For Romney's independent appeal, swerve to the center must precede VP

Millennials are independent-minded. Even so, it's true: Many of them voted, in fact an over-2/3-majority, for President Obama over Senator McCain.

Wesley, you raise several important profiles of prospective GOP VPs.

But Governor Romney has so tilted his positions from their pre-2012 primary campaign orientation that he will have to fight hard, beginning now, to persuade independent voters to pull the lever for him. That includes young voters because they share the central frustration of most undecideds come Election Day: Dissatisfaction with the enduring two-party money war and rhetorical vitriol.

Moreover, Romney will have gradually lurch to more moderate stances now - rather than wait for a unifying VP selection as late as August - in order to win over these overlapping demographics with a distaste for partisanship.

This said, in the coming posts, I will think more about candidates who would offer Romney (and voters) the best balance of non-overtly partisan gravitas and center-right policies. A leading frontrunner in the GOP Veepstakes, Senator Rob Portman is not an angry partisan. He could come off as quite sensible - perhaps more so than Romney - to the vast majority of voters.

But I do think that a fresh and yet experienced face, a minority Republican like Condi Rice, could also provide fuel for the GOP's efforts to bring young and centrist voters into their camp.