Rand Paul, R-Ky., smiles as he awaits an interview in Bowling Green, Ky., Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2010.Ed Reinke
Republican leadership candidate Rick Santorum alluded to a possible Mitt Romney-Ron Paul alliance when he was attacked by both candidates during Wednesday night's Arizona debate.
"You have to ask Congressman Paul and Governor Romney what they've got going together," he told reporters. "Their commercials look alike and so do their attacks."
There is, in fact, a curious pattern in which Mr. Paul saves his best and sharpest attack lines for either Newt Gingrich or Mr. Santorum.
One of our Globe and Mail online readers commented on the idea of a Mitt Romney-Ron Paul pact and possible November ticket as laughable.
"Ron Paul is a man of integrity with a proven perfect constitutional voting record so why after 3 decades would he sell out to the establishment at this point?" wondered Globe commenter liberty2012.
Okay, maybe not Mitt Romney-Ron Paul as the Republican presidential ticket against Obama-Biden. But Mr. Paul's son, Rand Paul, who is a junior U.S. senator from the state of Kentucky, has had his name mentioned in the VP sweepstakes.
It is worth mentioning that all of this is slightly premature because there are lingering doubts about the Romney candidacy. Tuesday's primary in Michigan, his home state, has been viewed as a must-win for Mr. Romney.
Having said that, it was the junior Mr. Paul who fuelled the speculation earlier this week.
If Mr. Romney asked him to be his running mate, what would he say? "I don't know if I can answer that question, but I can say it would be an honour to be considered," he told reporters.
For some commentators and voters, that comment pretty much explained why the senior Mr. Paul was not attacking Mr. Romney on the debate stage.
But here's another interesting development. The name more often mentioned as a VP candidate is Florida senator and Republican superstar Marco Rubio.
Young, charismatic, and Hispanic, he is, to many Republican voters and operatives, the dream VP candidate. And like Rand Paul, he has strong Tea Party support.
This morning, the website BuzzFeed Politics delivered an exclusive revealing that Mr. Rubio was baptized and raised as a Mormon before returning, with his family, to the Catholic Church.
Why would that change anything?
In choosing a running mate, the party nominee will often exercise something called ticket-balancing.
Some believe that Mr. Romney, himself a Mormon, is unlikely to pick a running mate with Mormon roots.
BuzzFeed has some round up of the reaction to this idea that Mr. Rubio is now out of the running and whether it is fair.
"As Mitt Romney, who doesn't particularly want to talk about his faith or to make the election about Mormonism, chooses a running mate, Rubio's religious history is unlikely to be decisive. But it's hard to see how it's anything but a modest tip of the scale away from the Florida Senator," according to BuzzFeed Politics.