The best pick for Romney vice president? The one no one's talking about.

Will Jews cross party lines to vote for a Republican just because he shares their faith? It’s tough to know for sure, as the vast majority of Jewish politicians have been Democrats (of the 37 Jews in Congress today, the only Republican is Cantor). But Romney doesn’t need (and will never get) a majority of the Jewish vote. In states like Florida and Pennsylvania, he just needs to reduce Obama’s support among this small but high-turnout demographic.

Political experts were surprised in 2000 by the excitement that vice presidential candidate Joe Lieberman generated among Jews in Florida. Cantor would be ideally positioned to exploit Obama’s weakness among some Jewish supporters of Israel.

But how could Romney, a Mormon who has not been a favorite with much of the evangelical Christian wing of his party, pick as his running mate a candidate from another minority religion? Might he run the danger of offending those within the Republican base who insist that America is “a Christian nation”?

The truth is, conservative Christians are currently gaga for conservative Jews. The most fundamentalist Christians see strong support for Jewish Israel as a Biblical pact that America must uphold. In my own research, I’ve found that right-wing Christians are more supportive of Israeli settlements in the West Bank than are American Jews.

A Cantor selection could thus be an unusual but effective way to shore up Romney’s support with a vital base element of the GOP. And Cantor has checked all the required ideological boxes that will hurt some of his competitors. He’s got a 100 percent pro-life rating from the National Right to Life Committee, and an A rating from the National Rifle Association.

And unlike many others Romney is considering, Cantor wasn’t part of the disastrous Bush presidency, so he’s untainted by association with a damaged brand. Sen. Rob Portman (R) of Ohio only wishes he could say as much. When we was Representative Portman, he served as "facilitator" between the House and the George W. Bush White House.

A final reason to pick Cantor has to do with governing. A president Romney, who now brags that he’s never served in Washington, might want to know how things get done come January 2013. It won’t hurt him to have by his side someone who has served in Congress for more than a decade.

So will Romney pick Cantor? It seems unlikely at this point. But he deserves to be in the great mentioning game, and it would be the smartest pick.

Jeremy D. Mayer is an associate professor in the School of Public Policy at George Mason University where he also directs the masters program in public policy.

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