As long as we’re talking about ridiculous projections into 2012 presidential runs, why not bring in some Veep speculation?

This actually is one of my favorite subjects, because it requires a deeper knowledge of the up-and-comers – not to mention a good grasp of who will be running at the front of the ticket.  I’ve already pegged the current front-runners as Romney and Petraeus (Romney being obvious, and Petraeus being the only guy I can see who might knock him off), so we’ll proceed under the assumption that it’ll be one of those two gentlemen.  I’ll do it in two separate posts, so that you don’t have to read the whole doggone book I’ve written, all at once.

First, Petraeus.  Since he’s not a known quantity, he’d be riding in on a proverbial white horse in shining armor (or perhaps, in an Abrams tank with reactive armor?).  This means he’d be a bit of a novelty by himself.  This might translate to a bigger convention bounce, a la Palin-bounce.  Furthermore, as his military service would be so stellar beyond reason, he’d be difficult to paint as Part of the Republican Establishment.  Heck, he’s been in Iraq for so long, it’d be near impossible for him to have become an Establishment Republican along the way – remember, he’s been a bit busy winning the war that Harry Reid said was already lost.

See?  I’m already crafting his campaign message.

So who would be a good pick for a Petraeus Veep?  I don’t think Romney would do it, but he’d be an excellent pick.  That’d be rather bland, however – especially if Hillary forces Ol’ Joe into early retirement.  MSM would pick up on the Black Man And Woman Vs Two Old White Dudes angle, and I mean fast.  So that might not be interesting enough.  Geography, demography, and the ability to not screw it up are all key.  Jindal fits the demography bill nicely, but I think he’s still too young to debate Biden or HRC without coming off as a smart-but-inexperienced CPA.  Mitch Daniels fits the geography bill – and man, does he ever fit the fiscal conservative bill – but not the demography bill.  Besides, the idea is to already HAVE the base when you win the nomination; so Daniels would be (hopefully) doubling down on fiscal conservatism.  That’s not a bad thing, but it’s not a winning thing either.  That said, Daniels could be the fiscal conservative leading the Senate, leaving Petraeus to run foreign policy as it should be run.

That’s a dream team, right there.