Trump’s men­tions of VP can­di­dates could reduce their chances of selec­tion

For­mer Pres­i­dent Don­ald Trump has insert­ed a vari­ety of names into the media ecosys­tem for his open vice pres­i­dent posi­tion.
The list of names is long and has appeared to flour­ish rather than be pruned as the Repub­li­can Nation­al Con­ven­tion in Mil­wau­kee inch­es clos­er. But despite Trump drop­ping hints about who the front-run­ners might be, there’s a chance the for­mer pres­i­dent will sur­prise every­one with a dark horse selec­tion.
“His­tor­i­cal­ly, the more he says a name, the less like­ly it is to be that per­son,” one advis­er, who admit­ted they were spec­u­lat­ing, told CNN.
Trump has tout­ed numer­ous vice pres­i­den­tial can­di­dates — Rep. Elise Ste­fanik (R‑NY), Sen. Tim Scott (R‑SC), and Sen. Mar­co Rubio (R‑FL), to name a few — but hasn’t made his choice known yet. 
The the­o­ret­i­cal doc­trine that Trump’s vice pres­i­den­tial choice is some­one who hasn’t been wide­ly spec­u­lat­ed on con­tributes to the inclu­sion of anoth­er choice in the con­ver­sa­tion: Rep. Maria Elvi­ra Salazar (R‑FL).
Sources told CNN that …