(CNN) -- It's that time in the presidential cycle again. Mitt Romney, presumptive GOP nominee, appoints a trusted adviser to lead his vice presidential search. The questionnaires are readied; the real level of interest of the contenders is gauged (and all public protestations of noninterest dutifully disregarded.) The candidate's weaknesses are cataloged, both in battleground states and in key demographics. And maybe the candidate weighs in with a guideline or two for the search. This time around, it's clear what one rule will be: The vice presidential nominee needs to be qualified to be president. Just ask Steve Schmidt, John McCain's former campaign manager (now played by Woody Harrelson in HBO's "Game Change"), about that teensy detail that was, er, overlooked in the Sarah Palin pick.
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Mitt Romney has begun the process of picking a vice presidential candidate
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Gloria Borger: Romney will apply one key lesson of John McCain's Sarah Palin pick
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Borger says whoever is chosen needs to be prepared to be president of the U.S.
John McCain
John McCain
It's worth mentioning that the Romney campaign faces some of the deficits that plagued @placeholder: a gender gulch and a lack of enthusiasm among much of the very conservative base.
Sarah Palin
Sarah Palin
So it would be easy to pull a @placeholder, circa 2012 -- that is, look for an appealing, conservative female pol to excite the unexcited.
John McCain
John McCain
And the @placeholder campaign culture itself was chaotic and often dysfunctional -- not so with the Romney folks.