Stanford

Picking Rice would cause Romney some problems among the GOP base because she has described herself as "mildly pro-choice."

Rice has said she harbors concerns about government's role in abortion choice. But she's opposed to federal funding for abortion and has supported banning late-term abortions and requiring parental notification.

At a candidates' forum last year in South Carolina, Romney said his running mate would have to share his anti-abortion views, as well as his opposition to same-sex marriage. Rice favors allowing gay couples to form civil unions, but not to marry.

Rice, 57, was Bush's national security adviser from 2001 to 2005, before being named secretary of state, a position she held for four years. After that she returned to Stanford University, where she's now a professor in the Graduate School of Business; a director of the Center for Global Business and the Economy; and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution.

I'm mildly pro and anti everything.