If Santorum wanted to be Romney’s VP, he has gone about it in a very strange way. Had he wanted Romney to select him, he would have either gone the Pawlenty route several weeks ago and dropped out, or he would have avoided making so many pointed attacks on Romney for being an Obama-lite electoral disaster-in-the-making. Santorum has repeatedly argued that a ticket led by Romney couldn’t win because Romney has been or still is too similar to Obama on a number of issues. If selected, he would be obliged as the running mate to defend all of things about Romney that he has said were “disqualifying.” On top of Romney’s credibility problems, there would be the spectacle of the VP nominee’s past statements being quoted back to Romney and Santorum all the time.

Selecting Santorum gives Romney some ticket-balancing advantages, but none of these advantages is unique to Santorum. It’s true that Santorum offsets many of Romney’s weaknesses, but there is at least one other Midwestern/Rust Belt Republicans that provides the same benefits, and his state electorate still likes him. Looked at in terms of competence and qualifications, the most reasonable choice from the list of likely candidates still has to be Sen. Rob Portman.