Beth Myers may not be a household name to most Americans, but around the Romney kitchen table she is front and center. The reason: she is the person charged with finalizing the list of potential vice presidential nominees and insiders say the list is getting shorter by the day.
Political analysts and insiders close to the Romney campaign say some of the names penciled in toward the top of the list include former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, Rep. Paul Ryan (Wis.) and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal.
Others names still being knocked around are Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell.
However, Ann Romney, wife of the soon-to-be Republican nominee says her husband is also considering a female running mate.
“We’ve been looking at that, and I’d love that option as well,” Ann Romney told CBS News during an interview at the couple’s New Hampshire vacation home. “There’s a lot of people that Mitt is considering right now.”
Legal pads that contain the names of potential running mates change quite often during the months preceding the nominee’s convention. For example, Barack Obama’s short list in 2008 contained not only the name of Sen. Joe Biden (his ultimate choice), but also Gov. Tim Kaine of Virginia and former Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana.
Prior to former GOP presidential nominee John McCain picking former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin – to the surprise of even party insiders – his short list included Sen. Joe Lieberman (who had run alongside Al Gore in 2000), Pawlenty and Romney.
Interestingly, former White House Chief of Staff and Congressman Dick Cheney was tasked with helping pick then Gov. George W. Bush’s running mate in 2000 before he ended up with the job himself.
To be honest, I think that’s the srteamst choice for McCain You’re out of your mind. Willard brings virtually nothing to the table. Hilarious that you would want to take all the shortcomings that failed to get Willard anywhere close to the GOP nomination despite an $80 million bankroll .and bring those shortcomings to a general election ticket. McCain needs someone who is young, appeals to conservatives, and can speak convincingly on the economy. Uh, Jay, Willard is 60, came in fourth place in the most conservative state’s primary, and presided over the lowest-growth economy of all 50 states when Massachusetts Gov from 2003-2006. What Romney really delivers is some straight talk on the economy Promising a $40 billion federal bailout of Michigan in order to prolong his Presidential candidacy a few more weeks is straight talk ?Republicans would be best advised to do what they do best .be Republicans and divide Americans based on religion and culture. Either Obama and Hillary would be easy targets. The last thing McCain needs to do is adopt an economic policy that is exactly the same as the economic policy of George Bush which about 20% of Americans approve. I don’t know if the McCain camp is serious considering Romney as a VP or not, but on a number of levels that may be one of his best choices to unite conservatives and to give him some much-needed economic credibility.McCain (along with every other Republican candidate from 2008) hated Willard so much that they exchanged e-mails amongst each other to advise on how to hit him in the next debate. Very hard to imagine how that gut-level acrimony can be overcome for a negligible benefit to the ticket. Rather than uniting conservatives, a Willard selection would tear them further apart, with the values voters foot soldiers who hate Mormons realizing just how badly the Wall Street Journal/Jay Reding crowd takes them for granted.