Why Marco Rubio and Nikki Haley Wouldn't Help Romney as VP Picks

Now that former Sen. Rick Santorum's officially announced he is putting his campaign on hold, it's looking almost inevitable that former Gov. Mitt Romney will be standing on that GOP platform. Although it could take until the end of May most likely for him to obtain that magic number of delegates needed to officially be the Republican candidate for president, it's even more likely to happen now with Rick Santorum out of the game.

Although many of Santorum's supporters might view Romney as too moderate, don't expect them to throw their support for the long term behind former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. In the end, they want President Obama unseated more than their love of God, Christianity, and their conservative values and politic issues. So in November, they'll either stay home or hold their nose as they vote for Romney.

[See a collection of political cartoons on the 2012 GOP hopefuls.]

So for the next few months, we'll all be speculating and predicting who will be Romney's No. 2. Who will stand beside him on that platform?

Here are a couple of the names that have popped up and why I don't think they will help Romney all that much:

1. Sen. Marco Rubio: The idea is he's got youth, he's Hispanic, and he could help cinch the state of Florida for Romney. The problem is, with Rubio's lies about his parents and when they came to America aside, he's a Cuban American; Cuban's typically vote Republican and they aren't the majority of the Latino population—Mexicans are. Mexicans typically vote Democrat and there is no love lost between the Mexicans and the Cubans; there is a reason Mexicans are on the west coast and Cubans on the east, and it's not just geography. Rubio will have a difficult time appeasing the Latino voters on issues such as immigration and the DREAM Act and simultaneously pleasing the GOP voter base.
2. Gov. Nikki Haley: With President Obama's huge increase in female numbers and polls showing how much women favor the president over Mr. Romney, many feel a female candidate is just what Romney needs to level the playing field with female voters. The problem is, it isn't the gender of the candidate, it's where that candidate stands on the issues. So unless Romney is going to come center and embrace issues on women's health which include contraception and financial coverage for women's health services, and unless his running mate, male or female does the same, it is still perceived that this party has a war on women, even if a woman is Romney's running mate.

[See a slide show of possible vice presidential picks.]

The contest for president between Obama and Romney has been predictable for quite sometime—the outcome? Well, we'll see in November. Personally I think the president's got a tough election ahead of him, and personally I think he'll be victorious in the end.

• Read the U.S. News debate: Is There a Republican 'War on Women'?
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