Newt is too old. Christie is too liberal. The general is even more liberal. Pence out of that group is best. The rest were vetted and may have had skeletons we don’t know about.
Pence puts me to sleep and I suspect he will to most others as well.
And they are much better placed at the Chief of Staff and Attorney General positions, anyway.
I'm not sure any other Republican Pence's age or younger is as qualified for the VP role. Not a bad pick. The guy we dream of is probably not out there.