Okay, props to Mitt Romney for allowing President Obama a second term!!! I, like many others within my field of work, was somewhat surprised at his choice of Paul Ryan as his running mate. I think in the end it will hurt Romney, not just because Ryan is such a risky candidate; but, mainly because he undermines (and arguably turned his back on) the south.
Let's start at the beginning - a very good place to start (and points to those who get the reference) - Paul Davis Ryan was born on January 27, 1970. He is a member of "Generation X" which I find personally fascinating, yet a little creepy - for the record, he is eight days older than my father. He graduated from Miami University in Ohio. He was in multiple clubs and organization both in high school and college. A funny piece of information is the fact that we was a "frat boy" - being a member of Delta Tau Delta.
After college, he went to work with various politicos in Washington, D.C. Some of them included Sam Brownback (former senator and current Governor of Kansas), Bob Kasten (former Senator of Wisconsin), and Empower America (a conservative think-tank in DC). When he finally did get elected to Congress by the constituents of Wisconsin's First Congressional District, he was twenty-eight years old. After getting elected by only fifty-four percent of the votes cast, Paul Ryan was assigned to the following committees: House Budget Committee (where he would eventually become Chairman of the Committee); the Committee of Ways & Means; and, the subcommittee on Health. Furthermore, he was a part of a number of caucuses in the House of Representatives including the Congressional Middle East Economic Parliament; the International Conservative Caucus; the Representative Stud Committee; and, the Sportsman Committee (where he would become the co-chair).
It seems odd that Mitt Romney would chose a rogue from the Midwest. There is little chance that Romney will even win one - if any - of the Midwest states. He really needs to focus on the south.
Alabama, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Tennessee....what do all of these states have in common? These are the states Mitt Romney failed to win the GOP Primary in both the 2008 & the 2012 election cycles. From 2008 to the present, Mitt Romney did not even win in the states he won in 2008 - like Minnesota, North Dakota, Maine and Colorado. If Mitt Romney wants to have a fighting chance at being President, he should have chosen a running mate though could deliver the South. Now this is not to say that "The South will Rise again" rhetoric is accurate, but i really believe that by adding Paul Ryan to the ticket does nothing for those that cast their support behind John McCain or Mike Huckabee [back in 2008], and Newt Gingrich or Rick Santorum [this election cycle].
In all honestly, Paul Ryan would be the better candidate for President because he relates more to the average American. However, the fact that he is backed by a majority of Tea Party supporters, has no idea how to appeal to female voters and wants to cut funding to everything under the sun, except to the military [and wants government out of the people's lives unless it involves telling a woman what they can and can't do with their body, telling people who they can and can't marry, and telling students to fend for themselves when it comes to their education] makes him the most divisive running mate in the history of the country. To put it another way, Paul Ryan is Palin 2.0 (and yes, this is Romney's GameChanger).
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