Who will be Romney's running mate?

Will it be M&M (Mitt and Marco)
on the GOP ticket?

Although Mitt Romney has yet to seal the deal with Republicans, it seems he'll get the nomination, barely.

In the process, he'll have alienated a few groups he might need in November.

These include independents, women and Hispanics, to name a few.

He'll get enough women, but not a majority, to vote for him.

What he can't do is lose the Hispanic vote by less than 40 percent, according to Beltway politicos.

But, the intolerant position that Romney and GOP have taken on immigration is pushing Hispanics away from Republican Party.

So, how to win them back? Pick a Hispanic as a running mate.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., seems like the perfect fit as he could deliver Florida, a crucial swing state, and a sizable portion of the Hispanic vote even with his anti-immigrant stances. He's also Catholic.

Or, sort of. Apparently, he's left the Church a few times, but always gone back. At one point, he attended a Baptist church.

And, the clincher, he was also a Mormon when he was a child.

Having a president as a Mormon does not seem far-fetched. But, having his vice-president as a onetime Mormon would really alienate the evangelical/fundamentalist base of the GOP and suppress the Republican turnout even further than Mitt could do by himself.

That is why the story emerged this week, to plant that seed of doubt in the electorate.

Romney may opt for another Hispanic, perhaps New Mexico Gov. Susanna Martinez. She could deliver the Hispanic and female vote, or so the thinking goes. But, New Mexico isn't a vital battleground state.

Ultimately, I don't see Mitt taking such a bold, unprecedented move. He saw what happened to the McCain/Palin ticket and it wasn't pretty. Yes, they did get tens of millions of votes, but still lost by 7.3 percent, which is considered a blowout in this millennium.

Mitt, will likely pick someone white, male and not Mormon.

Mitch Daniels, governor of Indiana, seems like a Mitt pick with his strong business background. But, while an undergrad at Princeton in 1970, Daniels got arrested for possession of marijuana, LSD and other drugs. No, he wasn't a pharmacology student. But, that arrest didn't prevent him from getting elected governor.

Picking a Veep is a tough call. President Obama went with a safe, bland pick in Joe Biden.

Mitt will likely make another safe, cautious pick.

He'll want to look steady, not desperate and calculating.

Either way, it won't matter in the end.

At this point, I see Mitt losing by 8.3 percentage points to President Obama.  The electoral count could be even worse.