Condi Rice? Bad idea.

Romney's other weaknesses aside, the question becomes, who should he get for his VP choice?

Well, over the last 72 hours or so, it's been Condoleezza Rice, former Bush 2 Secretary of State.

Bad idea.

Dr. Rice is an exceptional woman, and would, no doubt, be an exceptional vice president.  But not here, and not now.

There are three concerns I have that overshadow the advantages of Rice getting the nod; first and foremost, ideally the VP pick would aid in the ticket winning a state.... ideally an important battle ground state; She is yet another "moderate" (pro-choice) and Rice on the ticket gives Obama a hammer by the name of Bush to beat Romney to death with.

Rice is from Alabama but is now working at Stanford on the faculty of the Graduate School of Business.

Issue one: delivering a state.

Alabama is solidly R: Rice's ascension to the VP slot wouldn't do any more there then it would do if he picked Rubio.

California is as close to state communism (Outside Vncouver) as we can get in this country; there is no possible way it would vote GOP.

Further, nationally, the black racist motivation to vote for Obama would not be dramatically impacted here; Black support for Obama is the highest of about any group even though he has failed them miserably in about every measurable way.  Nonetheless, their loyalty to him, although somewhat weaker, would not be weakened further in any dramatic way by Rice's candidacy for VP.

That means that when it comes to the issue of numbers, Rice simply doesn't bring it.

Romney is a liberal.  He governed like a liberal.  He's a political chameleon who'll say anything to get elected... not unlike Tim Leavitt and his "no tolls" scam.  Rice's lack of conservative cred doesn't balance that of Romney.  If a Sanatorium had been nominated (just as an example) then Rice as an addition would be an undeniable advantage.

I've always believed in the ying and the yang of it. In this case, Rice is ying without yang in political philosophy.  As a result, there's no real advantage in the balance equation.

And, of course, Obama's smear machine would immediately replay the Iraq War and blame her for most of it... the 3rd reason to avoid her on the ticket.

I, for one, wish she was a little more conservative.  I wish politics was about issues.  But neither of these things are true, so we go with the reality.  And in this case, the reality is that Rice is not the best pick for Romney.  She just doesn't get it done.