Romney continues ‘auditioning’ running mates

>> mitt romney is in new hampshire today, perhaps auditioning another possible running mate. this is kelly ayotte .

>> to every small business owner in this country who struggles every day 0 to earn success and fights for the american dream , help is on the way . be.

>> vin webber is a republican strategist and mitt romney supporter and joins me now. a lot to tackle there.

>> a lot.

>> first of all, what about kelly ayotte ? what about this list we're told governor sue knew knew former governor said today there could be as many as 20 on the list. we're told by our folks garrett haake covering the campaign it's closer to 10 to 15. who should be at the top of the list?

>> there's only two people that really know, that's governor romney himself and beth myers his most trusted aide who he has put in charge of this and who can be trusted to be completely confidential. everybody else is kind of guessing. had there's probably a dozen or so names. i would guess you boil it down quickly to a few high lie qualified people. i think senator portman is on the list, senator rubio, i suspect governor pawlenty is probably on the list and probably several others but only mitt romney and beth myers know. they're the only ones that are going to know till this summer.

>> does he have to get more exciting than rob portman ? i'm told rob portman should be at the top of the list because of ohio, because of budget experience, governing experience, cabinet experience, congressional experience, all of the above. but some would say.

>> you're doing well making the case.

>> some would say it's too much plain vanilla .

>> first of all, carrying ohio by a big margin as he did when he ran for senator is exciting to me. but you know, i've heard that argument we need to pizazz up the ticket. i look at the history of presidential races. i don't think that has very often worked very well. we have a lot of qualified people. and i think we're going to pick one of those qualified people. one of the things about governor romney is his whole history. he has a history of knowing how to identify talent in business in his gubernatorial administration, his work on the olympics. he really identifies top talent and puts it to work for him. whoever we pick is going to be an extraordinary choice.

>> what about the fact that four years ago, he said to the associated press, mitt romney said it's not worth moving heaven and earth and spending billions of dollars just trying to catch one person, meaning bin laden . today he says even jimmy carter would have made that order. isn't it true that what the president did he by all accounts, nonpartisan accounts was a very tough call?

>> i think it was a tough call. i think the president deserves credit for it. i don't understand why the president is debasing his own accomplishment by turning it into the first political ad of his campaign. a president deserves credit for foreign policy successes. but he usually gets it by not talking about it as politically as this president has. ed gillespie is right, he's taken a legitimate accomplishment and turned it into a campaign ad . i think that was a dumb mistake for the campaign in chicago. i'm surprised they made it.

>> is it dumb or is it shameful?

>> it's not shameful.

>> mccain said it's shameful.

>> senator mccain is entitled to view it that way. ez certainly has all my respect. i just think it was a dumb move, a bungled attempt to take advantage of what everybody knew was going to be one of his great accomplishments. and yet, he turned it into a campaign spot. right at the very beginning of his campaign. i just think he's debased it and turned it into a legitimate political argument . the very fact that we're talking about it, that ed gillespie is talking about it, problems to me that they've taken an accomplishment that should be way up here and they've turned it into a base political discourse .

>> win webber, thank you very