VP Buzz: Romney's GOP Votes

In my opinion, Romney makes the best choice for McCain VP for the simple reason that Romney would make the best President. 

But that's just my opinion.  Since we're talking about the GOP's nominee, perhaps it would be useful to look at how Romney did in the GOP primary.

There are six states Real Clear Politics says are "battleground states".  These are Colorado, Virginia, Missouri, Michigan, Ohio and Florida.  Over 4.5 million GOP votes were cast in those states.  Four states voted prior to Romney's gracious exit on February 7th.

The two after the CPAC speech, Ohio and Virginia, probably would have split between Romney and McCain had Romney stayed in.  Nevertheless, lets just look at the actual vote totals.

So, how did Romney do?  Here's the final Washington Post numbers:

Colorado - Feb 5 (competitive):

Mitt Romney	33,288	59%
John McCain	10,621	19%
Mike Huckabee	7,266	13%
Ron Paul	4,670	8%

Virginia Feb 12 (non-competitive):

John McCain	244,135	50%
Mike Huckabee	198,247	41%
Ron Paul	22,066	5%
Mitt Romney	17,532	4%

Missouri Feb 5 (competitive):

John McCain	194,304	33%
Mike Huckabee	185,627	32%
Mitt Romney	172,564	29%
Ron Paul	26,445	4%

Michigan - Feb 5 (competitive):

Mitt Romney	337,847	39%
John McCain	257,521	30%
Mike Huckabee	139,699	16%
Ron Paul	54,434	6%

Ohio - Feb 12 (non-competitive):

John McCain	636,256	60%
Mike Huckabee	325,581	31%
Ron Paul	49,027	5%
Mitt Romney	34,978	3%

Florida - Jan 29 (competitive):

John McCain	693,508	36%
Mitt Romney	598,188	31%
Rudy Giuliani	281,781	15%
Mike Huckabee	259,735	13%

Total for CO, VA, MO, MI, OH & FL:

John McCain	2,036,345	45%
Mitt Romney	1,193,397	26%
Rudy Giuliani	1,116,155	24%
Mike Huckabee	156,642	3%

So, even though he was not running in two of the races, Romney still ended up with almost 1.2 million votes for those six states, second only to McCain.  Romney won two of the contests, CO & MI, and narrowly lost FL, three states considered critical to McCain's general election strategy.

As I've mentioned in another article, VP Buzz:  McCain needs Romney, 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.  Net, net - Romney on the ticket may add 47 to 61 electors.  Bush beat Kerry by only 34 electors.

Of course, none of the other potential suitors, Jindal, Pawlenty, Palin, Crist or Cantor, felt strong enough, as candidates, to run in the 2008 primary.  They are each doing great things for the GOP and the country in their current roles.  However, we have no idea what they bring to the table, except their own states. 

I still say, Romney 4 VP = Win 4 McCain.

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!