Politics: The Veepstakes Word Cloud

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Politics The Veepstakes Word Cloud When we talk about who might be Mitt Romney's running mate, this is what we say. By David Weigel Posted Thursday, Apr 26, 2012, at 07:07 PM ET Mitt Romney became the de facto Republican nominee at the end of March, after he dispatched Rick Santorum in Illinois' primary. Romney's rivals were just too weak to catch him. But the political press corps had to write about something. And so, a month ago, the Veepstakes began. Republicans close to the candidate talk about whom he might pick. Republicans nowhere near close to him speculate about it and get on TV anyway. Pollsters go into the field and ask voters whom they want, as if these voters had any idea who the junior senator from Ohio was. It's an agonizingly dull process, so we'll try to make it bearable. Below, you can see word clouds of all the terms, tropes, and clichés used to describe the 11 people most often named as possible vice presidential picks. The words were pulled from articles about the 'stakes that ran from March 28—when the endorsements started to roll in—to this week. Anna Weaver did the trawling, and Chris Kirk did the clouding. Kelly Ayotte: The junior senator from New Hampshire won her first election, ever, in 2010—an unexpectedly brutal primary followed by an easy general election win during the GOP wave. But she's female, and she endorsed Romney early, so she makes the media long-list. Chris Christie: So, where's fat? The veep-watchers have found euphemisms to describe the fact that New Jersey's governor overpowers his enemies and that he said he couldn ... To continue reading, click here. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate Saletan: We're Escalating Our Drone Campaign in Yemen. Is This War? The Raven: The Strange Hollywood Tradition of Turning Writers Into Action Heroes Zuckerberg Thinks You're Worth $100 to Facebook. Is He Right?	Advertisement
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