Romney May Need 'Double Vanilla' Veep Pick To Win

[Geee]

Investors Business Daily:

Some 20 million Americans in primaries and caucuses will take part in selecting the Republican presidential nominee. One person will choose the vice presidential nominee.

This has long struck me as absurd: one person choosing someone who might become president for as long as 10 years. But just about everyone in politics says it's the only proper way.

Over the last 25 years, presidential nominees of both parties have engaged in conscientious consultation and have mostly made good choices. No more picks at 5 a.m. to meet a convention deadline.

For even longer, every vice president has done constructive work of governance. Voters now expect a VP nominee who can contribute substance more than one who can balance a ticket.

Ticket-balancing suggestions have come in to Mitt Romney. He should endorse a fiery cultural conservative, some Republicans say, although he's not likely to name the undisciplined Rick Santorum.

He needs to name a Latino, say others. But the most obvious choice, the eloquent Sen. Marco Rubio, has reiterated his unwillingness to run. So has New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez.

The argument that Republicans need additional support from Latinos may be overstated.

The 2010 exit poll shows Republicans won 38% of the Latino vote — and that that was enough for a national majority, since they carried whites by a record 60% to 37%.

Anyway, ticket-balancing is not the only successful approach, as Bill Clinton understood. When he clinched the Democratic nomination in 1992 as a Southern moderate, it was widely assumed he would pick a Northern liberal, as Jimmy Carter had.

Instead, he chose a fellow Southern Baptist of his own generation with a reputation for moderation and congressional experience in national security issues, Al Gore. They were from adjoining Southern states, and when the ticket was announced they met on the bridge between West Memphis, Ark., and Memphis, Tenn.

[nickydog]

I wouldn't call Paul Ryan vanilla. Or is he just referring to skin color?

[RandyM]

I wouldn't call Paul Ryan vanilla. Or is he just referring to skin color?

 

I took it to mean skin color.