The race for a veep should begin now

I know this may seem farfetched for Republicans, especially since a nominee hasn’t even been picked yet, but I believe whoever ultimately gets the nod must select a running mate fairly quickly. The rationale is it’s becoming more apparent (at least now) that Obama will give the GOP nominee a run for his money, even as his approval rating hovers at 40 percent and could slide further. Yet Obama continues to campaign from the Oval Office, and will continue to make inroads into his base, getting them to the point where a vote for him is not more of the same, but instead a vote against the Republican Party.

The electorate is volatile, and whoever the nominee is will need every advantage he or she can get, and that includes more spokesmen to challenge this president and his administration.

Let’s assume Mitt Romney wins. Prior to his poorly handled scandals, Herman Cain would’ve made a nice veep pick. Even though Cain was strong on similar issues as Romney, his background and skin color would have siphoned some of the black vote from Obama, I believe.

But that alone should not have forced Romney’s hand. More than race, Romney needs to burnish his conservative bona fides, and that means he needs to pick someone with mass appeal to the conservative right, and yes, someone to the right of Romney.

It doesn’t need to be a governor; Romney has that on his resume. Though governors do tend to fare better on presidential runs than say, senators. I personally like someone like Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), but many would say he’s untested and too young. One day, however …

Finally, Joe Biden is not exactly batting 1.000 of late. His gaffes and blunders make him prime fodder for a GOP bulldog to come after him; the sooner the better.

As much as Republicans and much of the country would like to see Obama run out of Washington on a rail, this race is going to be close, and dirty. The GOP nominee would serve himself well if he made his VP pick well in advance of the GOP convention in Tampa, then use that added attention to hammer the Obama camp.