Romney Veepstakes - will he be bold?

>>> with all of the stars now aligning for mitt romney , there is some talk, more talk, about who he might pick as a running mate. will he be bold or take the safe route? well, here's what people who use the online prediction site intrade are putting their money. rubio, 25% chance. he's followed eed governor martinez , mcdonald and christie . pairry, how are you doing?

>> good to see you.

>> marco rubio on the short list of most pundits, checks off a lot of boxes, conservative, diverse from an important swing state but only a senator for a couple of years. what do you think? would he be a strong pick?

>> he would be. he's going to be on the short list because of the reasons you talked about, he's latino, he's young, remember obama had a big advantage among young voters last time. rubio's only 40. green in terms of only second year in the senate. had some controversy about his heritage a few months ago. that will be the downside of him. you don't want to have a sarah palin if you're a republican, someone not as well tested as one of the governors. rub rubio's going to be a strong contender.

>> new hampshire senator on " morning joe " here's what she said.

>> there are very strong women out there, you know, you've got governor martinez , you've got nicky haley, he's got some choices of great women that he could pick but i think he's got a lot of great choices on the vp end.

>> talking about suzanna martinez . let's look at the bold list. chris christies, bobby jindal , kelly ayotte herself. a lot of diversity on the list. what are the chances that mitt romney , who has run a conservative campaign, laid it out, flowed that route, he might go bold.

>> the next step, vetting stage, figuring out what they've done in the past. in they can fine someone who won't have the sarah palin problems, if they can find someone who can do well in debates, is pretty smart , also -- romney 's got a gap among women voters, young voters. martinez can add to the gender gap to help him close that, that would be a great pick for romney .

>> look at safe picks. again, names we've heard a lot. that would be tim pawlenty , senator rob portman , senator john thune , governor box mcdonald . who could help romney the most?

>> mcdonald , you know, the governor of virginia , that's a swing state . that's the most important one, a senator from ohio, another person in a swing state . governor pawlenty's probably not going to get you minnesota, it's a hard state for a republican to win in the general election . i think those two would be the people i look too. governor christie , i think, is more risky only because he's known for being overly blunt at times and i think romney wants to have someone who -- one thing you want in your vp is not make a lot of mistakes and that's in something christie might be a danger with.

>> look at the long shots now. rick santorum , i would call him a long, long, long shot.

>> long shot.

>> condi rice , she doesn't want it. senator rand paul, there was talk about ron paul was being so nice to mitt romney in the debates. former governor jeb bush , someone who doesn't seem inclined to want it. congressman alan west , palin said some things about him. any of those folks you think has even a chance?

>> no i don't. no, they don't have a chance. alan west particularly has zero chance of being on the national tick. let me ask you a big theoretical question. a fun one to debate over a cup of coffee or glass of went. mitt romney is not the most scintillating speaker, he is not somebody that revs up a crowd. does he get someone like that because that might be useful in going out and fundraising and getting people excited about the ticket, or do you not want a palin comparison?

>> i think it depends how close the polls are. if in september and august obama 's leading by five points it becomes like a how do you rev up the ticket and then you have to go in a rubio or someone more exciting direction. fit tied in august, july or august, i think he leans in the rob portman , mcdonald direction, someone safe and it's obama versus romney instead of the ticket versus the ticket. depends how close things are. my guess it will be close and he'll go safe, think about portman, think about macdonnell.

>> perry bacon, good to sow you.