Monday, April 16, 2012

Veepstakes: Washington’s Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers?

Will Romney’s “woman problem” prove a boon to Washington State’s Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Spokane)?

The Daily Caller first suggested McMorris Rodgers as a vice-presidential contender back in February, quoting veteran Republican strategist and pollster Kellyanne Conway. Fox News, Smart Girl Politics, The Hill and others all echoed the suggestion.

Human Events devoted one in its series of veepstakes articles to McMorris Rodgers last month. And, last week, National Journal included her in its top 13 possibilities and Race 4 2012 ranked her eighth in a field of 10.

Most significantly, perhaps, Sabato’s Crystal Ball unveiled their list of likely contenders for the second spot on the Republican ticket last week. And McMorris Rodgers is one of their outliers.

Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia–who has been predicting the outcome of every gubernatorial, senatorial and presidential race in the U.S. with almost perfect accuracy for the last eight years–lists in his first tier of possible Romney running mates:

  • Sen. Rob Portman (OH)
  • Sen. Marco Rubio (FL)
  • Gov. Bobby Jindal (LA)
  • Rep. Paul Ryan (WI).

In the second tier, he has:

  • Gov. Chris Christie (NJ)
  • Former Gov. Jeb Bush (FL)
  • Former Gov. Tim Pawlenty (MN)
  • Gov. Bob McDonnell (VA)
  • Gov. Mitch Daniels (IN)
  • Former Gov. Mike Huckabee (AR).
Sabato’s top two tiers are, of course, all male and almost all white.

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