Political strategist Dick Morris says Mitt Romney should choose Sen. Marco Rubio as his vice presidential running mate, because he would help the presumptive Republican nominee with Latino voters in key battleground states beyond Florida.
Morris said Rubio would be an asset in states including Colorado, New Mexico, and Nevada. He would also help energize a younger group of voters for the Republican ticket.
“I think Rubio is the one he should pick,” Morris told Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren Thursday.
But noting how “very risk averse” the vice presidential vetting process can be in a campaign, Morris said Romney and company may decide to choose “a boring white man.”
“If you're not going to go with . . . Rubio, you're probably going to choose a boring white man, and it might be [Former Minnesota Gov. Tim] Pawlenty — it might be [Sen. Rob] Portman from Ohio,” Morris said.” My own personal choice among boring white men would be [Bob] McDonnell, the governor of Virginia, because he has a tremendous record of balancing the budget and cutting spending without raising taxes.”
He said, however, that none of “those boring white men help you win, but they simply don’t make you lose.”
This is not the first time the question of Romney choosing a “boring white" man as his running mate has come to the forefront.
Late last month, NBC News anchor Brian Williams, reading from a script, asked Romney whether it was true that the former Massachusetts governor was going to choose a “boring white guy” for the vice-presidential slot.
Romney quipped: “You told me you were not available.”
Morris noted that aside from bringing in the Latino vote, Rubio could help energize the campaign coming out of the GOP convention in Tampa at the end of August.
But he acknowledged that Romney advisers could have a problem with “speculation that there are scandals and skeletons in Rubio’s closet.”
Morris said he had checked out reports that Rubio was tied into some political scandals as a member of the state legislature and may have been under investigation for a credit-card scandal.
But he said Rubio had been cleared of any ethics violations and is not under any kind of investigation.
Morris said, however, even the hint of an issue could push Romney aides to make another choice.
“The problem is that the very fear of that could inhibit them from doing what they should do, which is to pick Rubio,” Morris said.
Asked if House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan was also a possibility, Morris seemed to rule him out.
“Paul Ryan is brilliant. I think he’s wonderful,” Morris said. “But he proposed replacing Medicare with a voucher system. He’s since backed off that and said, ‘I’ll keep Medicare as an option.’ But in doing that, he would attract so much fire over that.”
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