Who the VP Won't Be

Mitt Romney in Salem, Virginia

As a general rule if someone is invited to speak (and it is publicly announced that they will) at the party conventions, that person will not be VP pick.  This, of course, assumes that the presumptive nominee has made his pick and communicated that to the party. Or at least has communicated to the party who his pick will not be.
Using that theory, here are the people we can rule out-

• South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, the first female governor of South Carolina and the youngest sitting governor in the United States;
• Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, the 44th governor of Arkansas and 2008 presidential candidate is a NY Times best-selling author, radio and television show host;
• Ohio Governor John Kasich, former House Budget Committee chairman;
• New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez, the first female Hispanic governor in the U.S. and the first female governor of New Mexico;
• Arizona Senator John McCain, the party's 2008 nominee, now serving his fifth term in the U.S. Senate;
• Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, America's 66th secretary of state and the first African-American female to hold the position
• Florida Governor Rick Scott, from the convention host state;
• Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, 43rd governor of Florida and current chairman of the Foundation for Florida's Future;
• Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin, the first woman to serve as both Oklahoma lieutenant governor and governor, and the first woman elected to Congress from Oklahoma since the 1920s;
• U.S. Senator Rand Paul, junior senator from Kentucky and founder of the U.S. Senate Tea Party Caucus; and
• Former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum, 2012 presidential primary candidate, and U.S. Senator (1995-2007) and U.S. Representative (1991-1995) from Pennsylvania. 

For me this is fairly disappointing. My top two picks for VP are on this list (Haley and Rice). And because I really do not expect Senator Marco Rubio to be the pick, this leads me to conclude we're going to get a "Boring White Guy" (BWG).

I do fully expect that Governor Romney is more likely to go with the most qualified vice president than he is to pick a popular idea. In other words, out with Rubio, in with Governor Bob McDonnell.

I still predict that we'll get a VP announcement Thursday of this week, or Monday of next. (I no longer expect it to be on Wednesday of this week out of respect for the shootings in Wisconsin. The news cycle deservedly belongs to them.)