Mitt Romney: Kelly Ayotte, New Hampshire Senator, Could Be Potential Running Mate In 2012

Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney named New Hampshire Senator Kelly Ayotte as a potential 2012 running mate, among other "terrific Republicans in the Senate, in the House, in governors' offices."

In an interview with Fox News on Tuesday, Romney said there are probably 15 names of people -- including Ayotte -- he would consider for the vice presidency if he should win the Republican presidential nomination.

Ayotte gave Romney a significant political endorsement over the weekend, telling the crowd at a campaign event that the former Massachusetts governor is the "one person in this field who is prepared to lead the United States of America."

"Most importantly, there is one person who I know will ensure that Barack Obama is a one-term president, and that is Mitt Romney," Ayotte said.

This isn't the first high-profile endorsement Romney has landed. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie -- who many thought would seek the Republican presidential nomination himself -- backed Romney in mid-October, saying "Mitt Romney is the man we need to lead America."

Comments

[boyoboy]

10:53 AM on 11/27/2011

BS. Mitt is already strong in the northeast. He needs someone from the evangelical southeast. He's got to mitigae the unease about his religion with the evangelicals.

[askandtell]

02:33 PM on 11/25/2011

They share a mutual practice of removing and destroying emails when leaving office. Ayotte took a step further and wrote herself a memo giving herself permission.

[gtt]

11:17 AM on 11/25/2011

That Gov. Romney would suggest that he might select Senator Ayotte as his V.P. is rather scary.
She is so underwhelming.

[JimmySr]

11:00 AM on 11/25/2011

Kelly would be OK, but it's not going to happen. Two people from New England would not help the ticket. I think Marco Rubio with Newt or Mitt would be the end of the INCOMPETENT President that we have now.

[carb711]

12:48 AM on 11/25/2011

Sarah II

[Liz Pierce]

07:08 PM on 11/24/2011

she's new to Washington, not the politics.
but she promised us that she would go to Washington and be fiscally conservative.
and the first thing she did was join the deficit spending grab fest and allocate money that's really not there to build a new multi million dollar guard building in NH when there is already a multi million dollar guard building two towns over and several that they are just going to vacate. ugh

[blindsquirl]

05:25 PM on 11/23/2011

Ayotte...a stiff-spined, straight-faced, automaton. Her total ability to communicate is relegated to ONLY strict republican mantra, no matter what the question. I swear, she did an impersonation of a ZOMBIE, that would make George Romero, DROOL with envy. Brains...brains.....brains..

[blindsquirl]

05:11 PM on 11/23/2011

No wonder she "might" be Romney's running mate...I watched her performance with Wolf Blitzer. OMG, she was a "deer caught in the headlights"...stared without blinking and was unable to reply to Wolf's question about the LIE contained in Mitt's ad...she is a real-life "Manchurian Candidate".

[parksle2]

07:19 PM on 11/24/2011

That description sounds right she was probably appalled when she met Blitzer with the thought that algae in the bottom of an abandon boat was being deprived of oxygen because he was using it!

[MCouture]

01:59 PM on 11/23/2011

Wow, all the comments about a running mate and he isn't even the nominee. Great reporting, NOT. Everyone is rusing to conclusions without all the facts and assuming (you know what that does) he is the nominee and he is going to pick the senator. Just read all the comments below. Childish!!

[CFox]

01:01 PM on 11/23/2011

I hate HuffPo.
Bunch of meanies heare.

[Aarroonn Fleszar]

12:37 PM on 11/23/2011

Renew your gaming licenses. It's phishing for Mitt season.

[PTAOfficerforObama]

12:12 PM on 11/23/2011

She is a Palin clone....

[Countess]

11:02 AM on 11/23/2011

We know that the republican establishment is almost 100 percent behind Romney and now we are also seeing the real opportunists who put winning above convictions doubling down on him but there is no way Romney is going to pick someone from New Hampshire to be his running mate.

[flsense]

10:59 AM on 11/23/2011

Ayotte another friend of the 1%. Ayotte has been criticized for her former office's alleged refusal to investigate charges against mortgage investment firm Financial Resources Mortgage.

[lynn1219]

10:56 AM on 11/23/2011

Christie thinks he is the man who should lead America? Problem is, Mitt can't decide which direction he wants to lead us in, on any given day.

[Jaladeno]

12:45 PM on 11/23/2011

Puppets don't need direction, they just need to avoid contradicting those actually pulling the strings.