Ayotte, a former New Hampshire attorney general who endorsed Romney in November, was elected in 2010 with 60 percent of the vote. She is seen as a strong conservative on issues of finance and defense, according to various national media outlets.
"The most attractive features of [Ayotte's] candidacy are that she's from a competitive state and that she's a woman, a group that Romney has performed poorly with in the polls recently," government professor Brendan Nyhan said.
She may also have some "generational appeal" as a younger candidate, government professor Joseph Bafumi said.
Selecting Ayotte may help deliver a swing state to the Republicans in November, but because New Hampshire is a small state with only four electoral votes, this would "not be a huge boon" for Romney, Bafumi said.
Ayotte also has a number of supporters among members of the Tea Party who were about evenly split between Ayotte and Ovide Lamontagne, her main opponent in the New Hampshire senatorial primary, Bafumi said.
Romney's Monday visit was his first trip to New Hampshire since becoming the presumptive nominee and this trip increases the speculation about Ayotte's potential vice-presidential candidacy due to the event's timing in a series of campaign stops with potential vice-presidential contenders, according to MSNBC.
Romney first announced that Ayotte was included on a list of 15 possible running mates during a Fox News interview in November.
Ayotte's relative youth and inexperience on the national political stage, however, has cast doubt on her potential candidacy.
"When people have made so-called bold choices for vice-presidential nominees who were young and inexperienced, those have been the two most damaging vice-presidential nominees of recent years," Nyhan said, citing former Vice President Dan Quayle and former Gov. Sarah Palin, R-Alaska.
Ayotte could be painted as "Palin Two," and the media would test her extremely hard to determine if she is qualified, Bafumi said.
While vice-presidential candidates are generally not instrumental in determining the outcome of a general election, Palin's nomination hurt McCain's campaign much more than was expected because of her inexperience, Nhyan said.
Romney would do best to focus on a vice-presidential candidate from an electorally rich swing state such as Ohio or Florida, Bafumi said. As such, Ayotte has a smaller chance of being chosen than other potential running mates, including Sen. Rob Portman '78, R-Ohio.
Due in part to her relative youth and inexperience, "the current futures market on [Ayotte] being chosen are 4 percent," Nhyan said.
During Monday's visit, Ayotte toured fishing boats with Romney and then introduced him to a crowd of supporters, according to ABC. Despite abundant media speculation surrounding possible vice-presidential candidates, Romney stayed on message and focused on economic issues during Monday's campaign event. He also accused U.S. President Barack Obama of diverting attention from the economy to engage in "silliness," according to MSNBC.
Ayotte has said that her main concern is on nominating a Republican candidate who can defeat Obama in the fall, according to CNN.
Romney has recently appeared with other potential vice-presidential candidates, including Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., according to MSNBC.
