Tuesday, October 04, 2011

Romney-Rubio? Uniting the GOP Divide

With Chris Christie folding, it looks like Mitt Romney has won the Republican tontine—-a survivor not a savior.

As he celebrates on the campaign trail in Florida, he may be within shouting distance of his logical running mate, freshman Sen. Marco Rubio, the Tea Party favorite who would bring youth, Latino-ness and a few months of legislative experience to the ticket.

Rubio has been busy polishing his credentials. Just back from a trip to Libya with John McCain, the 40-year-old son of Cuban exiles has candidate written all over him. A Catholic, married to a former Miami Dolphins cheerleader and father of four, he has been called “The First Catholic Protestant Senator” for ties to both his own church and evangelicals.

In hailing Romney’s inevitability, David Brooks asserts that he is “the most predictable of the candidates and would make for the most soporific of presidents. That’s a good thing. Government would function better if partisan passions were on a lower flame.”

The Romney-Rubio pairing looks inevitable. The other possibilities all have bad baggage. Paul Ryan would evoke rising disapproval of Boehner’s do-nothing House, and none of the clowns who will keep opposing him in the remaining 50 GOP debates would bring Romney any of Rubio’s youth, freshness and lack of a record to be attacked.

Start producing the campaign buttons.

Update: The remains of the Republican race are seen as a contest between two brackets—-the “establishment” and the “angry fired-up base.” Unless the GOP is suicidal, Romney will prevail and Rubio will be his unity choice for the ticket.

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