Romney veepstakes: Will personal connection be key?
Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis. introduces Mitt Romney at the Grain Exchange in Milwaukee, April 3, 2012.
/ AP Photo/M. Spencer GreenFor Mitt Romney, the Wisconsin primary has looked at times like a buddy movie with Paul Ryan.
The front-runner and House Republican congressman have been together non-stop. They've attended fish fries, interrupted each other at town halls, even gagged each other on April Fools Day (Romney on the receiving end).
At the root of it all, a shared emphasis on conservative values, health care reform and tax plans has permeated every appearance. When asked to describe his plans for changing the tax code on Monday, Romney handed the mic to Ryan, saying "I heard the congressman answer this question better than I can last time we chatted. So I'm going to have him describe, just for a moment, his plans on the tax code, which are very similar to my own."
As Romney rakes in delegates from Wisconsin, Maryland and Washington, D.C.'s primaries on Tuesday, and party ranks close in behind him as he approaches the magic number of delegates needed to win the nomination, the focus will turn to the general election and Romney's first big test: Who he will pick as his running mate?
There will be talk of who comes from a swing state, who has the right kind experience and who has the right ideological credentials -- but an important and overlooked factor may be the personal connection of the kind that was on display with Ryan.
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With others though as well, he also comes alive in a way that contrasts with his usual stiff performance. While his own stump speech hardly deviates, he enjoys having a rotating cavalry of prominent Republicans with him at events, such as New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie or Arizona Sen. John McCain, who each bring a brashness and humor to the stump that Romney himself knows he does not.
Still, he is looser, trying his own jokes and playing off his second. "What you hope for is someone to heckle him," Romney said of Christie, before a Cleveland crowd in March. "He'll walk up to the stage like this," he said, sauntering on stage and wagging his finger like the governor. "He looks at them and tells them what to."
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Chumminess won't be the only criteria, of course. Romney has given some hints about how he'll make his selection. Perhaps learning from one of the greatest criticisms of McCain's choice of Sarah Palin in 2008, Romney often says that if he wins the nomination, his choice for vice president must be someone who has the experience to lead and likeminded pursuits as him should he or she ever be in that position. That would seem to count out Marco Rubio, perhaps the most talked about potential running mate but who, at age 41, doesn't have much experience and little of it in positions of executive leadership. This is also a potential problem for Rep. Ryan.
South Dakota Sen. John Thune and Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, both of whom have done a good deal of campaigning for Romney, meet that criteria and are well liked in the heartland -- sure to be a battleground in the general. Gov. Bob McDonnell of Virginia has only been in office a little more than two years, but he has a broad military background that Romney proud touts on the trail.
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And despite the fact that Indiana's Gov. Mitch Daniels has said he is not endorsing anyone in the primary process, Romney told Indianans in the fall that Daniels could be "wherever he'd like to be," in his cabinet -- adding that "Mitch is an extraordinarily capable guy."
Former New Hampshire Senator John E. Sununu, who has not endorsed Romney, had an op-ed in Tuesday's Boston Globe encouraging the front-runner to resist choosing someone flashy and exciting to goose his poll numbers, favoring instead an established politician already well-known -- and well-vetted. "Let us embrace the obvious: The winning choice is the dull choice -- a running mate the public already knows, warts and all," Sununu wrote.
In an interview Tuesday morning on MSNBC, Sununu's father, John H. Sununu, the former New Hampshire governor and chief of staff to President George H. W. Bush, was asked about the piece, which argued against a risky pick like former Vice President Dan Quayle.
"I think he's learned a lot from his father," the elder Sununu grinned.
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Robmme is living up to his name supporting that idiot Ryan's budget. What a scam artist loser that guy is.
Sorry DJ, but I have much better things to do like rearrange my sock drawer, than waste time with you and ryan's budget that has no chance of ever becoming law!
Besides, you still haven't answered my question about ryan's budget:
Why would anyone 'think' that not balancing the federal budget until 2040 is a good thing?
By not answering questions directed towards you, and only able to ask other questions about Obama or the Dems, just proves how one-sided you are, and unable to answer questions directed towards you!
1) We MUST raise taxes
2) We MUST cut discretionary spending
3) We MUST cut defense spending
4) We MUST cap medical cost growth at the rate of inflation (which includes potentially re-structuring Medicare and Medicaid)
5) We MUST re-structure Social Security over the long term, as the number of beneficiaries is steadily rising and the number of contributors is steadily declining
I agree with those PhD economists that tell us we must do all 5 things, and the reason I say ryan is an economics neophyte, is because he's to ideological as a teabagging extremist to admit the need for #1 and #3 -- BOTH of which MUST BE DONE, along with the others!
Actually 'lyin' ryan's' budget doesn't touch #5 either, nor does he address the spiraling cost of health care, and only talks about cutting spending to Medicare and especially Medicaid.
All ryan wants to do is #2 on STEROIDS, particularly hitting the poor especially hard. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates that 62 percent of ryan's cuts come from programs for low-income Americans and 37 percent of the tax benefits go to the few Americans earning more than $1 million.
Parting zinger.
Yes, 'lyin' ryan' has detailed all his spending cuts for the lower and middle classes, but has not detailed even ONE tax loophole that he would end in order to lower the top tax rate from 35% to 25%.
In Ryan's budget, Social Security is untouched. The cuts to Medicaid and other health programs for the poor are twice the size of those to Medicare. The cuts to education, to food stamps, to transportation infrastructure and to pretty much everything else besides defense are draconian. As for the tax reform component, it cuts taxes on millionaires by more than $250,000, but it doesn't name a single loophole or tax break that Ryan and the republicans would close.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates that 62 percent of the cuts come from programs for low-income Americans and 37 percent of the tax benefits go to the few Americans earning more than $1 million.
Under the ryan proposal, only the wealthy would be able to afford health care and education for their families!
Who cares, since opening and closing any site just so you feel more superior, only makes you look like a control freak looking for the attention you crave so much.
Instead of posting all your anti-Dem, pro-republiCON B.S. here, why not go to rowdy's site and be a good little boy......see ya!
Again, can anyone answer my question:
Why does ryan 'think' that using only spending cuts for the poor and middle classes to fund even bigger tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy, and not being able to balance the budget until 2040, is being fiscally responsible?