Romney Picks Ryan As VP

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney
introduced Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin as his vice presidential running
mate on Saturday, turning to the architect of a deeply conservative and
intensely controversial long-term budget plan to remake Medicare and cut
trillions in federal spending.

In the campaign to come,
Republicans will present economic solutions "that are bold, specific and
achievable," Romney said as he presented his political partner to
cheering supporters. "We offer our commitment to create 12 million new
jobs and bring better take home pay to middle class families."

The
two men basked in the cheers of supporters in the ticket's
made-for-television debut. "I did not make a mistake with this guy,"
Romney exulted.

"I am deeply excited and honored to join you as
your running mate," Ryan said in his first words at the podium." He said
that together, "we will restore the greatness of this country."

"Regrettably,
President Obama has become part of the problem, and Mitt Romney is the
solution" to an economy that has yet to make a strong recovery from the
worst recession in decades, he said.

The ticket made its debut at a
naval museum in Norfolk, Va., the initial stop of a bus tour through
four battleground states in as many days. The USS Wisconsin, berthed at
the museum, was their bunting-draped backdrop.

While word of
Ryan's selection leaked late Friday night, and was posted by the
campaign to its phone app before the speeches, Obama's campaign withheld
its reaction until the Republicans had spoken.

"The architect of
the radical Republican House budget, Ryan, like Romney, proposed an
additional $250,000 tax cut for millionaires, and deep cuts in education
from Head Start to college aid," Jim Messina, the president's campaign
manager, said in a written statement.

"His plan would also end
Medicare as we know it by turning it into a voucher system, shifting
thousands of dollars in health care costs to seniors," he said.

Ryan's
selection — as well as Romney's own nomination — will be ratified by
delegates to the Republican National Convention that begins on Aug. 27
in Tampa, Fla.

Obama and Vice President Joseph Biden will be nominated for a second term at the Democratic convention the following week.

One
campaign official said Romney had settled on Ryan as his pick on Aug.
1, more than a week ago, and informed Beth Myers, the longtime aide who
had shepherded the secretive process that led to the selection. The
official spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details.

It was not known when Romney informed Ryan he wanted him on the ticket.

In
making his pick, Romney bypassed other potential running mates,
including Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, former
Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell.

Officials said he had called all four to notify them of his decision.

At 42, Ryan is a generation younger than the 65-year-old Romney.

His
conservative credentials are highly regarded by fellow Republican House
members, while numerous polls found that Romney's own were suspect
among the party's core supporters during the primaries of winter and
spring.

A seven-term congressman, Ryan is chairman of the House
Budget Committee, and primary author of conservative tax and spending
blueprints that the tea party-infused Republican majority approved over
vociferous Democratic opposition in 2011 and again in 2012.

It
envisions transforming Medicare into a program in which future seniors
would receive government checks that they could use to purchase health
insurance. Under the current program, the government directly pays
doctors, hospitals and other health care providers.

Ryan and other
supporters say the change is needed to prevent the program from
financial calamity. Critics argue it would impose ever-increasing costs
on seniors.

Other elements of the budget plan would cut projected
spending for Medicaid, which provides health care for the poor, as well
as food stamps, student loans and other social programs that Obama and
Democrats have pledged to defend.

In all, it projected spending cuts of $5.3 trillion over a decade, and cut future projected deficits substantially.

It also envisions a far reaching overhaul of the tax code of the sort Romney has promised.

Romney
and Ryan appeared unusually comfortable with each other when they
campaigned together earlier in the year. The former governor eagerly
shared the microphone with the younger man and they shared hamburgers at
a fast food restaurant.

In making an endorsement before his
state's primary last spring, Ryan said, "I picked who I think is going
to be the next president of the United States — I picked Mitt Romney.
... The moment is here. The country can be saved. It is not too late to
get America back on the right track. ... It is not too late to save the
American idea."

Romney was the subject of an April Fools prank in
which Ryan played a role. Romney showed up at a supposed campaign event
where he heard Ryan calling him "the next president of the United
States" — only to find the room nearly empty.

In recent days,
conservative pundits have been urging Romney to choose Ryan in large
part because of his authorship of a House-backed budget plan that seeks
to curb overall spending on benefit programs such as Medicare, Medicaid
and food stamps.

Republican National Committee finance chairman
Ron Weiser of Michigan, said Friday night that Ryan's selection would
help Romney win Wisconsin and its 10 electoral votes in the fall. The
state typically supports Democrats in presidential contests, and Obama
won it handily four years ago.

Ryan has worked in Washington for
much of his adult life, a contrast to Romney, who frequently emphasizes
his experience in business.

The congressman worked as an aide in
Congress, and also was a speechwriter for Jack Kemp, who years earlier
had been one of the driving forces behind across-the-board tax cuts that
were at the heart of Ronald Reagan's winning presidential campaign in
1980.

Ryan is also well-known for his fiendish physical fitness workouts.

His
congressional district in southeast Wisconsin has something of a
bipartisan voting record. Obama took 54 percent of the vote there in
2008, while the congressman received 64 percent in winning re-election.

Outside
Ryan's home in Janesville, Wis., on Friday night, there was nothing to
suggest that the residence belonged to a vice presidential candidate. An
Associated Press reporter who knocked just before midnight got no
answer. There was a light on in a first-floor room of the two-story
brick home atop a hill.

Earlier this week, a Ryan adviser said the
congressman, his wife and their three children were preparing for a
weeklong Colorado vacation.

Most of Romney's staff learned of the
planned announcement during a 10 p.m. EDT conference call Friday about
an hour before the campaign issued a statement. The identity of Romney's
pick was not disclosed during the call. The campaign had promised that
first news of the selection would be delivered via a phone app.

Earlier
in the day, Romney's campaign briefed reporters on the bus tour without
mention of the impending vice presidential announcement.

The tour
will take Romney through North Carolina, Virginia, Florida and Ohio.
All are battlegrounds where Obama won in 2008. They hold 75 electoral
votes combined, of the 270 needed to win the election.

Copyright © 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Posted: Saturday, August 11 2012, 09:10 AM CDT