Romney's potential VP picks
Now that presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney has chosen close adviser Beth Myers to head his vice-presidential selection team, the quadrennial parlor game of guessing who the likely nominee will pick for a running mate has officially begun.
While voters might not vote for a candidate because of the vice president, they rarely vote for a ticket because of the number two. Instead, the vice presidential choice is a tactical one and serves as a test of the nominee's decision making ability and a window into his thought process.
The candidate may wants someone who can shore up a policy weakness or add some geographic balance to the ticket. Sometimes, though less often than you might imagine, the running mate is chosen because he or she gels with the nominee.
While the Romney campaign says it is too early to talk about who will join the ticket, CBS News updated it compiled list of some of his possible choices, in alphabetical order.
Romney's potential VP picks
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush
As governor, Bush advocated Republican ideals on education, tax cuts and social policy. He backed school vouchers and charter schools and helped implement President George W. Bush's No Child Left Behind law.
However, while in office, Bush disagreed with his party on offshore drilling, opposing opening up parts of Florida's coast to drilling. On immigration, Bush says the Republican Party should tone down its rhetoric and has spoken against Arizona's immigration law.
Bush is the brother of the 43rd President George W. Bush's and the son of the 41st President George H.W. Bush.
Bush endorsed Mitt Romney nearly two months after Florida's primary on March 21 but before his closest challenger, Rick Santorum dropped out. He said he would consider being Romney's running mate but then backtracked from his statement.
Romney's potential VP picks
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie
Elected in 2009, Gov. Christie is the first Republican elected to lead New Jersey in 12 years. Born in Newark, the bombastic leader was urged by Republican activists to run for Republican nomination this election, but opted to stay out of the race.
As governor, he approved a cap on property tax, cut payroll tax cut and cut state employee pensions. He vetoed a bill to allow same-sex marriage in his state, scrapped federal-state plan to build a new train tunnel between New Jersey and Manhattan sighting budget constraints. According to the New York Times, the governor approved more than $1.5 billion in tax breaks for businesses that promised to increase jobs in the state.
Christie endorsed Romney in October and has been a consistent surrogate throughout the campaign.
Romney's potential VP picks
Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels
The two-term governor is of Indiana nearly ran for president himself but decided to stay on the sidelines when his family told him they didn't want to go through the scrutiny of a political campaign. He would have had to answer awkward questions about his unusual personal life: He remarried his wife in 1997 after they had divorced four years earlier. He is widely hailed among the Republican party for his conservative credentials and budget cutting measures.
His successes include a constitutional amendment capping property taxes, the passage of a school voucher program, lowering the corporate income tax rate, restricting abortions, limiting collective bargaining and privatizing a major toll road. State Democrats staged a walk-out but failed to stop the governor's agenda in the Republican-led legislature. However, some of his ideas conflicted with those in his party, including raising taxes on those making more than $100,000.
Daniels is the former director of the Office of Management and Budget under President George W. Bush and was a senior advisor to President Reagan. Previously, Daniels was the president of Eli Lilly and Co.'s North American Pharmaceutical Operations.
Daniels has abstained from endorsing this primary because he doesn't "think anybody cares."
Romney's potential VP picks
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley
Governor Haley swept into office during the Tea Party wave in 2010. She's the first woman governor of South Carolina and the first minority to be elected governor of the Palmetto State. She is currently the youngest governor in the country and the first Indian American woman to run a state.
She garnered national attention during her campaign and former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin endorsed her. As governor, she proposes small government principles and passed a tough immigration law fashioned after Arizona's and signed into law a bill requiring a voter ID at the polling booth, but the law was blocked by Justice Department and now the state is suing. Haley also battled with the state legislature over governance - a case that reached the state Supreme Court.
Haley endorsed Mitt Romney before her state's primary in January but said she is not interested in serving as Romney's running mate. "I made a promise to the people of South Carolina and I'm going to finish what I started," Haley said on CNN earlier this month.
Romney's potential VP picks
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal
Two-term governor of Louisiana is considered a rising star within the Republican Party. The son of Indian immigrants, Jindal campaigned during his first campaign to be governor on rooting out political corruption and turning around a state budget heading to financial crisis. He reduced the deficit through spending cuts that includes reducing state employee pensions.
Changes to the education system, which include battles with the teachers' unions, top his agenda. He supports charter schools and state funding for private school tuition, also known as school vouchers.
Jindal endorsed Rick Perry, the governor of neighboring state of Texas, early in the campaign and had remained neutral until Santorum dropped out on April 10, when he then backed Romney. Jindal is the first Indian American to serve as a governor.
Romney's potential VP picks
New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez
Susana Martinez is relatively new on the national scene. She was elected as governor in 2010, pledging to cut wasteful spending, lower taxes and make changes to public education. She also vowed to end "pay-to-play" practices and other government corruption. She is the first female governor of New Mexico and the first female Hispanic governor in the United States and found out last year her grandparents are undocumented immigrants from Mexico.
Martinez has not endorsed this Republican primary, but hails from a swing state that voted overwhelmingly for Mr. Obama in 2008 and narrowly supported Mr. Bush in 2004.
Romney's potential VP picks
Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell
The governor of Virginia was first elected in 2009. Prior to his election to the statehouse, McDonnell served in the Virginia House of Delegates and as Attorney General. He ran his campaign as a moderate but maintained some of his conservative social views on abortion and issues impacting gay Virginians.
As governor, McDonnell signed into a controversial law requiring women seeking an abortion to receive an ultrasound first. He also faced uproar when he failed to mention slavery when he designated April Confederate History Month, which he later called a "major omission."
McDonnell endorsed Romney in January before the South Carolina primary and campaigned with the governor there. According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, McDonnell said he endorsed Romney then because "this is the first Southern state primary, I'm a Southern state governor so to the degree that my endorsement might help the governor, Governor Romney, at all I thought this was the right time to do it."
Romney's potential VP picks
Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty
Pawlenty, also known as "T-Paw," tried his luck at the presidential nomination but dropped out after a disappointing finish in Iowa's straw poll in August. He served as governor of Minnesota for eight years until 2011 and was considered a top choice to be John McCain's running mate in 2008 before he chose Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. During his 2002 campaign for governor, Pawlenty coined the phrase, "We need to be the party of Sam's Club," not the country club.
Pawlenty, an evangelical Christian, signed a bill that requires women to wait 24 hours before receiving an abortion. Early in his governorship, he cut $2 billion worth of spending and accepted a tax increase on cigarettes. He was a vocal critic of Mr. Obama's stimulus package but used the money provided to his state.
Prior to his terms as governor, Pawlenty served in the Minnesota House of Representatives, which included two terms as majority leader. He was an early supporter of Mitt Romney following the end of his own campaign, coming out with an endorsement in September.
Romney's potential VP picks
Ohio Sen. Rob Portman
Senator Portman has a long career in politics steeped in economics, and he is being widely touted publicly and privately by Republicans as a top contender for the number two slot. He served in the House of Representatives, as President Bush's director of the Office of Management and Budget, as U.S. Trade Representative and, most recently, in the Senate, where he was elected in 2010. As a freshman senator, he served on the 2011 bipartisan, bicameral "super committee" that failed to propose $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction to intercept a trigger of automatic budget cuts set to go into effect in 2013.
Portman easily won his statewide election in 2010 and has been open to working across party lines - important considerations since Ohio is a bellwether state.
Portman campaigned for Mitt Romney during the Ohio primary, which he won. After the Ohio primary, Portman downplayed possible interest in the vice president slot. "I'm happy where I am," Portman said.
Romney's potential VP picks
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio
Freshman Senator Marco Rubio was elected to the Senate in 2010 with support from the conservative Tea Party wing of the party. The son of Cuban American immigrants, he served in the Florida House of Representatives, a tenure which included the role of speaker. Rubio defeated former Florida Governor Charlie Crist, who dropped his Republican affiliation to run for the Senate as an independent, and Democrat Kendrick Meek.
Earlier this year, Rubio co-sponsored a measure in the Senate that would enable an employer to opt out of providing contraception coverage to employees. On immigration, Rubio has been critical of some aspects of the Arizona immigration law and has called for an overhaul of the U.S. legal immigration system.
Rubio has deftly dodged the repeated questions about a possible run for vice president, telling the National Review Online, "when you say it's not going to happen and you're not interested, they're not going to ask."
Romney's potential VP picks
Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan
Forty-one year-old Paul Ryan was first elected to Congress at the age of 28. Ryan has since made his name in Congress as an economic heavyweight in the Republican Party, pushing his party to return to fiscal conservatism.
Now the head of the House Budget Committee, Ryan drafted Republican budgets as an alternative to the president's plan, which aims to cut the deficit by at least $4 trillion over 10 years with spending cuts and changes to federal benefit programs, including Medicare and Social Security.
Ryan comes from a battleground state that has voted Democrat in every election since 1988. Ryan's first congressional district in southern Wisconsin representing the area south of Milwaukee to the northern Illinois border is a swing district that supported Barack Obama in 2008 but voted for George W. Bush in 2004. Ahead of the Republican primary in Wisconsin, Ryan campaigned with Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney for five days, helping to propel Romney to a victory there.
Romney's potential VP picks
Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum
Santorum dedicated the early part of his campaign to trekking through all 99 counties in Iowa before that states caucus in January. Despite polling at only 3 percent there the month before the caucuses, Santorum won the contest, propelling his candidacy to the status of legitimate contender.
H went on to win 252 delegates, according to CBS News estimates, before deciding to "suspend" his campaign after running out of money.
Santorum represented the state of Pennsylvania in Congress for 15 years, which included two terms in the Senate, until he lost his reelection bid by nearly 18 points in 2006. The former senator has not yet endorsed Romney and had harsh words for former governor through out the primary, including saying he would be the "worst Republican" to face President Obama.
Romney's potential VP picks
South Dakota Sen. John Thune
Thune was considered a possible vice presidential candidate for 2008 Republican nominee John McCain. His name was also thrown in the hat as a possible presidential contender in 2012. A solid conservative, Thune also comes from a reliably Republican state that President Obama has no chance of winning.
He endorsed Romney early in the race - in November 2011 - and has hit the campaign trail on behalf of the presumptive nominee, including a trip to Colorado in April.