Republican Ticket

With the primary season now underway there may begin to develop a feel for who will eventually become the Republican nominee.  For as unpredictable as the tide has been over the closing months of 2011, with a veritable "flavor of the week" procession, one might be reticent indeed to make bold on any predictions.  Well, not here.  This is where the fun is and why they pay me the big bucks.  O.K., the pay check may or may not be in the mail, but it is good times to look into the crystal ball on my desk. 

It is obvious to me that Mitt Romney will carry the banner into the general election in November.  While others have had their spurts, and now Newt has fallen off the edge of the globe, some say nudged over by Romney operatives, the erstwile governor is the most "electible" man left standing.  Sure, Romney lacks the cred for the staunch conservative wing of the Republican party, but even these folks will fall in line in order to unseat president Obama.  What will be the critical decision is:  who will fill out the ticket as the veep?  He or she will need to be someone who will curry the favor of the tea partiers, for which Romney plays the mediating centrist role that would win the election.  Further, they need to be someone who will garner coveted votes from a powerful "swing" faction of the electorate: read minority vote.

I present to you the man who will provide all of these necessary ingredients to win the White House for the Repulican party: (drumrole please)  the junior senator (where have we heard that before?) from Florida, Marco Rubio!  Sure he is young, just over forty, but the intangibles of his Cuban-American heritage along with his hailing from the always critical state of Florida, will help lock up the hispanic vote that would easily go blue otherwise.  Remember the last time we had a person of color on a presidential ticket and how the minority and youth vote tabulated?  I thought so.  Romney/Rubio!  Has a definite election ring to it.  Or maybe it sounds more like a 1970's board game.  You make the call.