Mitt Romney To Pick Paul Ryan As Vice President

Late Friday night, the Mitt Romney for President campaign said that presumptive Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney will announce his pick for his Vice Presidential running mate today in Norfolk, Virginia.

According to unquoted sources reported by NBC news, Mitt Romney will choose U.S. House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) to be Vice President on Romney's ticket - a strategy that, without the home-state boost from Florida Senator Marco Rubio, may cost Mitt Romney the key battleground Sunshine State in the General Election come November.

Mitt Romney's choice of Paul Ryan for Vice President could confirm what Romney's GOP challengers asserted all along during the presidential primary - that Romney would have a hard time attacking Obamacare given the implementation of Romneycare during his tenure as Governor of Massachusetts. 

Ryan has been an outspoken critic of Obamacare, leading the charge in the U.S. House of Representatives to not only to eliminate Obamacare, but to also completely overhaul Medicaid and Medicare in Paul Ryan's Second Budget Plan for 2013.

Ryan's health care overhaul plan could play right into the hands of Democrats in Florida.  Republican's have long accused Democrats of running negative 'Medi-Scare' advertising campaigns to sway the votes of senior citizens.  

Romney's strategy of choosing Ryan instead of Rubio could signal that the 2012 Mitt Romney for President campaign has already acquiesced Florida to Obama in exchange for a broader national image to distinguish Romney from Obama, and to excite the conservative base which has been less than enthusiastic about Romney's moderate conservative record.

The Ryan VP choice could also cost GOP nominee-hopeful Connie Mack votes in the Florida U.S. Senate race against Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson because Democratic campaign strategists could then run consolidated 'Medi-Scare' ads that lump both Mack and the Romney-Ryan ticket together.  The consolidated ads would give Democrats more bang-for-the-campaign-buck in Florida.


The Romney campaign has a smart phone app which will announce his VP choice before anywhere else.