Romney consulta temas de seguridad nacional con Kelly Ayotte

Suena como posible running-mate de Romney, entre otros nombres.

RealClearPolitics:

In less than two years' time, Kelly Ayotte has gone from obscure New Hampshirite to one of the more visible figures in national politics.

The freshman senator is often photographed alongside Mitt Romney as one of his leading surrogates on the campaign trail (and the most high-profile female surrogate other than his wife), and the Senate Republican leadership trots her out frequently to go before cameras and drive their message on whatever legislation they’re pushing. No wonder Romney has named her publicly as one of about 15 people who might be on his list of potential running mates.

(...) She spent five years as the Granite State’s attorney general, prosecuting murder cases and even arguing a case before the Supreme Court, before she entered the Senate. She helped launch her husband’s business, a snowplowing and landscaping company. And in her time in Washington, she’s set herself apart by joining the Armed Services Committee and making the high-profile battle over Guantanamo detainees her pet issue -- key national security credentials that could help bolster the Republican ticket in an area where Romney lacks experience.

As Steve Duprey, Ayotte’s campaign finance chairman in the 2010 election, put it in an interview, “Whenever people tell me she doesn’t have the experience for this, I tell them she has as much or more experience as then-Sen. Obama had to be president when he was running in 2008. So it doesn’t surprise me at all that Governor Romney would be considering her.”

And yet, though some of her Senate colleagues have been cagy regarding their status as potential running mates, Ayotte was perfectly open during an interview in her Senate office Thursday morning.

“I’ve not been contacted, and I certainly don’t have any really . . .” She trailed off before finishing the point, then added, “I’m focused on what I’m doing in the Senate.”

Of course, Duprey’s wife, Susan, travels with Ann Romney on the campaign trail and has become a “close confidante” to the presumptive nominee’s wife, according to the Boston Globe, meaning the Dupreys might have an inkling about whom the Romneys are considering.

(...) Romney aides say he genuinely likes Ayotte, too, and sees a lot of potential in her. At the very least, he’s been consulting her about the national security issues she’s focused on.

“Last time I saw him,” she said, “we were talking about foreign policy issues because of some things I’ve been working on on the Senate Armed Services Committee, and so those are issues I care very much about, and he’s very conversant in them, so we had a lot of back and forth on it, and I really enjoyed it.”