Out walking this morning I ran into one of the top political prognosticators in the country. We chatted about Obama’s chances of reelection and Romney’s Veep nominee search.

He said that Obama will “lose the white vote badly,” but that he could still win. Refusing to commit to a prediction, he said that the outcome will be “extremely close,” and that the race will largely turn on permutations in the economy before November.

On the topic of Romney’s Veep search, he said that Romney would be wise to consider Mike Huckabee if Mitt’s Evangelical support continues to flag. He also placed Mitch Daniels on his suggested short list for Romney. As for Jeb Bush, he said that Romney should study whether or not Bush’s name is still radioactive. What about Rubio? “The idea that a Cuban-American could win the Hispanic vote for the Republicans is criminally stupid,” he replied. He added that Rubio is a flake who received his political education in corrupt-as-hell Tallahassee.