The eventual nominee, Newt, Romney, Santorum, or (God forbid) Paul, will have to pick a woman or minority running mate. The optics of two white guys running against Obama will be too much. Personally, I don't care, but I predict that they will choose Bachman, Cain, Palin, West, or maybe Haley, Jindal, or Rubio. No way will they go up against Obama with two white guys.
If the candidate is Newt, he’s going to have to pick a woman because he’s so weak with the female demographic. And I think he could lose as much of the base as he’d win by piking a more “Establishment acceptable” woman than Palin.
Santorum would have the same deal, but I don’t think there’s a chance he’s the nominee. Mitt may have to add a minority—and supposedly wants Rubio—to offset the racist Mormon meme inm running against Obama. Cain is just a liability without the substance to argue the nominee’s case. But I agree, overall a woman or Hispanic is highly likely.
It would be crazy IMO and a risk Mitt would never take to pick West as a one-term congressman.