Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Penn.) has recently joined the short list of likely vice presidential candidates for the Republican party in 2012. Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Florida) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio.) have also been mentioned as possible vice presidential candidates in 2012.
The freshman senator Toomey’s popularity would benefit both former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney — both of whom are currently seeking the Republican presidential nomination — with conservative and tea party voters who still do not support them.
Jim Geraghty, a conservative columnist with National Review magazine, recently praised Mr. Toomey as the best possible VP candidate available.
“The Republican nominee is likely to need a running mate who has impeccable free-market credentials, is admired by the tea partiers and preferably comes from a swing state,” Mr. Geraghty said.
Furthermore, Mr. Toomey could serve as a viable asset if he could help the Republican candidate capture the vote of working class farmers in Pennsylvania. President Barack Obama’s campaign team is reaching out to that demographic, which could be swayed to vote Republican after losing so many jobs during the recent economic downturn.
“It’s just the question of whether he has the desire to do it,” William Sasso, a lawyer and Republican fundraiser in Pennsylvania said of Mr. Toomey’s vice presidential candidacy chances.
“He would be a terrific asset on the ticket and a terrific asset for the country, and if he decided that was something he was interested in, I would certainly be supportive of it,” Mr. Sasso added.
Mr. Toomey was a member of the congressional supercommittee that failed to reach an agreement regarding trimming the federal deficit by $1.2 trillion over the next ten years. He spent six years in the U.S. House of Representatives prior to becoming a first term senator in 2010, but was quoted recently downplaying his chances of becoming the vice presidential candidate.
“I really don’t see that happening,” Mr. Toomey said in a statement last week, regarding the heightened speculation.
