In a shocking turn of events, a source with intimate knowledge of the decision tells The Princeton Tiger that Mitt Romney has chosen Barack Obama as his Vice Presidential running mate.
Romney was rumored yesterday to have chosen either Florida Senator Marco Rubio or Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, after weeks of speculation linked him to numerous individuals including Tim Pawlenty, Bobby Jindal, Chris Christie, and Rand Paul.
In the end, the Romney camp felt Ryan was too conservative for independents and Rubio too much of a wildcard. They made an even bolder pick, one surely aimed at bringing in the minority, women, young, and independent voters. Romney has faced a tremendous disadvantage among these groups, specifically women, African-Americans, and voters 18-25. His struggles with these demographics had led to speculation in recent weeks about potentially selecting a running mate specifically targeted at these groups, such as Condoleezza Rice. With this power play, Romney took that notion to the extreme, neutralizing the Democrats’ advantage in all of Romney’s trouble demographics.
A Gallup poll from Friday had a potential Romney/Obama ticket in a dead heat with the Obama/Biden ticket, trailing 47 to 46 (±3).
“Obama’s experience with the executive office and with presidential campaigns will be an asset to the ticket and will compliment Mr. Romney very well,” said the anonymous source from the Romney campaign. “The Republican ticket now has something to appeal to everyone and we should now have some very interesting debates.”
The Obama/Biden quickly went on the offensive after receiving knowledge of the choice, releasing a statement saying the choice was “a thinly-veiled attempt to appeal to moderates” and that it would result in “the same-old-same-old failed Republican policies” since “adding a Washington career politician to the ticket will not make them any less out of touch with the American people.”
The Obama campaign has a tough task ahead in criticizing the Republican ticket without damaging the image of its own candidate in the eyes of voters. Lead Obama spokesman Jay Carney said that Obama would make a much better President than Vice President because he “is terrible with authority” and “doesn’t really like” Romney. He added that it “would be like Cheney 2.0.”
With the choice of a Vice Presidential candidate out of the way, the Republican strategists can now move onto their number one objective, which is winning the election in November and making Barack Obama a one-term president. And then vice-president.
– MFG ’14
