AHC:Give Romney a worse running mate

Jeb seems like political suicide and exactly the candidate I am looking for.
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This book might seem like a positive bio, but the author S. V. Dáte was the Tallahassee bureau chief for the Palm Beach Post and is pretty damn critical of Jeb.

Basically that Jeb was an autocrat and a dictator, and could be a bit of a bully at times, and not in a good way.
 
Jeb: America's Next Bush

Ch. 9 "Who Wants To Know?," S. V. Dáte, Penguin Publishing, 2007.

pages 256-57:

' . . . the [Palm Beach] Post broke a story about how Jeb's education staff had chosen to promote the book The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe just as the film version was about to hit the theaters, and how the film had been produced by a major Republican donor and evangelical Christian, and how Jeb's office had never in his six previous years so promoted a new movie, . . . '


This story may or may not have legs in 2012.
 
Basically because Gerry Ferraro's from New York and that she's a woman, and that's all the attention a lot of people pay to politics, as much as I might wish it was different.

Again, though, people who felt that way were unlikely to vote for Mondale anyway. (Besides, a lot of the initial publicity about Ferraro was that she was from "Archie Bunker's district" in Queens.)

Anyway, once again the exit polls just don't show Ferraro hurt the ticket--though it is doubtful she helped it, either.
 

DougM

Donor
I have sometimes wondered if McCaine had an inclination of the economic problems that were about to hit and decided he did not want to be president. It often looks like the guy before the convention and they guy shortly after were two different candidates. Now that could be an interesting what if. What if someone finds a tape or video of McCaine (or any other Presidential candidate) saying they don’t want to be president and that they are actively trying to throw the election?

As for Mitt I an not sure that the VP candidate matters as long as you avoid outright scandal. Besides Mitt had his own problems. He was an extreamly wealthy man who could not help coming across as a bit of Rich snob and was fought more then once making comments that could easily make him look like he had no interest in the working class, And as a candidate for the GOP a party that starts off with that perception this is a huge problem. So you want a candidate that hurts Mitt then find whatever GOP member that naturally acts and sounds like a stuck up rich guy that is constantly making dumb rich guy comments. Think Thurston Howell the 3rd. If the VP is perceived to be a rich guy that has no grasp of the reality of the working class and who can be sold as anti working class and hopefully a bit of a rich shop that screws the poor and the working class over for a buck then it would be very easy to paint Mitt with the same brush and to inflame the masses with the comments that Mitt did make and his money. This may very well be the best way to hurt his run. I am not familiar enough with the various possibilities that the GOP had at that time be be able to tell you who that is but I am sure that there is someone around. I just read an article that indicated that well over 300 of the 435 members of Congress are millionaires so it can’t be to hard to find some rich guy that acts like the brothers from Trading Places.
 
The problem was Romney was in a pretty bad box insofar as a running mate was concerned. He's a wonk. He's on top of the ticket. In general, campaign managers avoid like the plague a running mate that can outshine the guy on top of the ticket. That means another wonk or a 'grey man'.
 
If Romney decides that he needs those credentials with the religious right, then Mike Huckabee.

Imagine this: Sandy Hook happens in October rather than December. Big tragedy that everybody involved in the campaigns has to talk about. Old Huck' states (as he did in our timeline) that Lanza killed those kids because he didn't pray in school.

Somewhere Mitt is reconsidering his abstinence from alcohol.

I agree, but barring that POD I think Huckabee would probably help Romney more than Ryan did, at least that's my perception. No states would be flipped, but Huckabee is, on his face at least, a more likable figure than Ryan ever was.
 
I was thinking either Kelly Ayotte or David Petraeus. Kelly Ayotte would deliver New Hampshire, however, she would have only been a Senator since 2011, and would invoke bad memories of Sarah Palin. David Petraeus would be despised by conservatives and was embroiled in an extramarital affair.

Ayotte would never make the mistakes Palin did and would be much, MUCH, harder to attack (by the likes of SNL and pop culture). Petraeus was seen as brilliant strategist by many of the Bush wing (which was also the Romney wing) of the GOP, but he would never have been picked as a VP at least given Romney's team probably would have snuffed out what was going behind doors (which some say is the reason other possibles like Christie weren't picked - the vetting team said no). If you want a running mate to hurt Romney in a disastrous way then maybe Zell Miller (former Democratic Governor/Senator from Georgia, who supported Bush in 2004). Miller could be a pick as someone who was a) a conservative Democrat, b) someone older than Mitt with Washington experience and c) someone who liked to fight and could be the pitbull Romney needed (and which he by temperament was not) - and he was a Southerner and could have balanced the ticket. But Romney would have won Georgia anyway and Miller easily could go off the reservation at any time (and like Palin was easily lampoonable).
 
If you want a running mate to hurt Romney in a disastrous way then maybe Zell Miller (former Democratic Governor/Senator from Georgia, who supported Bush in 2004). Miller could be a pick as someone who was a) a conservative Democrat, b) someone older than Mitt with Washington experience and c) someone who liked to fight and could be the pitbull Romney needed (and which he by temperament was not) - and he was a Southerner and could have balanced the ticket. But Romney would have won Georgia anyway and Miller easily could go off the reservation at any time (and like Palin was easily lampoonable).

Zell Miller infamously desired returning to the days of dueling your opponents:


I remember how much SNL made fun of Zell Miller during the 2004 election and shortly after. I had never heard of him before then (I wasn't that politically aware yet), so Will Forte's impression of him is the first thing I imagine when I think of him.

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/hardball-cold-open/2860887

He would have been too old to be Romney's running mate in 2012 (80). If he were 10-20 years younger, then maybe he could have been a decent pick as far as political experience goes, although his mouth and temperament would have been thorns in Romney's side.
 
As David T. points out earlier in the thread, Palin was not a "disaster" and did not really hurt McCain during the actual election campaign - this was only seen in retrospect when elements within the failed McCain campaign (mostly Wallace and Schmidt going by Game Change) blamed her for McCain's loss (and not his stopping his campaign during the financial crisis, which really doomed it). Most press accounts at the time credited Palin with turning out votes for McCain and hyping the Republican base in ways McCain himself did not (McCain's biggest convention bump was after her acceptance speech), and, again all press accounts at the time also had her holding her own with Biden, a seasoned politician with lots of experience, in their one debate.

As for Romney, to pick someone "worse" than Palin, you would have to pick someone who would cost him net numbers of votes (which it is not clear Palin did for McCain). You would need someone who is not only polarizing/loathed by the left, but who have zero hype from the right. I can see Jeb Bush (given the Bush name was not a positive in 2012) or maybe even Rudy Giuliani, who often comes as abrasive and sometimes says whatever comes to him at the moment (so not well loved by the left, but also a pro-choice social liberal who would not consolidate doubters on the right of Romney's own conservatism). Another option would be Romney picking the man McCain WANTED to pick in 08 - Joe Lieberman. Lieberman was persona non grata for the Democrats by this time but also as a social liberal (and Al Gore's running mate) would have garnered zero enthusiasm (the opposite in fact) from Republicans - although Romney (like McCain) might have thought there would be enough Independents to make up the difference.A Republican ticket of two Northeastern moderates would probably do worse than Romney did picking Ryan.

Lieberman is probably one of the worst choices Romney could make. A Democrat is not going to do Romney, a candidate with weak conservative credentials, any favors at all. In fact, Romney would probably not only lose worse ITTL, but he'd lose what little standing he has left in the party most likely.
 
Zell Miller infamously desired returning to the days of dueling your opponents:


I remember how much SNL made fun of Zell Miller during the 2004 election and shortly after. I had never heard of him before then (I wasn't that politically aware yet), so Will Forte's impression of him is the first thing I imagine when I think of him.

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/hardball-cold-open/2860887

He would have been too old to be Romney's running mate in 2012 (80). If he were 10-20 years younger, then maybe he could have been a decent pick as far as political experience goes, although his mouth and temperament would have been thorns in Romney's side.

He also died in 2018, just 6 years later. I'd be skeptical of his having the stamina to be a good running mate.

Miller could perhaps help bring out a few extra voters in North Florida and Rural Virginia, but that only goes so far in the electoral college.

Miller also wasn't as conservative as people think. While Governor he expanded pre-school and higher education opportunities and in the Senate he voted to make sexual orientation protected under hate crime laws. He was very conservative on taxes, crime and school choice however, so perhaps that'd offset it. He banned handguns in schools too, so some NRA folks might not trust him. He was also very pro-Social Security, though given how the GOP was already trending populist that might not be a bad thing for Romney.
 
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