How the wrong VP candidate could cost Republicans the Senate

The ideal outcome for the Republican Party in 2016 is winning the White House while hanging onto its bicameral majority in Congress — but those two goals may prove impossible to reconcile.

Several of the GOP's top options for vice presidential candidates are serving in the Senate, and tapping them for the national race could destroy the Republican majority there. Two possible contenders in particular, Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), will be running for re-election in 2016 in key swing states that could turn blue without an incumbent advantage.

But hey, there is one easy way out of this dilemma: If Donald Trump snags the nomination, any Republican senator offered the veep slot may well turn it down.

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