The impending death of the all-white-male presidential ticket

OPINION - If Romney were to pick Rice, Rubio or any of the other non-traditional candidates being considered, it would be the latest signal of the increased importance of diversity in national campaigns...

Luther Vandross was outed as gay after his death.

African-American women voted in a higher percentage than any other group for the first time, and Hispanics saw an uptick in their voter participation of more than 2 percent.

To appeal to this new electorate, a diverse ticket is not about symbolism, but winning. We are all aware of the projections for a majority minority population beginning in 2025.  Add to this the continued dominance of swing states such as Florida, Arizona, North Carolina, Nevada and Pennsylvania – all of which have high minority and urban populations – and one has to assume that the trend of minority representation on the national ticket could be here to stay for both political parties.

Romney has among his choices for vice-president an Indian-American governor who leads a southern state (Bobby Jindal of Louisiana), a Cuban-American senator from a battleground state Florida (Rubio), and a white female senator from New Hampshire (Kelly Ayotte), as well as Rice, even as she has declared herself uninterested in the job.  Theoretically,  these candidates all have the potential to help Romney increase his support among their respective communities – Indian Americans (or maybe Southerners more directly), Hispanics, women and even blacks.

While these groups have traditionally voted for Democrats, Romney and the GOP believe they may have a shot at cracking the code this year due to the hangover from a slow economic recovery.  And it is easier for Romney to appeal to Hispanics by tapping Rubio than trying to reverse the former governor’s hard-line stances on immigration.

The challenge for Romney is that the selection of the first two non-traditional VP candidates (Ferraro and Palin) were historically regarded as stunts by desperate presidential candidates who didn’t see any other route to victory.  This actually puts Romney in a tight spot.  The “diverse” crop of candidates who could be tapped by Romney in 2012 are short on either time in national office (Ayotte, Rubio), political experience (Rice, who has never run for office) or charisma (Jindal).

Should Romney pick anyone other than a white male, the move may be seen by many as an act of desperation, just as it was in the past. Considering this, and the vast policy differences with minority communities on important issues, my sense is he follows the first commandment of vice-presidential picks, “do no harm,” and goes with Ohio Sen. Rob Portman or former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty.

But the non-white male Republicans will be more prepared in 2016. By then, if Romney does not win, Rubio, Ayotte, New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez and other diverse GOP candidates will have sufficient experience for a national campaign. On the Democratic side, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and other women and minorities could seek one of the top two slots.

And that future raises an intriguing prospect: the 2012 GOP ticket as the last-ever all-white-guy combo.

Corey Ealons is a former communications adviser at the White House who now serves as a senior vice-president at VOX Global.

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