VP Buzz: Romney's Strong New Leadership

There's been a lot of rumors that McCain might decide soon about V.P. so I thought I'd reprint my arguments for Mitt Romney and against Jindal, Crist, Palin, Pawlenty & Huckabee.  For a lot of reasons, the VP choice for McCain is critical and I trust McCain will give Romney serious consideration.

McCain has some weaknesses that Romney fixes as VP:

• McCain's having trouble raising money - Romney raised lots of money (more than McCain) and has lots of money.
• McCain's weak on the economy - Romney's fantastic.  Romney's a private-sector superstar who successfully counters Obama's populism with free market solutions to people's everyday problems.
• McCain lost big time to Romney in 5 of 10 states with less than 5% margin of victory for Bush in '04: IA, NV, MI, MN & CO
• McCain’s been in Congress (lowest approval ratings ever) for 30 yrs. Romney’s been successful outside the belt-way his whole life.  
• In FL, 600,000 voted for Romney - those votes could be crucial in a general election.  Bush won FL by less than 1000 votes in 2000.
• Net, net - Romney on the ticket may add 47 to 61 electors.  Bush beat Kerry by only 34 electors.

Romney for VP over Jindal, Crist, Palin & Pawlenty because:

• Romney has the judgment, character and experience to be a better President now - the others are a few years away.
• Romney raised over $100 million across the country from California to Utah to Texas - they haven't.
• Romney has had great success managing large companies, the International Olympics and Governor of the 13th largest state - the other candidates have been Governor, that's it.
• Romney has experience running a strong, organized national campaign - they have experience running a one-state campaign. 
• Romney has tens of millions of supporters - they don't.
• Romney can help deliver IA, MI, MN, ME, CO, NV, UT & probably NH - they deliver one state each
• Romney’s great success in the private sector makes him the perfect VP to help McCain help America win the global economy (having both a Harvard MBA & Law degree doesn't hurt either). 

Romney for VP over Huckabee because:

• If a chair dropped during one of his speeches, Romney would never say anything as stupid as:   "That was Barack Obama...somebody aimed a gun at him and he dove for the floor".
• Had Romney been selfish enough to stay in the race, Romney would have won three times the votes & delegates Huckabee got.
• The few states Huckabee brings to the ticket will be GOP anyway.
• Although Romney graciously left early, he raised 6 times more money.  
• Huckabee plays Clinton-style politics - such as running an ad saying he’s the "Christian leader" in evangelical Iowa and pulling the ad in NH - did Huckabee convert over New Jersey?

The only knocks on Romney are that he’s another "flip flopping Northeast liberal" and he lacks foreign policy experience. 

The “flip flop” charge is misleading.  Romney is actually very conservative, born and raised in Michigan, but moved to Massachusetts to attend Harvard.  During a very successful business career, Mitt and his wife Ann raised their kids and put down roots.  Later, he ran for office and had to make compromises to get elected, and govern, in the bluest of blue states. 

Would his critics prefer that Romney had uprooted his family and moved to Arizona, so he could run as a conservative?  Or that he had stayed in Mass, not compromised and not get elected?  Thankfully, Mitt pulled that liberal state a little to the right and Mass, and America, is better off for it. 

Let’s celebrate blue-state conservatives, not chastise them when they run for national office.

Regarding Foreign Policy experience, most of our greatest Presidents, and most of the other V.P. candidates, lack foreign policy experience.  At least Romney has some experience with foreign leaders during his global business career and as International Olympics CEO.  The alternative is to get a VP candidate out of the US Senate, now experiencing record low approval ratings.

Mitt 4 VP = Win 4 McCain!