The Republican VP candidate will be a white male Catholic.

[yardwork]

The strategy is becoming clear. Romney needs a Christian running mate to balance the fact that he's Mormon. The Republicans need the Latino vote and running a Catholic is one strategy. The VP candidate needs to be white and male because the Republicans are already freaked that Romney is "too liberal."

The VP candidate needs to be from the south and a governor would be preferable. Again, southerners are not going to go for Romney, former governor of Massachusetts.

I posed this question last week and people suggested that it might be Bob McDonnell, governor of Virginia. At the time I wondered if a Catholic would be acceptable to Republicans but I think that the strategy is to cater to Latino voters.

Now we're seeing right-wing talk shows ramp up fears about "death panels" and a new book accuses Michelle Obama of being prejudiced against "white Irish Catholics." The strategy is becoming very clear. The Republicans will run a white male Catholic VP. They'll attempt to scare and anger Catholic voters by accusing the Obamas of being in favor of death panels, gay rights, abortion, and other issues that the Catholic Church warns its followers against.

btw I don't think that this will work. White Southern right-wing Christian fundamentalists aren't going to like a Catholic VP anymore than they like a Mormon presidential candidate. And I believe that Latino voters will stay away from the Republican ticket in droves. Obama is going to need to be vigilant against these attacks, though.

[WI_DEM]

1. perhaps, but also somebody with a working class background

can't have two millionaires on the ticket. Is Big Mouth Christie a Catholic with a working class background?

[banned from Kos]

2. Demographically - Rubio is perfect and would deliver a huge swing state in Florida

but he has insisted he won't take it - as clear as Chris Christie said no.

I hope he is truthful.

[yellowcanine]

30. VP candidates cannot deliver a home state. They might help a little.

Particularly not Florida. A lot of people voting in Florida are not even from Florida so it is not so relevant. What a presidential candidate wants is a VP who is an effective campaigner and who doesn't have distracting baggage. Geography is way over rated when it comes to VP picks.

[rurallib]

3. Lots of fundies think as much of catholics as they do of Mormons

no, I think it will be a white, protestant fundy. It may well be a woman though.
Michele?

[asjr]

4. The VP choice will need to be vetted to find out

how well he or she can lie.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

5. Wouldn't that be Santorum?

[yardwork]

8. Santorum is too crazy and too damaged. It will not be somebody currently running.

A

[Proud Liberal Dem]

10. I kind of doubt it too

though he has real "attack dog" personality that most Presidential candidates like their VPs to have and he would probably excite the fundies and help reassure conservatives about Romney's questionable conservative bonafides. Ricky has shown that he can and will get nasty when he wants to (and is shameless enough to exploit his own family for political purposes as well).

[yardwork]

17. I think that Santorum is trying hard to audition for the part, but he won't get it.

The fact is that Romney is a privileged multi-millionaire with a superiority complex. He is not going to pick Santorum. Despite the need to balance the ticket, in the end Romney will insist on somebody similar to himself in terms of education and class. It won't be a very diverse ticket. It won't be a person of color, it won't be a woman, it will be a white male who on paper has attributes that "balance" Romney but in reality it will be somebody just like him.

[DeathToTheOil]

33. Santorum is Crazy

Exactly what Mitt needs to attract Tea Party support. But the GOP isn't going to have a Mormon-Catholic ticket.

[Enrique]

6. the evangelicals would be ok with Sam Brownback

he's one of them, and he is a Catholic.

[yardwork]

9. Could be, but I think they'll choose a governor.

[SharonAnn]

32. He is the governor of Kansas

[yardwork]

36. He sure is! I forgot that. I was thinking that he is still a senator.

[onehandle]

7. Rubio. nt

[Earthbound Misfit]

40. Agreed - Rubio makes the most sense... Southerner, Florida, Latino, Catholic...

He already stated he does not want to be VP but when formally asked... who knows.

[Proud Public Servant]

11. His short list is all Catholics

Last edited Wed Jan 11, 2012, 11:41 AM - Edit history (2)

Romney said a while ago that his short list is all Rubio, McDonnell, and Christie -- all Catholics.

But a Catholic, in and of himself, won't do jack to bring in the Latino vote. I just don't think it works that way. If he wants to pander to Latinos, it'll have to be Rubio in particular.

The question, as you rightly point out, is whether a GOP ticket with no Protestants on it would hurt the GOP in the South and Plains states. I just don't know. If it wouldn't, then I'd say McDonnell's a shoo-in. But if they really need a teahadist Protestant, then I'm not sure who they nominate. Jim DeMint, maybe?

[yardwork]

13. I agree with you that the Latino vote is lost to the Republicans no matter what they do.

For one thing, Latinos are not a unified bloc. Rubio himself is very damaged, he's tried to pass himself off as something he is not, and that is not sitting well. And in any case, a Cuban-American is not necessarily going to draw the votes of Mexican-Americans, for instance. Latinos will be insulted at the assumption that they all think alike. The biggest problem is the Republican Party's constant attacks on immigrant rights - including Romney's recent statement that he will not support the Dream Act. There are conservative right-wing Hispanic voters who also don't care about immigrant rights, but they'll vote Republican no matter what. This group overlaps the constituency that Rubio would attract. He really doesn't add that much to the voting power of the ticket, and the presence of a Latino on the ticker along with a Mormon would doom - totally doom - the ticket in most parts of the south and much of the midwest.

[Renew Deal]

15. Mitch McConnell?

Never going to happen.

[yardwork]

16. I think that was a typo. The likely choice is Bob McDonnell, governor of Virginia.

[Proud Public Servant]

25. Yes, typo. Fixed now, thanks! n/t

[unblock]

12. now that's the republican party. a white male christian needs a white male christian for balance.

[yardwork]

14. So true.

[duhneece]

18. I think an Hispanic woman, like NM's Governor

will end up as VP candidate for the R's. Our R Governor is a former District Attorney and very ambitious. That's my prediction.

[yardwork]

24. Susana Martinez is a possibility. Romney needs New Mexico.

That's a good point.

[NightTemplar]

41. great call! She' sitting on a 65% approval rating and is more "authentic" than Rubio in many minds.

She could speak Spanish from the podium and if she can help deliver NM, NV, AZ and CO Obama is toast.

[yardwork]

42. Even if Romney does choose her, I don't think it will work.

Yes, she could help deliver some western states, but I suspect that she won't help in the south, and Romney must win the entire south - including Virginia and North Carolina, which went for Obama in 2008 - to win the presidency.

[LuvNewcastle]

19. I think he's going to pick a southerner.

There was a lot of talk here in Mississippi about Haley Barbour getting the nod, but I think he took his name out of the hat when he pardoned all those people. Bobby Jindal is Catholic and is very popular in Louisiana, but I don't think he would be well-liked in other parts of the country. I think Romney needs to pick a southern Evangelical to give him some cred with the base of the party, although they might settle for Santorum -- he's hateful enough.

[yardwork]

22. I think it will be a southerner, too.

[gkhouston]

45. Stephen Colbert.

[yellowcanine]

23. Santorum would be a disaster for Mitt. And he wouldn't necessarily help with PA.

Haley Barbour would be a gift to Obama. Not that much national name recognition even though he was Republican National Chair. So he would be defined by "What have you done lately?" -oops.

[LuvNewcastle]

27. Oh, Haley is definitely out.

Santorum might not help in PA, but I don't think he would hurt, either. I think Santorum has a good chance of winning the SC primary because of his stand on social issues. He might just make some headway in the rest of the South as well. Romney has to win the South; he really needs to win ALL of the South. He needs to take back NC and VA for the GOP. If the people down here just see him as a Mormon moderate, they aren't going to turn out for him. If he can find a running mate who will get southern preachers to motivate their congregations, he'll be in much better shape.

[yellowcanine]

29. Romney needs more than all of the South to win. He needs at least one big blue state also.

And if he loses Ohio he needs two big blue states. Pennsylvania is probably the only one he might have a decent shot at and Santorum likely doesn't help him get it. Not sure Santorum helps in NC or VA much either.

[yardwork]

38. Yes, I agree. Santorum is no help. Romney needs a southerner who will mobilize the evangelical vote

but who? There isn't one who isn't a problem in other ways.

Chuckle. Chortle. They got nothing.

[yellowcanine]

39. I think he may go for Nikki Haley. And she has a HUGE Hispanic problem.

http://www.wltx.com/news/article/141747/2/Nikki-Haley-Signs-Immigration-Bill-Opponents-Speak-Out

Columbia, SC (WLTX, AP) -- Governor Nikki Haley has signed off on legislation to crack down on illegal immigration, but the American Civil Liberties Union announced plans to challenge the bill before that even happened.

Supports and protesters showed up at the signing today to praise and sound off against the new law.

"I've never been humiliated before," said Greg Torrales, remembering a time he says he experienced racial profiling. "The only good part about it was that the officer apologized profusely afterwards," he recalled.

Torrales, born and raised in America, serves as President of the South Carolina Hispanic Leadership Council. He says the state's immigration crack down will result in more profiling and he's not the only one who thinks so. The ACLU announced plans to legally challenge the law for that very reason.

[yardwork]

43. Here's the thing. White southern conservatives will elect a woman as governor, but....

I don't think that they'll be enthusiastic about a presidential ticket with a woman as VP, especially if she is not "white' in their eyes.

[yellowcanine]

20. Where would that leave Mitt with minorities? Latinos aren't going to vote for Mitt just because

he has a Catholic running mate. For one thing, a lot of conservative Latinos who might be inclined to vote on social issues are evangelical Protestants, not Catholics. Any Republican running against Obama has to blunt the minority vote for him somehow. The only practical way to do it is to capture a significant part of the Hispanic vote - probably close to 40 percent. As you noted, that is not likely to happen. But I think Mitt will try to go for someone who will attract Hispanic voters anyway because he really has no choice.

[yardwork]

21. This is an unsolvable problem for the Republicans.

If Romney chooses a Hispanic running mate, most of the south will stay away in droves. His only hope is to pick a white conservative male who is Catholic and try to scare/anger Catholics into hating Obama.

Edited to note - upthread somebody suggested Susana Martinez, governor of NM. That's a possibility.

[TBF]

26. Somebody else wrote a piece on Rubio this morning.

I dunno - they kind of look too much alike. Plus teabaggers are not going to be thrilled about a Mormon/Catholic ticket. That is likely to make heads explode.

[IrishEyes]

28. Some right wing religious republicans will not vote for him.

I know some republicans who are not going to vote unless the nominee is a religious right Protestant. They refuse to support a Mormon or a Catholic as president. I'm Catholic and they are always trying to save me and convert me.

If they do try to get the Catholic vote, they will have to deal with the fact that Joe Biden is an Irish Catholic on the democratic side. I'm all for hi having a Catholic vice president. Almost every Catholic I know is a liberal democrat.

[Bolo Boffin]

31. Tim Pawlenty - raised Catholic, currently Evangelical interdominational.

National co-chair, opening for Romney in New Hampshire.

He can talk the Catholic talk and soothe the evangelicals.

[Proud Public Servant]

34. Never

Pawlenty's a moderate from a northern state; he has no more appeal to the base than Romney, and doesn't balance the ticket at all.

[Bolo Boffin]

35. Oh, you pessimist. :D n/t

[yardwork]

37. I agree. Pawlenty is out.

[musette_sf]

44. This might not work out the way the Pubs think it will.

A lot of "evangelicals" (or as I call them, theocratic fundamentalist G-d-botherer American Taliban) still don't think Catholics or LDS are "Christian".