Romney Would Take VP Slot if Offered

Mitt Romney says that he’d be honored to serve if John McCain asked him to run as his vice president.

Romney Would Take VP Slot if Offered Mitt Romney said in his first interview since departing the GOP race that he would accept the number two position on the ticket and that there is no lingering bitterness between him and John McCain.

“I think any Republican leader in this country would be honored to be asked to serve as the vice presidential nominee, myself included,” Romney told FOX’s Sean Hannity in a broadcast set to air tonight. “Of course this is a nation which needs strong leadership. And if the nominee of our party asked you to serve with him, anybody would be honored to receive that call … and to accept it, of course.”

According to two separate reports, Romney is being talked up as a running mate by members of the Bush inner circle. But McCain and his closest advisers have little regard for their former rival thanks to the bitter, year-long race waged between the two Republicans.

Romney says, however, that he thinks the wounds have healed. “There are really no hard feelings, I don’t think, on either side of this,” he said in the interview. “There were no pacts and so forth that make people feel like that we will never come together. Instead these campaigns are all coming together. We are supporting our nominee enthusiastically, aggressively.”

My sense is that there is indeed animosity toward Romney from the McCain camp, although it could be overcome in the interests of winning the election. It’s far from clear, however, what Romney brings to the table. While he generated support within part of the conservative movement, many social conservatives are leery of him because of his reputation as a flip-flopper and, frankly, his Mormonism.

Photo credit: Bloggernacle Times via Google

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James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. FireWolf says:

    For Romney to come out now, after a surprise pullout midstream is little more than pandering for relevancy. Honestly, there is a reason the McCain camp hates Romney and it isn’t because he was a Mormon.

    Huckabee looks like an even bigger jerk for staying in the race “just to win more delegates than Romney”.

    This whole republican primary has blown chunks IMHO and this story about Romney groveling for a position in a McCain white house clearly shows what politicians will stoop to in order to get/keep/maintain power.

    Prostitutes anyone?

  2. yetanotherjohn says:

    If Romney would have run again as Governor of Mass. (and won), I would say that he deserves a look. But I see no state that he is likely to deliver that would be lost otherwise. Pawlenty looks better from that standpoint.

  3. Derrick says:

    Does this surprise anyone other than Hugh Hewitt? Mitt spent a campaign cycle groveling at voters to vote for him, I guess groveling to McCain to pick him is pretty easy at this point. I have a pretty low view of politicians but despite his absence I still believe that Mitt is the most cynical politician of at least the 25 years I’ve been paying attention to politics.

  4. Jim says:

    What does Romney bring to the table? What does McCain bring to the table? He is only there because Huckabee screwed Romney.

    Mitt brings experience (yes, it is very important), he brings statesmanship and leadership, he brings ideas and a willingness to actually do something other than talk. Plus, as Barnes says, he is a known quantity and a decently popular one at that. Mitt is also pragmatic – he chooses his battles, does what is doable, and often succeeds spectacularly. I would suspect that you think we need politicians that act like politicians because that is what we always have had. When someone comes along willing to actually make things work, instead of taking bow-necked “stands on principle” that get nothing done, he gets called a panderer, a flip-flopper, an empty suit. You cannot see past your own cynical nose.

    ‘sides, the POTUS job is way too big for one man anyway. McCain cares nothing about domestic policy (just like Bush 41), cares passionately about foreign policy, doesn’t understand fiscal policy. Perhaps it is only a wish, but I would think that the country would do well to consider the Prez/VP ticket as a team, with one actually complimenting the strengths and making up for weakness in the other. Whatever the POTUS isn’t interested in the VPOTUS ought to be out leading the charge for. Administrations so often end up targeted at one issue that they let everything else slide. Why? Because there is only so much one man can think about or do in four or eight years. Perhaps a real team can actually get something done on multiple fronts, assuming they want to.

  5. Bandit says:

    If I were McCain and Romney was VP I’d make sure the foodtaster never took a day off.