Another nugget about Mitt Romney's vice presidential selection process from the latest installment of Mark Halperin and John Heilemann's "Game Change" franchise,
excerpted over the weekend in
TIME:
Punctuality mattered to Romney. Christie’s lateness bugged him. Mitt also cared about fitness and was prone to poke fun at those who didn’t. (“Oh, there’s your date for tonight,” he would say to male members of his traveling crew when they spied a chunky lady on the street.) Romney marveled at Christie’s girth, his difficulties in making his way down the narrow aisle of the campaign bus. Watching a video of Christie without his suit jacket on, Romney cackled to his aides, “Guys! Look at that!”
According to Halperin and Heilemann, Romney's decision to pass over Christie—who was given the code name "Pufferfish" by the campaign—went beyond childish giggling, however.
The list of questions Myers and her team had for Christie was extensive and troubling. More than once, Myers reported back that Trenton’s response was, in effect, Why do we need to give you that piece of information? Myers told her team, We have to assume if they’re not answering, it’s because the answer is bad.
The vetters were stunned by the garish controversies lurking in the shadows of his record.
Among them: A DOJ investigation into Christie's enormous expensive reports as U.S. attorney, his work as a lobbyist for a financial industry group in which Bernie Madoff was top official, whether or not his household staff had been properly documented, and his awarding of contracts to political allies. As a result, even Christie's fans within Romneyland decided he had so many liabilities he could not have survived the GOP primary, let alone a vice presidential nomination, so their selection process moved forward.
With Pufferfish out of the mix, Halperin and Heilemann write, "the choice that now seemed inevitable" was Paul Ryan. And what was it that drew Mitt to Ryan?
Beyond all the political pros and cons, Romney felt comfortable with Paul. He reminded Mitt of junior partners he used to work with at Bain: eager, earnest, solicitous, smart and not at all threatening.
So Mitt Romney wasn't picking a vice president of the United States. He was picking a vice president of an investment fund. And he got what he wanted, and perhaps someone to jog with.
