist, business-hating Maoist. At least, that’s what you’d have gathered if you watched cable news today. The GOP establishment was in full meltdown mode over his attacks on Mitt Romney’s time at the private equity firm, Bain Capital. They clearly fear it’s going to give the Democrats a bipartisan gloss on banging Bain come the general election and they have one priority: shut Newt down. Now. So grab the popcorn. You’ve heard of “trial by media”? This is more like “Stalinist show trial by media.” Enjoy. <object id="flashObj" width="480" height="270" classid="clsid27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,47,0"><param name="movie" value="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1&isUI=1" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="flashVars" value="videoId=1386997412001&playerID=1238567552001&playerKey=AQ~~,AAABH9JNX2E~,lUE5wTwISX0fq-g4kOSie_tVmsvau_FG&domain=embed&dynamicStreaming=true" /><param name="base" value="http://admin.brightcove.com" /><param name="seamlesstabbing" value="false" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="swLiveConnect" value="true" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><embed src="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1&isUI=1" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashVars="videoId=1386997412001&playerID=1238567552001&playerKey=AQ~~,AAABH9JNX2E~,lUE5wTwISX0fq-g4kOSie_tVmsvau_FG&domain=embed&dynamicStreaming=true" base="http://admin.brightcove.com" name="flashObj" width="480" height="270" seamlesstabbing="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" swLiveConnect="true" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed></object>
Several new polls out showing Newt closing in on Romney in South Carolina, mostly at the expense of Santorum who's already falling back and hasn't been able to gain any momentum from Iowa: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/ep...ina_republican_presidential_primary-1590.html If Newt can convince voters that Santorum is an also-ran, he has a shot there. He's about 5 pts behind Romney, and Santorum has 15% or so. One big question is whether Santorum's remaining vote is hardline social conservative, would they be open to Newt? If not, then it will be hard for Newt to consolidate the rest of that vote. If Romney clearly wins SC, it's over. If Newt can win it, it makes things complicated. It brings back all the questions about Romney's appeal in the South, and every single eventual GOP nominee has won South Carolina, so something will have to give for Romney to hold on. Romney does have a strong position in Florida to help recover, though, even if he does lose SC, and there are rumors that Jeb Bush will endorse him going into Florida.
I think Florida will be VERY important. MR is going to pick someone that helps him attempt to win the electoral college... and if he loses Florida, he is probably toast, especially with NY, CAL and IL already wrapped up for Obama.
Paul's goal is not to win the presidency but to drive the GOP narrative. So far he has had modest success with that. Could he do that as VP?
Not really - he'd have to adapt his views to fit the Presidential candidate, and there's no way he does that. He'd be a terrible VP: either saying he think Romney sucks, or completely selling out his own views.
It's impressive how Ron Paul has changed the face of the GOP. I was at the Texas GOP Senate debate last night, and there were several Ron Paul type questions (audit the Fed, etc) and every candidate gave the Ron Paul answer. His view point has definitely impacted the way candidates run.
A friend of mine thinks Ron Paul's primary goal now is to pave the way for his son to carry the torch in 2016. The longer Ron can last, the better he sets up Rand.
Yeah, I've been thinking that Ron is paving the way for his son for a while now. His son is younger, more eloquent, and is probably has more appeal to the masses. The question is if he's half the guy that Ron is. Don't know enough about Rand to speak to his character, which is the main reason I support Paul.
Rand Paul is our finest federal elected office holder. <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/9vFo3ZieXZ0#t=0m21s" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
