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Could Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers be the next Vice President?

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Spokane Conservative Examiner

One hardly ever sees her on cable news shows, and most voters outside of eastern Washington are unfamiliar with her, but the Daily Caller says that Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) "could be the next U.S. vice president."

Will Rahn adds:

First elected in 2004, McMorris Rodgers is now in her second term as vice chairman of the Republican Conference, which makes her the highest-ranking Republican woman on Capitol Hill. She has built a significant amount of behind-the-scenes clout, and has become one of her party’s most influential leaders on issues like international bailouts, earmark reform and the fight against Obamacare.

The Daily Caller also notes that McMorris Rodgers has "the kind of compelling life story" political operatives look for.

Rahn continues:

The daughter of produce farmers who operated a fruit stand, she was the first member of her family to attend college. She earned her MBA from the University of Washington in 2002. By the age of 24, she was a member of the state House of Representatives.

Married to a retired U.S. Navy commander, McMorris Rodgers is also one of only eight women to have ever given birth while serving in Congress, and the only woman who has done it twice.

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Like former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, McMorris Rodgers has a child born with Down's Syndrome, and that experience, Rahn writes, led her to form "a bipartisan Congressional Down Syndrome Caucus," educating lawmakers about the condition.
 
Unlike Palin, McMorris Rodgers has kept a fairly low profile, despite being a member of the House GOP leadership.
 
McMorris Rodgers has all the conservative credentials grassroots conservatives love, and could easily handle the current Vice President in a debate with her no-nonsense style and command of the issues.  She is a staunch advocate for life, supports traditional family values and is a fiscal hawk.
 
She has been steadfast in her opposition to European bailouts, and once called President Obama's budget a "roadmap to Greece."
 
She opposes Obamacare, and introduced legislation designed to keep the IRS from hiring more bureaucrats to enforce the individual mandate.  On the one year anniversary of its passage, she called it a disaster, that "looks worse than ever.”
 
But what about working in D.C. while caring for a family?
 
“It’s accepted wisdom in Washington, D.C. that it’s difficult to make time for family, and she turned that notion on its head," veteran GOP strategist Kellyanne Conway told the Daily Caller.
 
“She’s been a big help in making sure that the party and the leadership know that women are not an interest group but 53 percent of active voters,” she added.
 

McMorris Rodgers was named the chair of Mitt Romney's Washington campaign after she endorsed him in early December.

For now, McMorris Rodgers is focused on her work in Congress, representing the people of eastern Washington and being a conservative reformer.

“It’s hard for me to imagine the nominee would actually approach me, you know?” she told the Daily Caller.

"There has definitely been growing attention to her work for the American people," said Todd Winer, Communications Director for Rep. McMorris Rodgers.

Winer told Examiner that while she is "100 percent focused" on her current job, "it’s never a bad thing to have people include her in the discussion; it really validates her work and growing influence in national politics."

But for now, he added, it's too soon to speculate.

More on Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers at Examiner.com here.

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Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA)
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA)
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Joe Newby is an IT professional who has been involved in conservative politics for years. In 1991, he ran for City Council in Riverside, California, and has served as a campaign manager for local conservatives in California and Idaho, including former Idaho State Representative Jeff Alltus. For...

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