Mitt Romney has made his decision. He will go with Wisconsin Republican firebrand Paul Ryan as his Vice Presidental selection. It's somewhat odd to make that move on a Saturday morning, but it does mean he gets to dominate the Sunday talk shows, but it doesn't mean nearly as much press as if he held off until Monday - after the Olympics. People are still focusing on sports and not on politics at this point, but the Romney campaign must be feeling the heat and need to stem a tide of bad polling, and the fact that Romney essentially called for mercy to stop harping on Romney's tax and business records, and that Romney's own goals on health care reform and other assorted lies, misstatements, and gaffes.
Ryan will give Romney a short-lived bounce. It gives Romney a breather, but does it really benefit him in November?
Well, it improves his chances of holding on to the red-meat GOPers and right wingers, and could help with Wisconsin and Midwest, but that could be more than offset by the fact that Ryan's plan would gut the safety net - from Social Security to Medicare and Medicaid - programs that most Americans believe are good programs and are to their benefit (even if they may also think that some kind of incremental reforms are needed over time). After all, independents and moderates are going to have serious issues with what the GOP and the socons are looking to do. So, the overall effect will be negative since it reinforces everything that we already knew or expected from Romney.
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