Get ready for Romney to Shake Up the Race

[cthulu2016]

In an effort to change the campaign dialog Mitt is about to get wild and crazy. Friends tell the New York Times that he has decided on his running mate, and it may be announced as early as this week.

Now, I will grant that if Mitt picked Joe the Plumber or Snookie from Jersey Shore or Flava Flav or even a true freak-show pick like Condaleeza Rice, that would push Baingate to the back burner quite effectively.

But since Romney's headline grabbing pre-convention stunt VP pick will be Tim Pawlenty it's hard to see how it could change the dialog for more than about four hours.

[BamBamBane]

1. Go for it, Willard

Mercury is Retrograde.

'nuf said.

[BumRushDaShow]

10. !!!!

[arely staircase]

2. and the sun will not set on the first news cycle before

said VP pick is askd if he/she will release multiple years of tax returns like every other VP candidate. regardless of the answer it will reflec poorly on rmoney.

[RedStateLiberal]

3. I know the perfect running mate for Rmoney.

Bain Capital. After all, corporations are people my friend.

[valerief]

9. Bain is already running for president. Didn't you know Rmoney is just a hollow doll? nt

[Scuba]

4. I'm betting on Ken Lay.

[backscatter712]

5. Our "liberal" channel MSNBC is already breathlessly covering Rmoney's VP search...

They're desperately trying to roll Bain off the headlines...

[Life Long Dem]

6. Baingate is not going anywhere

Along with his tax returns.

[WilliamPitt]

7. Rob Portman

is my bet.

[cthulu2016]

11. Portman would change the dialog for five hours instead of four

Because the first hour of coverage would be, "Who the hell is Rob Portman?"

[Rosa Luxemburg]

8. I guess he had better pick his VP before the Olympic scandal

[arely staircase]

14. +1 nt

[Segami]

12. Romney's AWOL TAX RETURNS should KEPT on the front burning stories.

A Romney ' earlier than expected VP choice announcement ' should be seen as nothing more than a 'WAG THE DOG' republican strategy. A panic strategy to SHIFT the damaging TAX RETURN discussion off the map. Democrats must be vigil and continue demanding MITTS TAX RETURNS as a lead story daily. If Mitt doesn't release his tax returns, he has wagered his shot at the presidency and republicans know this well.

The TAX RETURN story is a big win ' Democratic club ' we should use everyday. The Tax return story will expand sideways with new developments and sprout new tentacles of information the Romney Campaign will be forced to address.

[Johnyawl]

13. It's too early...

...yeah, an unexpected pick will knock Bain and the tax returns off the news cycle for a couple of weeks, but the Obama team has 4 months to reinsert this topic into the election conversation. And they will.

[1-Old-Man]

15. Romney needs to carefully pick a VP just to lock down what should be his own base

He will wait until the convention because if he doesn't then there really isn't much reason to have a convention. Of course at the moment what he's got is a very skittish base. The born agains aren't wild for him, the anti abortion crowd doesn't fully trust him, he's got big money arrogance and tax problems baggage that doesn't endear him with conservatives either. There's that lingering "mormon" problem that will definitely cost him some Religious Right votes and the demographics of the southwest are changing. Romney's got problems and a good VP pick might sooth the rebels.

That said, he still doesn't want to have his VP pick known any sooner than necessary. Less time means less scrutiny.