Stronger Pawlenty in 2012 and Stronger Santorum in 2016

McCain and Romney's Running Mates Four Years Later

If John McCain had chosen Tim Pawlenty as his running mate in 2008 and Mitt Romney chose Rick Santorum as his running mate in 2012, does Pawlenty do much better as an anti-Romney candidate in 2012 and does Santorum do much better as an anti-Trump candidate in 2016?
 
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Driftless

Donor
If John McCain had chosen Tim Pawlenty as his running mate in 2008 and Mitt Romney chose Rick Santorum as his running mate in 2012, does Pawlenty do much better as an anti-Romney candidate in 2012 and does Santorum do much better as an anti-Trump candidate in 2016?

IIRC, Pawlenty had a local reputation for being a conservative who could work with the opposition effectively. That notion kind of disappeared when he hit the national scene. Here's one viewpoint of when Pawlenty went sideways.

Contrast that idea with Michelle Bachmann as being the other Minnesota Republican nationally recognized figure.
 
I feel like Romney wouldn't have benefited at all from picking Santorum as his running mate, seeing as how the guy is the perfect target for anyone who likes things such as the separation of church and state. That said, I could see how being on the ticket could strengthen him. Personally, I'd like to see a TL where he becomes the 2012 nominee just to perversely watch his campaign collapse.
 
from the article about Pawlenty in 2012:

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/tim-pawlenty-debate_us_56b74b9ae4b04f9b57d9ef70

In debate prep, political consultants had instructed the governor that he had to do three things with each answer: 1) tailor his response to the person asking the question; 2) attack Obama; and 3) get around to answering the question, presumably by attacking Romney. He had to do all three things within the given time limits and look natural doing it.
That's already too complicated by half!
 
I feel like Romney wouldn't have benefited at all from picking Santorum as his running mate, seeing as how the guy is the perfect target for anyone who likes things such as the separation of church and state. That said, I could see how being on the ticket could strengthen him. Personally, I'd like to see a TL where he becomes the 2012 nominee just to perversely watch his campaign collapse.
The idea behind choosing Rick Santorum as Mitt Romney's running mate was to unify the Republican Party by balancing Mitt Romney's moderate stance with Rick Santorum's radicalism. Santorum would also bring the swing state of Pennsylvania to the table.
 
The idea behind choosing Rick Santorum as Mitt Romney's running mate was to unify the Republican Party by balancing Mitt Romney's moderate stance with Rick Santorum's radicalism. Santorum would also bring the swing state of Pennsylvania to the table.

Santorum wouldn't bring Pennsylvania into play. I'm not sure many VP candidates could, but especially not him; he was very unpopular in the state.
 
Santorum wouldn't bring Pennsylvania into play. I'm not sure many VP candidates could, but especially not him; he was very unpopular in the state.

Not to mention Romney had already swung to the right in the primary and Obama literally being thought of as a socialist would mean Santorum couldn't even drive turnout up in any significant way. At least not from the GOP base - maybe he drives more people left-of-center to come out and vote for Obama.
 
Pawlenty was a bit too 'stale' to really do well in the Primaries,chances are his status as VP Candidate in an alternative '08 race wouldn't help much.

Santorum is Santorum,and as others have stated,he is incredibly unpopular and too far to the right. The only reason he won any states in 2012 was due to Anti-Romney sentiment,he failed to repeat his success in these recent primaries and besides,if he had been a more major candidate,chances are he would've faded away like Scott Walker or been crushed by Trump like Bush or Rubio were.
 
Other Candidates

How about other candidates as McCain and Romney's Running mates?
John McCain with Rick Santorum or Rick Perry?
Mitt Romney with Jeb Bush, Jim Gilmore, George Pataki, Lindsey Graham, or Bobby Jindal?
Can these candidates do better four years later than Tim Pawlenty or Rick Santorum?
 
How about other candidates as McCain and Romney's Running mates?
John McCain with Rick Santorum or Rick Perry?
Mitt Romney with Jeb Bush, Jim Gilmore, George Pataki, Lindsey Graham, or Bobby Jindal?
Can these candidates do better four years later than Tim Pawlenty or Rick Santorum?

McCain with Santorum or Perry would be much better then Palin,it might also be good for Perry to campaign to some extent before 2012.

Pataki was too liberal for 2012 and in NY he already upset everyone,Graham may be an interesting choice but again,possibly too Moderate/Liberal. Gilmore,i'm not sure about and Bush's problems would be related to his name. Jindal,however,I could see potentially helping Romney's ticket and he could excite the base potentially. However,if he screws up,he runs the risk of being considered Palin 2.0.
 
Pawlenty could not have been as good a bridge builder with social conservatives that Palin was. So McCain does worse. I know he loses Missouri. I don't think Santorium could have helped Romney that much. The Religious Right voted for him.
 
Eh, Romney did consider Christie, but he didn't survive vetting. Probably for the very reasons he's imploded since Bridgegate. Ridge is pro-choice.
 

Driftless

Donor
Pawlenty could not have been as good a bridge builder with social conservatives that Palin was. So McCain does worse. I know he loses Missouri. I don't think Santorium could have helped Romney that much. The Religious Right voted for him.

I could see Pawlenty being too moderate for the social conservatives at convention time, but wouldn't that moderate perception been a plus in the general election?
 
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