'Pick Romney's VP Now' Poll Contest

If you are an “anyone but Romney” voter or an “I will stay home if Romney is the nominee” person, or in the “I will hold my nose and vote for him but won’t work for him” category, this has not been a good week for you.

In fact, this may be a bad month because Romney is leading in South Carolina and Florida.

And to make matters worse from your perspective, Intrade has Romney’s probability of winning the nomination at 86.7%, making his inevitability even more inevitable.

So what’s a “true conservative” to do?

Here are two suggestions: first, go back and read my PJM piece  from May of 2011 about  “visiting a therapist” offering constructive suggestions about how to deal with Romney heading the ticket.  

Second, you can participate in this poll and help select Romney’s vice-presidential running mate by offering names in the comments section. The results will be tallied and brought to the attention of the Romney campaign.

Perhaps a VP to your liking will help balance the ticket and raise your level of enthusiasm. My belief is Romney should announce his VP selection well before the August Republican Convention in Tampa, so weigh in on that as well.

Now, here are the criteria for selecting Romney’s running mate:

The person must have enough stature and experience to be able to step in and become president if the awful-awful happens.

The person must not only “do no harm” which has been the traditional criterion for selecting a VP (which some believe McCain violated by selecting Sarah Palin), but in this poll the potential VP must help the ticket with one or more of these factors: (1) Help win a state that Obama won in 2008 and is now a must-win state for the GOP. (2) Help unite the GOP and excite the conservative base enough to work hard and elect the ticket. (3) A person who could be the nominee in 2020 after Romney’s two terms in office.

Romney’s running mate must also stand up to VP Joe Biden in a debate and blow him away on the campaign trail.

This VP candidate must perform well in the media and make general election voters comfortable with Romney’s selection.

Most important, Romney’s running mate is someone who would be an effective leader nationally and internationally.

So now, PJM readers, start your engines and head on down to the comments section.