BURBANK, Calif. -- Appearing with Jay Leno on the Tonight Show on Tuesday, Mitt Romney was asked a familiar question in a notably unfamiliar way.

"Tell me about the vice president," Leno asked Romney near the top of their first segment together. "What are you looking for?"

At first, Romney demurred, saying that he did not want to be presumptuous. But then he offered to select CBS's David Letterman, removing Leno's top competition. Finally, Leno suggested a telling game of word association. Here's how it went:

LENO:  Now, I’ll give you a list of candidates. You give me one word on each person. Give me one.”

ROMNEY: “A couple of words maybe?”

LENO: “Chris Christie.”

ROMNEY: “Okay, um, indomitable.”

LENO: “Indomitable?”

ROMMEY: “Yeah.”

LENO: “Alright, okay.”

ROMNEY: “He’s a man of strong will. Great strength. Indomitable.”

LENO: “Man of girth.”

ROMNEY: “Well, if you attack Chris Christie, you’re gonna get more than you bargained for. He’s comes back hard, strong. Indomitable.”

LENO: “Marco Rubio.”

ROMNEY: “Um, I’ll try for smaller words.”

LENO: “Marco Rubio.”

ROMNEY: “Um, the American dream.”

LENO: “Okay, that’s three words.”

ROMNEY: “I don’t know. Alright, American dream.”

LENO: “Paul Ryan.”

ROMNEY: “Paul Ryan. Um, um, creative.”

LENO: “Nikki Haley.”

ROMNEY: “Nikki Haley. Um, energetic.”

LENO: “Donald Trump.”

ROMNEY: “Um, huge.”

LENO: “Rick Santorum.”

ROMNEY: “Press secretary.”