NORFOLK, Va.
(AP) -- Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney introduced Rep.
Paul Ryan of Wisconsin as his vice presidential running mate on
Saturday, turning to the architect of a deeply conservative and
intensely controversial long-term budget plan to remake Medicare and cut
trillions in federal spending.
In the
campaign to come, Republicans will present economic solutions "that are
bold, specific and achievable," Romney said as he presented his
political partner to cheering supporters. "We offer our commitment to
create 12 million new jobs and bring better take home pay to middle
class families."
The two men basked in the
cheers of supporters in the ticket's made-for-television debut. "I did
not make a mistake with this guy," Romney exulted.
"I
am deeply excited and honored to join you as your running mate," Ryan
said in his first words at the podium." He said that together, "we will
restore the greatness of this country."
"Regrettably,
President Obama has become part of the problem, and Mitt Romney is the
solution" to an economy that has yet to make a strong recovery from the
worst recession in decades, he said.
The
ticket made its debut at a naval museum in Norfolk, Va., the initial
stop of a bus tour through four battleground states in as many days. The
USS Wisconsin, berthed at the museum, was their bunting-draped
backdrop.
While word of Ryan's selection
leaked late Friday night, and was posted by the campaign to its phone
app before the speeches, Obama's campaign withheld its reaction until
the Republicans had spoken.
"The architect of
the radical Republican House budget, Ryan, like Romney, proposed an
additional $250,000 tax cut for millionaires, and deep cuts in education
from Head Start to college aid," Jim Messina, the president's campaign
manager, said in a written statement.
"His
plan would also end Medicare as we know it by turning it into a voucher
system, shifting thousands of dollars in health care costs to seniors,"
he said.
Ryan's selection - as well as
Romney's own nomination - will be ratified by delegates to the
Republican National Convention that begins on Aug. 27 in Tampa, Fla.
Obama and Vice President Joseph Biden will be nominated for a second term at the Democratic convention the following week.
One
campaign official said Romney had settled on Ryan as his pick on Aug.
1, more than a week ago, and informed Beth Myers, the longtime aide who
had shepherded the secretive process that led to the selection. The
official spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details.
It was not known when Romney informed Ryan he wanted him on the ticket.
In
making his pick, Romney bypassed other potential running mates,
including Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, former
Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell.
Officials said he had called all four to notify them of his decision.
At 42, Ryan is a generation younger than the 65-year-old Romney.
His
conservative credentials are highly regarded by fellow Republican House
members, while numerous polls found that Romney's own were suspect
among the party's core supporters during the primaries of winter and
spring.
A seven-term congressman, Ryan is
chairman of the House Budget Committee, and primary author of
conservative tax and spending blueprints that the tea party-infused
Republican majority approved over vociferous Democratic opposition in
2011 and again in 2012.
It envisions
transforming Medicare into a program in which future seniors would
receive government checks that they could use to purchase health
insurance. Under the current program, the government directly pays
doctors, hospitals and other health care providers.
Ryan
and other supporters say the change is needed to prevent the program
from financial calamity. Critics argue it would impose ever-increasing
costs on seniors.
Other elements of the budget
plan would cut projected spending for Medicaid, which provides health
care for the poor, as well as food stamps, student loans and other
social programs that Obama and Democrats have pledged to defend.
In all, it projected spending cuts of $5.3 trillion over a decade, and cut future projected deficits substantially.
It also envisions a far reaching overhaul of the tax code of the sort Romney has promised.
Romney
and Ryan appeared unusually comfortable with each other when they
campaigned together earlier in the year. The former governor eagerly
shared the microphone with the younger man and they shared hamburgers at
a fast food restaurant.
In making an
endorsement before his state's primary last spring, Ryan said, "I picked
who I think is going to be the next president of the United States - I
picked Mitt Romney. ... The moment is here. The country can be saved. It
is not too late to get America back on the right track. ... It is not
too late to save the American idea."
Romney
was the subject of an April Fools prank in which Ryan played a role.
Romney showed up at a supposed campaign event where he heard Ryan
calling him "the next president of the United States" - only to find the
room nearly empty.
In recent days,
conservative pundits have been urging Romney to choose Ryan in large
part because of his authorship of a House-backed budget plan that seeks
to curb overall spending on benefit programs such as Medicare, Medicaid
and food stamps.
Republican National Committee
finance chairman Ron Weiser of Michigan, said Friday night that Ryan's
selection would help Romney win Wisconsin and its 10 electoral votes in
the fall. The state typically supports Democrats in presidential
contests, and Obama won it handily four years ago.
Ryan
has worked in Washington for much of his adult life, a contrast to
Romney, who frequently emphasizes his experience in business.
The
congressman worked as an aide in Congress, and also was a speechwriter
for Jack Kemp, who years earlier had been one of the driving forces
behind across-the-board tax cuts that were at the heart of Ronald
Reagan's winning presidential campaign in 1980.
Ryan is also well-known for his fiendish physical fitness workouts.
His
congressional district in southeast Wisconsin has something of a
bipartisan voting record. Obama took 54 percent of the vote there in
2008, while the congressman received 64 percent in winning re-election.
Outside
Ryan's home in Janesville, Wis., on Friday night, there was nothing to
suggest that the residence belonged to a vice presidential candidate. An
Associated Press reporter who knocked just before midnight got no
answer. There was a light on in a first-floor room of the two-story
brick home atop a hill.
Earlier this week, a
Ryan adviser said the congressman, his wife and their three children
were preparing for a weeklong Colorado vacation.
Most
of Romney's staff learned of the planned announcement during a 10 p.m.
EDT conference call Friday about an hour before the campaign issued a
statement. The identity of Romney's pick was not disclosed during the
call. The campaign had promised that first news of the selection would
be delivered via a phone app.
Earlier in the
day, Romney's campaign briefed reporters on the bus tour without mention
of the impending vice presidential announcement.
The
tour will take Romney through North Carolina, Virginia, Florida and
Ohio. All are battlegrounds where Obama won in 2008. They hold 75
electoral votes combined, of the 270 needed to win the election.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
AP FILE - House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis. introduces Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney before Romney spoke at the Grain Exchange in Milwaukee, in this April 3, 2012 file photo.
