Human Events Exclude Romney

Human Events (HE) recently had a review of the leading V.P. candidates @ http://www.humanevents.com/offers/offer.php?id=MVP101.

Although HE has disappointed me in the past (they endorsed Thompson for President even though Thompson was one of a handful of GOP Senators to vote against Clinton's impeachment), I admire Ann Coulter, she works there, so I thought I'd take a look at their report.   They cover ten folks and no Mitt Romney.  Huh????

Well, I bolted off an email to John Gizzi, the Political Editor at HUMAN EVENTS and I share it below:

John,

I can’t say I was surprised you did not include Romney in your McCain Veepstakes Report but it was disappointing nonetheless. Perhaps you might reconsider? Did you know that Townhall.com is doing a poll and Romney is leading by twenty points ahead of Palin and Hutchison (tied @ 2nd)?.

While picking VP should not be a popularity contest, shouldn’t Human Events include one of our most popular Republicans, and the man who came in 2^nd during the 2008 GOP Primary, on your short list??

I know you’ve think Huckabee came in 2^nd but that’s odd considering 1) Romney graciously left the race when it was obvious McCain would win, 2) Huckabee, inexplicably, ungraciously, stayed in the race and 3) Romney would have cleaned Huckabee’s clock in delegates, states and votes had he stayed in.

Think of it this way, the game was over after Super Tuesday. The lights in the gym were dimmed to encourage folks to go home, the best players left to prepare for the next game, most fans were gone and Huckabee's still running up and down the court, in the dark, posing for the few remaining reporters, shooting baskets and claiming the baskets he happened to make still counted toward the final score. Yeah, right.

So, please reconsider your decision to keep Romney out of the VP narrative. You could issue a special “Romney Report” outlining all the reasons Romney should also be considered.

My top ten reasons Romney should be VP:

1. Most of us who support Romney do so because we think he’s a decent man, a great husband and father and the best Presidential candidate to come along in 24 years.

2. Unlike all the Veeps in your report, Romney looked in the mirror years ago and felt confident enough to run for President. All of your folks looked in the mirror, lowered their sights and ran for Governor of LA, MN, MS and SC. Romney put himself out there, in JFK’s arena, competed in debates, endured national press scrutiny and won the hearts and minds of millions around the country – they didn’t. Pawlenty, Palin, Jindal – they all should be applauded for advancing conservatism but they did not feel confident to run for President – Romney did.

3. 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 - at most, 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.

4. Romney’s great success in the private sector makes him the perfect VP to help McCain help America win the global economy. Romney’s a private-sector superstar who successfully counters Obama’s populism with free market solutions to people’s everyday problems. Having both a Harvard MBA & Law degree doesn’t hurt either.

5. I’ve heard rumors, propagated by Huckabee et al, that Evangelicals may bolt if McCain picks a Mormon. I’m shocked folks are still listening to the Huckster given his really, really bad sense of humor when making jokes about Obama being shot at.  Make no mistake, Huckabee has a problem with Romney’s religion and has soured many evangelicals on Romney but not all of them.  Bottom-line, the base of the GOP are patriots that are comfortable with anyone of any color of any gender who attends any church. Those that aren’t comfortable with the Church their party’s V.P. nominee attends should evolve or find another party.

6. McCain was having trouble raising money until Romney sponsored a fund raiser for McCain in Salt Lake City and another with President Bush at Romney’s home in Deer Valley, UT.  Romney has raised lots of money and has lots of money – that could be useful when the Soros-backed-MoveOn.org crowd start to cause trouble.

7. As far as the electoral college, Romney will help McCain exactly where he needs help the most: Michigan (Obama now +4.3) and Colorado (Obama now +1.2) - two of the four states Karl Rove says are key (McCain's already ahead in the other two - VA & OH).  Romney beat McCain in the GOP primary 59% to 19% in CO and 39% to 30% in MI, where Romney’s father was governor.

8. 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.

9. McCain lost big time to Romney in 5 of 10 states with less than 5% margin of victory for Bush in 2004: IA, NV, MI, MN & CO.

10. Net, net - Romney on the ticket may add 47 to 61 electors.  Bush beat Kerry by only 34 electors.

    So, John – does that sway you at all? Might the great national conservative weekly have room in the tent for a leader that could do so much for the GOP ticket?

    Take care…Matt

I don't have much hope Mr. Gizzi will add Mitt to their short list but I believe you have to express yourself, you have to put your view out there, regardless of whether you have a guarantee it changes anything.  Hey, you never know.

VP Buzz: McCain's Maverick Pick

Today, I heard Mike Huckabee on Rush Limbaugh's program desperately trying to make the case against Romney for V.P..  Make no mistake, Huckabee has a problem with Romney's religion and, I believe, has soured many evangelicals on Romney (Boston Globe on Huckabee's tactics) but not all of them. 

According to Vanderbilt University political scientist, John Geer, a poll taken during the GOP primary found that 57% of conservative Evangelicals have a bias against Mormons and 26 percent of those who accuse Romney of flip-flopping also indicate that Mormonism, not flip-flopping, is their problem with Romney.

It appears to me that this election has revealed two remaining prejudices in primary voters' hearts.  The Democrats clearly have a chunk of "white working class" voters (mostly in Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania) and Hispanic voters who found Obama's race to be a problem for them - in other words, they're racists.  The Republicans clearly have a chunk of Evangelical voters who found Romney's religion to be a problem - in other words, they're bigots. 

I'll let Obama-Biden address their party's racism, but McCain needs to find a way to bring 57% of conservative Evangelicals into the 21st century.

What better way than to choose Romney to be the Vice-President?

McCain seems to relish taking principled positions that anger his party.  It's yet another opportunity to demonstrate to an electorate that seems unhappy with the Republican brand that he's an independent thinker who puts country ahead of party.  Romney is solidly pro-life so McCain, and Romney, just have to convince Evanglicals what they probably already know - that opposing Romney based on his religion is, well, not What Jesus Would Do and un-American to boot! 

Opposition by some conservatives makes Romney the perfect choice for a maverick like John McCain. 

Once you convince them it's OK to support Romney (Huckabee can help with that - if he really wants the GOP to win this fall) then voting for McCain-Romney becomes an opportunity for personal growth, much like pulling the lever for the first African-American President if you're a racist Democrat. 

In any event, the country will be better off that McCain took a chance on picking a very-qualified Mormon to be Vice-President than if he accommodated the bigoted demands of some Evangelicals to pick a "real Christian" (read:  non-Mormon) like Tim Pawlenty.  Picking Pawlenty does not challenge our party to address one of our last remaining prejudices - religious bigotry - picking Romney does. 

Having Romney serve as Vice-President in a McCain Administration sends a message loud and clear, for at least four years, that one of our founding father's wishes, that there not be a religious test for high office, has come true.

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.