Please Mitt, If Not Rubio, Make It Anybody But Pawlenty

Memo to Mitt Romney: 

I could accept just about any of the candidates floated as a Vice Presidential pick (assuming Huckabee, Palin, the Eft, and the Pennsylvania loser are not in the picture), but  please, please, please.  Don't let it be Tim Pawlenty.  There's no way he could help carry Minnesota.   He's dull as dish water, but the biggest strike against him is that voters rejected him prior to the Iowa caucuses.  In fact, as I recall, he was knocked out by none other than someone else I wouldn't want to see on the ticket, Michelle Bachmann.

Hopefully, it's just a rumor that Tim Pawlenty is the leading contender for Veep.  I'd probably still have to vote for Romney were he to pick Pawlenty, but it might cause me to look at the Libertarian candidate, and I doubt Romney can afford to lose people like me.

Ohio Senator Rob Portman doesn't thrill me either, but at least he's no Pawlenty whom I actually came to dislike last summer when he went out of his way to gratuitously beat up on other Republicans (like Bachmann, not that his fellow Minnesotan doesn't deserve to be beaten up, but Pawlenty's attack on her was exceptionally graceless).

Say it ain't Pawlenty, Mitt.

The Veep choice has always been a no brainer for me.  Marco Rubio is the obvious choice.

Take Florida.

In fact, Romney must take Florida.   Some say he needs to carry Florida on his own, but the chance to sew up 29 electoral votes should not be passed up so nonchalantly.

Besides, Rubio brings numerous other assets to the ticket.  Who else can possibly come close to shaving points off Obama's huge lead with Hispanic voters?  No one.  Even a five point shaving could be the difference between victory and four more years of the march toward socialism.

Rubio is well spoken, a  true fiscal conservative, and just plain likeable.  Sure, he's a bit young, but so was Kennedy; so was TR.  I can't for the life of me see why the talking heads are virtually ruling out Rubio (except Dick Morris and Sean Hannity; they apparently still like him).

I'm not a big fan of Chris the Blowhard Christie either; and Kelly Ayotte is certainly only mentioned to curry favor here in New Hampshire.  She can't see Russia from her house, but she's no more qualified than Palin was...although her coattails certainly carried numerous Republicans from Nashua into office in 2010.  That's hardly a qualification for President.

While I always opposed George Bush's war in Iraq, I never really held that against Condi Rice as much as against Dick Cheney, so Condi would be fine with me.  As a moderately pro choice Republican (like Condi), I was amused by the visceral negative reaction to her from the likes of Huckabee and Pat Buchanan who went so far as to proclaim that she would tear the party apart.

A quick check of Rasmussen's latest polling data will provide proof that Condi is probably the best choice (after Rubio).  Her favorability is at 65 percent (only 24 percent unfavorable), much much higher than either the Demagogue in Chief or Romney himself.  Sure, she'd be attacked and her negatives would undoubtedly go up, but the prospect of Democrats having to attack an African American moderately pro choice woman is just too delicious to pass up.

Marco, great.  Condi, great.

Even Jeb would be acceptable.

But please Mitt, make it anybody but Pawlenty.

Why do I get the feeling Pawlenty has already been chosen?