Donald Trump has a suggestion for who would be the best choice for Republican vice presidential candidate in 2012: Donald Trump.
The reality show host and prominent Mitt Romney surrogate told Newsmax on Wednesday that while the GOP has "a lot of very good people" to choose from, "probably the best choice of all would be Donald Trump."
The real estate mogul had presidential aspirations of his own last summer — and briefly led the Republican polls — but eventually opted instead to film another season of his reality show, "The Apprentice."
But the itch might be back for The Donald. On Tuesday, Trump took to Twitter to angle for a prime speaking slot at the Republican National Convention this summer in Tampa, Fla.
"Hmmm … can you imagine me speaking at the RNC Convention in Tampa?" Trump tweeted. "That's a speech everyone would watch."
One way to guarantee a prime speaking slot is being selected as the party's vice presidential nominee, but Trump's smile after advocating his own selection betrayed the fact he likely recognizes that he won't be at the top of Mitt Romney's list. Still, Trump — who has campaigned and fundraised passionately for the likely Republican nominee — did handicap the likely shortlist for the vice presidential job.
“You have a lot of really good candidates,” Trump said. “Chris Christie’s a great guy. He’s a friend of mine. You really have someone really good there. Rob Portman, who I don’t know, but I hear fantastic things about. Certainly he’s been very well vetted over the years. He’s a professional who’s been there a long time. He’s been through it. He knows the game and he’s a very, very solid citizen.
“On a younger side, you could look at [Florida GOP] Sen. [Marco] Rubio, who I think could help with Hispanics. But he is young, and I think he sort of doesn’t want to go through it and doesn’t want to do it."
