Romney Adds Ryan to G.O.P. Ticket

By JEFF ZELENY and JIM RUTENBERG
Published: August 11, 2012


WASHINGTON — Mitt Romney introduced Representative Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin as his running mate on Saturday morning at a boisterous rally in Norfolk, Va., a choice that elevates one of the party’s young conservative leaders to the Republican ticket and intensifies the debate over the size and role of government.


The selection of Mr. Ryan, the chief architect of the Republican Party’s tax-and-spending-cut plan and an advocate of reshaping the traditional Medicare program of health insurance for retirees, was an effort to reset the race with President Obama after months in which Mr. Romney has come under intense assault from Democrats.

The decision instantly made the campaign seemed bigger and more consequential, with the scale of the federal government squarely at the center of the debate, even as it shifted attention to some degree away from what had been Mr. Romney’s intense focus, the lack of steady and substantial job growth since Mr. Obama took office.

“There are a lot of people in the other party who might disagree with Paul Ryan,” Mr. Romney said at the announcement rally, where the two men displayed the easy chemistry and warm body language that has defined their interactions on the campaign trail over the past year. “I don’t know of anyone who doesn’t respect his character and judgment.”

When Mr. Ryan joined Mr. Romney on stage, standing against a backdrop of the battleship U.S.S. Wisconsin, the pair presented a Republican ticket that also represents a generational change, highlighting Mr. Romney’s business experience and Mr. Ryan’s deep knowledge of the nation’s budget. At 42, Mr. Ryan is the same age as Mr. Romney’s oldest son.

The announcement, which had been kept secret by Mr. Romney until the final hours, opened a weekend tour of key battleground states, with the two men traveling together to kick off the debut of their new partnership. They called themselves, “America’s Comeback Team.”

For Mr. Romney, the decision is one of the boldest of his presidential candidacy, which has been guided by a do-no-harm strategy over the last year. It promised to energize conservatives, who had been lobbying for Mr. Ryan and see his budget as the key to unlocking the economy’s growth potential.

The president’s re-election campaign and the Democratic Party quickly seized on the choice and began to define the Republican ticket in stark terms, as two men who would strip health coverage for retirees and favor the wealthy.

As Mr. Ryan addressed a crowd of more than 2,000 supporters, he said the nation was on an “unsustainable path” and said Republicans would not be deterred by Democratic scare tactics. It was the largest stage yet for Mr. Ryan, a native of Janesville, Wis., elected to Congress at age 28, who has spent his adult life working in the federal government of Washington that conservatives deplore.

“The commitment Mitt Romney and I make to you is this,” Mr. Ryan said. “We won’t duck the tough issues, we will lead. We won’t blame others, we will take responsibility. And we won’t replace our founding principles, we will reapply them.”

In introducing Mr. Ryan, Mr. Romney mistakenly called him “the next president of the United States,” left the stage, then returned to correct himself as Mr. Mr. Ryan prepared to speak. Mr. Ryan called Mr. Romney “the right man to lead America back to prosperity and greatness” and said of the Obama administration’s leadership, “We’re in a different, and dangerous, moment. We’re running out of time — and we can’t afford four more years of this.”

In choosing his running mate, Mr. Romney was looking to elevate a presidential race that has often been marked by a small-bore debate and bitter fighting with the Obama campaign. He wanted the choice to make a clear statement, aides said, recognizing that running against Mr. Obama’s record even in difficult economic times was likely not enough to win in November.

But in making his choice, Mr. Romney took political ownership of a budget plan that even some Republicans worry could be a liability with voters in November. Mr. Ryan has proposed sweeping changes in entitlement programs like Medicaid and Medicare, which insure more than 100 million people and account for more than one-fifth of the federal budget.

The budget debate that has largely resided in Washington suddenly exploded into bigger view with Mr. Ryan’s selection. The president’s campaign manager, Jim Messina, on Saturday argued that the Republican ticket “would end Medicare as we know it,” a preview of messages that will play out in the most expensive presidential campaign in the nation’s history.

Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, who has spent the last several weeks raising questions about Mr. Romney’s tax returns, signaled that Democrats would use Mr. Ryan’s approach to remaking Medicare in Congressional races as well as in the presidential race.

“By picking Representative Paul Ryan, Governor Romney has doubled down on his commitment to gut Social Security and end Medicare as we know it,” Mr. Reid said in a statement. “Romney’s choice demonstrates that catering to the Tea Party and the far-right is more important to him that standing up for the middle class.”

The announcement concluded a four-month search, conducted in both public and private, with Mr. Romney inviting governors and members of Congress to campaign at his side to gauge his comfort. While conservative leaders recently began loudly urging Mr. Romney to pick Mr. Ryan, most Republicans assumed Mr. Romney would go with someone seen as a safer choice.

But advisers said Saturday that Mr. Romney had called Mr. Ryan on August 1, almost immediately upon arriving home from his foreign trip to Britain, Israel and Poland. The detail, which was confirmed by an associate close to Mr. Ryan, deflated speculation that Mr. Romney made his choice in reaction to an outcry that broke out this week, most notably on the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal, which argued forcefully on behalf of Mr. Ryan.

Mr. Romney called the other finalists for the position on Friday evening, aides said, and thanked them for their cooperation in the vetting process and their help with his campaign. He did not tell them who he selected, but word began spreading overnight that Mr. Ryan emerged as the lone contender.

Tim Pawlenty, the former governor of Minnesota who was passed over four years ago by Senator John McCain, wished Mr. Ryan well on Saturday. Senator Rob Portman of Ohio, who was also seen as a top prospect, hailed the decision as a “great choice.”

The selection was announced as Mr. Romney moves into a critical period leading to his nomination at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., at the end of the month. His approval rating and standing in several battleground states has fallen over the summer, after an aggressive effort by the Obama campaign to define him, and Republicans hoped the vice presidential announcement would start the race anew for the final three months.

But Mr. Ryan will face questions about his readiness to be president. With no foreign policy experience or significant time in the private sector, the Romney campaign is counting on his youthful charisma and intellect to sustain him through a bruising presidential campaign.

Even as of late last week, several prominent conservatives speculated that Mr. Romney would view Mr. Ryan as too risky of a choice, given what many have described as a risk-averse strategy by his campaign most of this year. Aides said the risks were somewhat illusory, considering that Mr. Romney was going to have to defend Mr. Ryan’s budget plan because he has endorsed most of it and it has become a central document of the Republican Party.

The choice heartened senior Republicans, some of whom worried that Mr. Romney’s campaign had become mired in the often small back and forth with the Obama campaign without asserting a positive vision for where Mr. Romney wants to take the country.

“He had two decisions to make: Governing or political and bold or comfortable,” Karl Rove, the Republican strategist, said Saturday. “And he decided to go governing and bold.”

Mr. Romney, who seemed to audition many of his potential running mates in highly public fashion on the campaign trail, seemed to have a comfortable rapport with Mr. Ryan that was on display again on Saturday as they locked arms after walking out to the soaring music of the “Air Force One” film soundtrack. Mr. Romney wore a tie without jacket as Mr. Ryan wore a jacket without a tie.

Mr. Romney, who is not known for routinely exhibiting physical warmth, patted Mr. Ryan on the back 10 times after his running mate bounded onto the stage. When Mr. Ryan finished his remarks, Mr. Romney whispered a word into his ear. “Perfect,” he said.



So! The speculation can end, there's the decision. I have to agree with Romney when he says that Ryan's character and judgement are widely respected - and with the authors of the article when they note that it's a bold move, for someone as little known for boldness as Romney. Whether it's a vote-winning move, that I have more doubts about... Ryan's strong stance for fiscal responsibility and Medicare reform gain him the respect of Wall Street, of course, but the Republican rank and file will be a different story, you would think.

Your thoughts? For the Americans among us, does this influence your voting intentions, and if so, which way?

Edit: forgot to link.