Republicans continue to offer unsolicited VP advice for Romney
(CBS News) Mitt Romney may or may not have already picked his running mate, but he continues to get plenty of unsolicited advice on the matter. As Republican politicians and pundits await the announcement, they can't help but weigh in on who would make the best vice presidential pick and what qualities Romney should look for in a running mate.
Thursday night on Fox News, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani -- who earlier said he'd like to see Sen. Marco Rubio on the ticket -- said he'd really like to see Romney pick New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
"I'd very much like to see Chris Christie -- that would probably be my all-time favorite -- but I'm not sure that's realistic," he said.
Christie himself last week said at an event in Aspen, Colo. that Romney should at least pick a candidate that is anti-abortion rights -- something that would disqualify former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
"Do I think it's possible? I think it's possible," Christie said of the prospect of Romney picking running mate that supports abortion rights. "Do I think it's likely? No. And do I think it's advisable? No. I wouldn't do it."
Also in Aspen last week, Texas Gov. Rick Perry said to CNN regarding the vice presidential pick, "As long as it's not me, I'll be cool."
Former Sen. George LeMieux, R-Fla., weighed in with an op-ed in The Hill Thursday, telling Romney to pick Rubio or Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.
"For Mitt Romney, it's time to be bold or go home," LeMieux wrote. "If the former governor's choice for running mate is anything less than someone drenched in bold vision and unapologetic leadership, a person with the courage of his convictions who is not afraid to make the hard decisions that must be made to save America, undecided voters will remain unmoved, the GOP base will be uninspired, and Mitt Romney will be unsuccessful."
A trio of conservative publishers also this week spoke out in favor of picking Ryan.
The Wall Street Journal editorial board wrote on Wednesday that Ryan's controversial plans for modifying Medicare and righting the budget are an asset more than a liability.
"Mr. Romney's best chance for victory is to make this a big election over big issues," the editorial board wrote. "Mr. Obama and the Democrats want to make this a small election over small things--Mitt's taxes, his wealth, Bain Capital. As the last two months have shown, Mr. Romney will lose that kind of election."
The conservative magazine the National Review on Friday similarly showered Ryan with praise.
"Ryan is an ideologue in the best sense of the term," National Review editor Rich Lowry wrote. He is motivated by ideas and knows what he believes and why. But he's not blinkered. He is an explainer and a persuader."
Meanwhile, Stephen Hayes and Bill Kristol at the conservative Weekly Stanard write that Romney should "go bold" and pick Ryan or Rubio.
"Pick Paul Ryan, the Republican party's intellectual leader, the man who's laid out the core of the post-Obama policy agenda and gotten his colleagues in Congress to sign on to it," they write. "Or pick Marco Rubio, the GOP's most gifted young politician, the man who embodies what is best about the Tea Party and a vision of a broad-based Republican governing majority of the future."
