Interesting tidbits from James Taranto:
As for Bachmann, her biggest advantage over Sarah Palin may be that she is now running for president. That means that if Romney were to name her a year hence, she would be a far more familiar and media-savvy politician than Palin was in 2008. She would be much less vulnerable to both smears from the partisan media and unforced errors like Palin’s disastrous interview with Katie Couric, whoever that is. For those who care about such things, the presence of a woman on the ticket might serve as an excuse to vote against re-electing the first black president.
To be sure, Bachmann is running for the presidential nomination, and while no one considers her the favorite, she’s surely a shorter shot than she was a few days ago. But a rival who is able to attract significant support in the primaries is likely to bring more to the ticket than one who isn’t. What did Joe Biden get Barack Obama other than comic relief?
An interesting aside: A Romney-Bachmann ticket, or a Romney-Pawlenty one for that matter, would combine candidates from the only state Richard Nixon lost in 1972 and the only state Reagan lost in 1984. What’s more, of the seven GOP candidates on stage Monday, all but Rick Santorum come from the home state of at least one Democratic presidential nominee since 1960. The four states in question–Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota and Texas–have produced a majority of Democratic nominees (8 of 13) during that time.
I believe this move would be a mistake for the Republican party. The polls right now are really just reflecting a small group of base supporters, and I don’t think they reflect the larger electorate. Bottom lin…whether you feel the press is partisan or not…don’t you want someone capable of handling them selves in an intelligent manner even if they are in the perverbial lions den? This is the falacy of the utlra conservative idea that it is better to only talk to policy friendly media. We will most likely end up with someone that is not the Statesman that is needed. I for one would still like my government servants to know more about government than I do.