The big rumor is that there is a Romney/Paul alliance

[NAO]

with possible VP spot for either Ron Paul or his son Rand Paul.

[RKP5637]

1. More at following link ...

http://blogs.ajc.com/political-insider-jim-galloway/2012/02/23/your-morning-jolt-a-mitt-romney-ron-paul-alliance-against-rick-santorum/

"Before he clocked out early this morning, my AJC colleague Daniel Malloy e-mailed a few spin-room notes from last night’s CNN debate of the GOP presidential candidates in Arizona:

– Rick Santorum was on the defensive much of the night, enduring assaults from a well-prepared Mitt Romney and a biting Ron Paul. While expressing regret for his vote for the federal No Child Left Behind law as a senator from Pennsylvania, Santorum in essence accused Romney and Paul of teaming up to take him down. His long-time media strategist John Brabender elaborated later.

“For all I know Mitt Romney might be considering Ron Paul as his running mate,” he said. “Clearly there is some allegiance or alliance between those two and you saw that certainly in the debates.” Here’s a Paul-on-Santorum clip:"

[Lil Missy]

2. I can't imagine how that would help Romney. But, wingnuts

are neither logical or rational. Just about everything they say and do make little sense to me.

[sofa king]

3. It's a purely political move.

The moRons have been doing a really good job of stacking the primary deck with Paul-leaning delegates, perhaps more than has been officially disclosed, for example among the Maine delegates.

Romney's camp may think they can secure those potentially disruptive delegates at a contested convention with the promise of throwing Paul (or his son) the running-mate slot. That would also help ensure that Ron Paul doesn't break off as a third-party candidate guaranteed to sink the Republicans in the general election.

This can be viewed as sort of a fractionation down the middle of the field, with Gingrich apparently playing a similar role in his "non-aggression pact" with Santorum. Gingrich's approach has been much more overt, promising to stay in the race, which to those in the know is an open threat that if Gingrich doesn't get what he wants, he'll make sure it turns into a circus.

Paul is effectively doing the same thing, just with more subtlety than Gingrich is capable of using. Paul actually appears to have a functional ideology, rather than Gingrich's naked avarice and lust for personal power, and that is appealing to the money-Republicans, who want to buy a safe investment.

But will Paul stay bought? I kind of doubt it, as you do.

[Renew Deal]

4. It would give him a lot of boots on the ground.

The Paul people are very motivated and they show up.

[WI_DEM]

5. Ron Paul will not be the VP nominee (especially at 74) and I suppose

conceivably if he wants to appease the tea party he could nominate Rand, it will not be the brightest thing to do. Independents already are wary of Romney and with Rand Paul and his extreme right wing agenda--that will be pretty much throwing away the middle.