A poll earlier this month asked Republican and Republican-leaning voters who they'd like to see former President Donald Trump choose as his running mate in the very likely event that Trump is named the party's nominee in July's Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
The poll, from Issues & Insights and TIPP, listed all the usual suspects, from A t0 Z -- literally, as both Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and former New York Rep. Lee Zeldin both appeared in the results.
However, according to a report in Friday's New York Times, one man in Trump's current short list of five contenders didn't show up in that poll at all.
That man is Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, and his presence on Trump's short list of potential running mates represents "a signal that the former president is heavily weighing experience and the ability to run a disciplined campaign over other factors," according to The Times.
The Times cited three unnamed sources who apparently didn't have permission to speak with the media but who, at least according to The Times, had "direct knowledge of Mr. Trump's thinking" on the matter.
According to those sources, the current list included Cotton, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott and Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance.
All five are also contenders for posts in a second Trump administration, should he win the general election in November.
The sources noted that Trump's thinking could change before the convention, which anyone who has been following the former president already knew well.
"Mr. Trump can be unpredictable," The Times noted.
Cotton's name didn't appear on the I&I/TIPP poll, even at the bottom along with New York Rep. Elise Stefanik and Zeldin, both of whom received mention by those polled, but not enough to get them 1 percent of the total.
Because of the relatively small sample size in that poll and its unusually large margin of error of 4.3 percent, there was no clear winner. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was apparently leading with 15 percent, but former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, with 8 percent, and Abbot and former presidential contender Vivek Ramaswamy, with 7 percent each, were all within striking distance of DeSantis.
Former Housing Secretary Ben Carson and former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard each came in at 5 percent, Scott showed 4 percent, and Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (whom the poll erroneously described as the "former" governor) received 3 percent along with political commentator Tucker Carlson.
Tied with 2 percent were Rubio, Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and former anchorwoman Kari Lake, who is currently running for the Senate in her home state of Arizona.
Both Burgum and Vance, said to be on Trump's short list, brought in only 1 percent each, along with former National Security Advisor Mike Flynn, South Dakora Gov. Kristi Noem, Florida Rep. Byron Donalds, and Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Trump has previously said that he would probably announce his choice in the days prior to the Republican National Convention in July.
A spokeswoman for Cotton declined to comment on the Times story, and Trump senior adviser Brian Hughes told the outlet, "Only President Trump will rule a contender for Vice President in or out, and anyone claiming to know who he will choose is lying."
In a Fox News interview cited by The Times, Cotton appeared to downplay talk of his consideration for any role in a hypothetical Trump administration.
"I suspect only Donald Trump knows who is really on his short list," he said Monday on Fox. "When we do talk, we talk about what it’s going to take to win this election in November -- to elect President Trump to another term in the White House and elect a Republican Congress, so we can begin to repair the damage that Joe Biden’s presidency has inflicted on this country."
