Appearing on the Steve Gill Show on Radio America Monday morning, former presidential candidate and pizza mogul Herman Cain said Florida Rep. Allen West should be Mitt Romney’s pick for vice president.
“Here’s why: he is well spoken. He is direct. People in Florida love him. He has a huge following. He is from Florida – Florida is going to be one of those key states,” Cain said. “But more importantly, Col. Allen West is a dedicated patriot; he served in the military, and he’s willing to serve his country some more.”
“Now I know that there might be some push back on his part because he’s just in his first term as a United States congressman,” Cain went on, “but my advice to him, if he were to ask me, is ‘you served your country well, and now you have a higher calling,’ and I would strongly recommend that he consider it, depending on any personal consideration that he might have.”
Cain is not the first major Republican figure to put West’s name forward for the VP slot. Earlier this month, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said West was at the “top of her list” for possible GOP vice presidential candidates.
“I love that he has that military experience,” Palin, a former vice presidential candidate herself, told Fox News host Sean Hannity. “He is a public servant willing to serve for the right reasons. He understands the Constitution. He understands our national foreign policy issues that must be addressed. He has served. I really like him.”
For his part, West told CNN on Friday that he would consider taking the job, but noted that he had a “different vision” for the nation than the former Massachusetts governor.
Nonetheless, West said, “I think we would be able to come together as a team to develop the right type of platform to turn this ship of state around for the United States of America.”