If Paul Ryan is Romney's VP...

[Bull Moose Base]

The Obama campaign has already made it pretty clear that they will treat Ryan as Romney's de facto running mate.
If Mittens obliges to make their jobs even easier then more power to him.

I tried to tell y'all this a year ago. Zilcho replies.  I felt lonelier than Newt Gingrich did after he bashed Ryan.

Why only 120-something views?  Most of them me checking in on her?  This was a big turning point.  Ryan=Palin of 2012.

Not that Ryan exudes ignorance, but his electoral effect will be similar even if he's not on the ballot.

[Bull Moose Base]

The Obama campaign has already made it pretty clear that they will treat Ryan as Romney's de facto running mate.

Most people don't know who Ryan is though (though of course that will change if Romney picks him as his running mate, which is why he won't be Romney's running mate).  This isn't 1996, where Gingrich was the face of the opposition, and was quite unpopular, and you had an endless stream of Clinton ads decrying "The Dole-Gingrich agenda".

Obama will certainly try to tar Romney with the Ryan budget, even if Ryan himself isn't widely known.  Which is why Romney won't pick him as his running mate, and he'll make some noises along the lines of "I applaud Rep. Ryan for making the tough choices, which the White House hasn't made, but I'll present a budget next year that will result in similar deficit savings with somewhat different cuts...", and then he won't specify those cuts until after the election.

Agree with all this including the reasoning why Romney won't seriously consider Ryan for running mate.  George Will's imploring him to do so probably clinches that it won't happen because when was he last listened to?  That said, the Ryan budget itself avoids specifics so it's a bit nonsensically abstract for Romney to say he'll make different, unspecified cuts than Ryan's unspecified cuts.  I agree he'll still attempt this argument, but I think it's going to be awkward.  Plus, Romney and Ryan do now share the same very politically risky Medicare proposal.