Will Mitt Romney choose an ‘incredibly boring white guy’ to be his vice presidential nominee? The main alternative has long been Hispanic Florida Senator Marco Rubio, but ABC’s Jonathan Karl reported yesterday that Rubio is not being vetted by Romney’s VP search team, suggesting that he is not on the shortlist. Karl wrote:
If true, that certainly makes it sound like Romney is not seriously considering picking Rubio — perhaps favouring a safer, less exciting choice, as a campaign insider suggested to Politico last month. But Romney himself has denied Karl’s report, telling reporters, ‘Marco Rubio is being thoroughly vetted as part of our process’. And a campaign official told Karl simply, ‘Your source is lying to you.’‘Knowledgeable Republican sources tell me that Rubio is not being vetted by Mitt Romney’s vice presidential search team. He has not been asked to complete any questionnaires or been asked to turn over any financial documents typically required of potential vice presidential candidates.’
Meanwhile, one of the potential ‘boring white guy’ picks does seem to be out of the running. Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels looks set to be the next president of Purdue University, rather than a nominee for Vice President of the United States.
But that still leaves two incredibly boring white guys for Romney to choose from: Ohio Senator Rob Portman and former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty. After yesterday’s reports about Rubio and Daniels, they are now the two clear favourites on the Intrade betting website. Indeed, Politico today reports that Pawlenty ‘has jumped to the top of the vice presidential shortlist of several Mitt Romney advisers after emerging as the most effective — and well-liked — surrogate for the GOP nominee-to-be.’ Could the man spurned in favour of Sarah Palin four years ago get the chance to run for Vice President this time round?
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