Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina posed for Vogue's latest issue in what could be read as a profile-boosting bid as Mitt Romney chooses a running mate. Or maybe the  Tea Party favorite simply couldn't resist the glamorous treatment that had famously been given to political women before here - including Condoleezza Rice, Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin.

As a supporter of the Republican nominee-to-be, Haley has campaigned for Romney and is seen by the establishment GOP as a surrogate who can whip conservative voters who might have been skeptical of the front-runner during the primary.

That role - and that she's a woman - has led to speculation that Romney might want her on the bottom of the ticket.

"People ask the question, 'If you're offered VP, would you take it?' " Haley told the magazine. "No, I won't take it. I'm not going to leave the people that just gave me this chance."

That of course doesn't mean Haley actually means it, though the first-term governor's chances of being offered the spot would seem slim given the specter of Sarah Palin's bumbling run in 2008.

Still, the political class in Haley's state seems to think she has bigger ambitions. Vogue reports that a South Carolina legislator who grew angry in a meeting with Haley asked her whether she would still be in her job long enough to see her agenda enacted, implying that she could be the nominee for vice president.

Haley, according to the magazine, told the lawmaker "that she is in South Carolina to stay."