In my experience, Jesusfreaks don’t care what you used to believe in, as long as you agree with them now. Plus, the idea that she has an unpronounceable actual name may work for her with establishment Republicans that don’t like thinking of themselves as the whites-only anti-immigrant party. It’s why they had this otherwise inexplicable 5 minute love affair with Jindal.
She’s essentially a Methodist. Considering that the Democrats won’t dredge up the details, I really doubt this would be an issue.
That’s who I came in here to say. There’s enough enthusiasm in the GOP for Christie that he’d probably draw out voters who would otherwise stay home.
What about Huckabee? He seems to have a lot of checked boxes. Southern, deep conservative credentials, Fox News darling, engaging and charismatic. Doesn’t the Tea Party like him as well?
Would she be interested in joining the raid on Rock Ridge?
No, they don’t. He raised taxes in Arkansas. He’s more of a “compassionate conservative” that’s heavy on the Jesus, ala Rick Santorum.
I wonder if Romney might go more the Bush and Obama direction - a solid, boring, party hack (in the good sense of the word, if there is such a thing). Romney is dull enough without having to compete against his VP.
Bob McDonnell isn’t a bad thought if he polls well in VA and passes the backgrounder.
Who are the “foreign policy” wonks in the GOP these days? Dick Lugar (unpopular with the Tea Party)?
How about Jim DeMint? Fiscal cred, Tea Party support, endorsed Romney in 2008, extremely conservative, sits on the Foreign Relations committee.
Yeah, DeMint actually makes a lot of sense. Mitch Daniels is another one that I think would bring some enthusiasm from the conservative base, but I don’t think he’s got the foreign policy chops.
I thought it might be McDonnell of Virginia (he has certainly been lobbying for the job if Romney gets the nomination) or Marco Rubio but I think Huckabee makes the most sense.
He would help Romney carry the South (including Virginia and North Carolina), he has a compelling story that makes him attractive to Appalachia, he is generally appealing to Joe 6 Pack.
If I were Romney then Huckabee would certainly be on my short list.
Condi Rice
I think that brings back way too many bad memories of “the smoking gun being a mushroom cloud” and the whole Iraq War debacle. Also has never been part of a campaign. 2008 showed how difficult it can be to learn on that particular job.
Also not clear that she is particularly conservative on a whole host of issues. She’s certainly not very pro-life, for example. And I think she has made pro-gay-rights statements as well (although so did Dick Cheney…).
I’d pick Santorum, probably. I said that months ago and probably just want to be proven right. 
Huckabee was worse than a “compassionate conservative”, he was actually somewhat compassionate. He raised taxes to fund anti-poverty measures. A direct transfer of wealth from middle-class to lower-class and kids. Unlike Santorum, Huckabee actually did some good for people in need, rather than just suggest they find themselves a dad.
Of course, he’s since disavowed all that. He wouldn’t be on Fox otherwise.
In any case, Huckabee pretty much warmed over meatloaf at this point. Once you’re a TV personality, I think people get tired of seeing your dumb face.
Deserved or not, I think that at this point any woman would end up inviting comparisons to Palin. Now, there are some conservative women out there who are very unlike Palin, but I think that fact would end up getting lost. 2016 might be a better opportunity for them.
And I can’t see it being any of the other official Presidential candidates-- They’ve all been pretty much rejected by the public. Perry, especially, won’t be it: He’s already the governor of one of the largest states in the country, and I can’t see him giving that up to play second fiddle to anyone.
The problem with Palin was she was all sizzle, no steak. That she obviously used her sex appeal as a substitute for knowledge about the issues. Basically, she was a cardboard cut-out candidate that flabby old white men used to try to attract unsavvy voters. I definitely see Nikki Haley following that playbook.
Call me a sexist, but I think Kay Bailey Hutchinson would be safe from that comparison. She has all the charisma of a picture of film.
Whatever happened to Bobby Jindal? I know he made a dull speech on national television, but did he not recover from that?
Smeagol.
Affable, street-wise, resourceful, checkered past will take the spotlight off Romney. Also, white. So he’s still better than the incumbent.
He gave a goofy speech where he dismissed key scientific endeavors. He also took stimulus funds and fumbled the Deep Water Horizon disaster. He’s an exorcism-believing Catholic and he’s got brown skin.
Basically, there wasn’t much reason to actually like him in the first place, but every constituency eventually found their own reason to dislike him.
She is almost certainly a lesbian. I mean, she’s closeted like Janet Reno was closeted, nobody talks about it but nobody has any doubt. Nobody made a fuss about that when she was just working for a POTUS, but she’d never survive the GOP campaign trail.
A memo Fred Thompson never got.