Kelly Ayotte was first elected to the Senate in 2010 from New Hampshire. To many observers, she is one of the individuals most likely to be on Mitt Romney’s short list of Vice Presidential prospects. Then, on Monday, Mitt and Senator Ayotte campaigned together in New Hampshire. She has toured the state working for Romney’s candidacy. A video follows of one of her speeches endorsing Mitt.
What makes Ayotte so special? Well, prior to running for Senate, she was New Hampshire’s Attorney General. In this office, she acquired a level of fame by personally prosecuting some of the murder cases which were tried.
She’s only 43 years old, is married to an Iraq War veteran, Joe Daley, and has two young children. This may have an appeal to Mitt, since he is so much older than Obama, and has had trouble connecting with younger voters. Also, as you may have already guessed from her photo, Ayotte is a woman, and Mitt has been having trouble with voters of this gender. She comes from a swing state, New Hampshire. She hasn’t hustled herself in front of the cameras since coming to DC, which indicates that she has made fewer missteps than some of the other potential nominees.
More importantly, she is well-liked by conservatives. In 2010, she was endorsed for Senator by Sarah Palin. She has been steadfast in her support of the death penalty, and her opposition to gay rights and abortion.
What are the downsides to choosing Ayotte? Well, one of Mitt’s home states is Massachusetts, which is awfully close to New Hampshire, which would mean that the ticket doesn’t have geographical balance. Ayotte shines on stage; I recall a previous Presidential contest where a stodgy nominee chose a young woman for Vice President who consistently outshone him. Romney may not want to chance a re-run of that race; you might recall that from the middle of September until Election Day, Palin spoke to massive, enthusiastic throngs of adoring fans, while McCain barely filled a coffee shop at times.
Could Ayotte work as a Veep pick? A lot depends upon how Romney’s advisors in summer view the electoral map. If they think it will be close, or that he has a big lead, they may choose a more stolid running mate. But, if he has to swing for the fences, there aren’t many picks better than Ayotte.
May 2nd, 2012 at 9:32 pm
Well, as a New Hampshire Native, I’ll just have to weigh in for Ms Ayotte . . .
YOU GO GIRL !
May 2nd, 2012 at 11:06 pm
I recall a previous Presidential contest where a stodgy nominee chose a young woman for Vice President who consistently outshone him. Romney may not want to chance a re-run of that race;
Yeah, Mondale lost.
May 3rd, 2012 at 7:01 am
Outshining Mondale with Ferraro is like saying dusk is lighter than night.
Ayotte is a sharp cookie, that is for sure. But wish she had more experience under her belt.
May 3rd, 2012 at 8:39 am
This would be a terrible choice!!!
What happened to Sarah Palin is not exclusive to Sarah Palin. Billy Ray would relish the opportunity of making this election about him and Ayotte rather than him and Romney.
The liberal, lapdog media hone their daggers on conservative women. If it’s necessary to have a woman on the ticket, pick the Hispanic Governor of New Mexico and make the libs/Dems walk on eggshells.
Personally, I think a Tea Party favorite such as Marco Rubio or Rand Paul would help the ticket more. Rand Paul would bring the Tea Party, Libertarians and his dad’s Paulbots into the fold. He’s also a great speaker and doesn’t back down to anybody. He’d be a handful.
May 3rd, 2012 at 9:39 am
Yeah, was rather peculiar how Sarah was being compared to /pit against Barry more than the mans position she actually sought.Comparing Palin to Biden was like comparing Krauthammer to Krugman,or Jayson Blair.
May 3rd, 2012 at 10:12 am
“Ayotte is a sharp cookie, that is for sure. But wish she had more experience under her belt.”
You volunteering ?
May 3rd, 2012 at 10:20 am
I sort of think that the reasons Sarah was such a central figure in the 2008 campaign are that she was unknown (I think I pay a lot of attention to political news; the only person who I can remember mentioning her was bill Kristol); she was socially conservative, so much so that she had a baby with downs syndrome; she was attractive (if you were a reporter and had a choice of listening to mccain babble about why we should invade country x, or writing a story about sarah, who would you pick); she wasn’t ready for prime time, which made her an easy target.
I’d be a little surprised if the media went after ayotte in the same way. They’ll concentrate on finding mitt’s flip flops every time he speaks.
fm, I’d be stunned if rand paul got picked. If you think they went after sarah, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
May 3rd, 2012 at 10:25 am
Micky,
You know that McCain is always willing to go the extra mile to expand a candidate’s qualifications. I’m willing to volunteer if Mary Bono has the same problem.
May 3rd, 2012 at 12:50 pm
good to know theres still some real troopers out ther
May 3rd, 2012 at 1:27 pm
I’d help Pamela Gorman in a heart beat!
Yum-Yum!
I like Ayotte, she would be a fine choice. Let us face facts, whoever Romney picks is going to be vilified. Rob Portman still seems the most likely as he can help deliver Ohio and is about as vanilla as any politician can be.
May 3rd, 2012 at 2:12 pm
I know,I know, but for some reason I want to see Nugent enter he fray.
Go ahead, pick on him, hes got more dirty laundry than Indonesia.
But fck me to tears if it wouldn’t be the shtslingenest knock down drag out we’dt ever seen
May 3rd, 2012 at 7:37 pm
#6 and #6. Micky and Arribe, you dirty dirty boys.
Kelly Ayote is not Sarah Palin. She was attorney general which means she can think on her feet quickly while knowing to speak carefully. The meme of Sarah Palin as a little dimwitted would not stick to her.
It’s too early to know the right candidate but I’m very happy that Romney is showcasing the right people. I’m sure that video of their campaigning for him will be focus group tested and such, and team Romney can make an intelligent choice later this summer depending on what their internal polling tells them matters at the time.
May 4th, 2012 at 5:52 am
Whos talkin bout speakin on their feet ?
May 4th, 2012 at 6:11 am
“fm, I’d be stunned if rand paul got picked. If you think they went after sarah, you ain’t seen nothing yet.”
I’ve seen the man during Senate hearings Arriba, he’s no slouch. Very keen wit to match his sharp tongue. He would solidify the part of the base that wouldn’t give the poodles in the leftist media the time of day.
May 4th, 2012 at 6:18 am
“Kelly Ayote is not Sarah Palin.”
Neither were Sharon Angle, Christine O’Donnell, Nikky Haley, Michelle Bachmann, Meg Whitman, Carly Fiorina…
May 4th, 2012 at 6:37 am
fm, I agree that rand paul might be one of the smartest people in the senate. I’m not very sure that that determines who the media favors and who they oppose. For example, I think pat buchanon might be one of the smartest people in public life over the last 40 years; the media seem to go after him any time they have the chance.
May 4th, 2012 at 8:13 am
Well Arriba, with all due respect, I don’t think you can get further right than Pat Buchanan. He scares a lot of his own base. He was easy for the left to attack.
The media loves to take off on anybody they consider an escapee from the liberal plantation (Herman Cain for example). White women are front and center. Trust me, this election will become about Kelly Ayotte to the point she will become a distraction. Billy Ray desires the focus to be on anybody but himself and his record at this point. The attacks will be relentless to the point that people will be deciding on whether or not Ayotte is qualified rather than Romney.
This is what they did to Sarah Palin. They smeared and slandered her and her family then said, “It’s your choice, Palin or Billy Ray.”
Kelly Ayotte will be portrayed as a traitor to women. The Democrats would give anything to resurrect the GOP “war on women.”
With the economy in the doldrums the GOP doesn’t need a splashy gimmick. It will only divert attention from Billy Ray and his record. Let’s keep the focus on the differences between Billy Ray and Romney.
Rand Paul is a nice, safe choice who will just happen to bring members of the base that are still on the fence about Romney.
May 4th, 2012 at 8:29 am
fm, I’m not sure that he’s as far right as you’re projecting. He’s a paleo-conservative. Some of my best friends (well, actually, I am) are paleos. we sort of believe that we should try to avoid foreign entanglements, we depend on market based solutions; he also talks a lot about social con positions, but I assume that that’s more connected to his religion than to anything else.
Attacks against him are almost always based upon the former position: his opposition to economic treaties, he supports just war theory, and he doesn’t automatically genuflect in adoration of a small mideast nation. The media hates each of these positions.
As far as scaring the base, I’m pretty sure, altho I’m too lazy to look it up, that he won the nh primary in either 92 or 96, and did pretty well in the ia caucus too.
May 4th, 2012 at 12:06 pm
Yeah, but you gotta remember.
Kids often enough turn out like their parents.
I like Rand too. Just kinda scared too much of his dads foreign policies will rub off on him.
That whole “its our fault” mindset urks me