VP or not VP: Rove says ‘I’d pick Romney’

Karl Rove was on Fox News Sunday speculating about the VP sweepstakes. Under questioning from Chris Wallace, Rove assessed four likely candidates on the Republican side: Mitt Romney, Govs. Tim Pawlenty and Charlie Crist, and Sen. Joe Lieberman. Bush’s brain, however, offered a caveat about these specific choices. "Each one of these has their strengths and weaknesses," he noted, "but each one of them ought to be thought of as an archetype rather than just an individual, because we are months away from them getting down to a short list."

The archetype represented by Pawlenty? Blue-state Republican. But when Rove was pressed to name his top pick, T-Paw didn’t make the cut. "I’d pick Romney," he said. "Romney is already vetted by the media, strong executive experience both in business and in government, has an interesting story to tell with the saving the U.S. Olympics, and also helps McCain deal with the economy, because he can speak with the economy with a fluency that McCain doesn’t have."