Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who ran for president in the 2012 Republican primary, told The Daily Caller that the Romney campaign put his name “on the list” for vice president but the move was to “amuse” the media.
TheDC asked Gingrich who he thinks GOP nominee Mitt Romney should choose as his vice president.
“I think he’s got a pretty rich pallet to draw from. I think you look at Paul Ryan, Rob Portman, Kelly Ayotte, Marco Rubio, you go to [Bob] McDonnell, there are another five or six you could imagine,” Gingrich said in a video interview at The Daily Caller’s headquarters in Washington.
“I mean, one of the great things about the last 20 years in the GOP is we have a much deeper bench today, Bobby Jindal for example, we just have a terrifically deeper bench than we had 20 years ago.”
When asked if he was vetted by the Romney campaign for the number two spot on the Republican ticket, Gingrich responded, “No. They were very kind to put my name on the list but that was to amuse the press.
Although, they would probably argue that during my entire career I’ve been vetted 20 or 30 times now.”
Gingrich also said he did not submit any paperwork to the campaign for the job, adding that he would be “very happy” to serve as a “strategic advisor” to a Romney administration.
“It’s something I did for six years with the Bush administration, both on health issues and on national security and I really enjoyed it,” Gingrich told TheDC.
“I was willing to do it for free and it enabled me to focus on a handful of big issues and try to solve them and think them through and I think there are three or four big areas I’d like to work on and try to be helpful.”
For the full interview with Gingrich, stay connected to The Daily Caller.