The US senator from South Dakota was a hero to many Republicans for defeating then-Senate majority leader Tom Daschle in 2004. He鈥檚 a solid conservative with movie-star good looks who would give a Romney-led ticket some regional diversity. Senator Thune is probably not as likely a choice as some others 鈥 and it鈥檚 not clear if he would be interested in the job 鈥 but he鈥檚 a solid candidate on many counts.

Charles Dharapak/AP
Sen. John Thune (R) of South Dakota speaks about the Keystone XL pipeline during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington on March 22.