In the past couple of weeks Mittens has tried his best to give the election to Obummer. Not fighting back from the lies of Obama. Not attacking the ward politician. Playing Mr. Niceguy. If he does not pick Rubio to help him with conservatives and to almost guarantee a Florida win, he’s given up. Don’t win Florida, you don’t win the White House. It’s as simple as that. Paul Ryan does not win Florida for him or Virginia. If it’s Paul Ryan the Obummer machine will rack him over the coals on his budget plan and every five minutes you’ll be seeing the Ryan-lookalike pushing grandma over the cliff. Anyway, that’s how I see it.
You want Romney to be tougher, but you fear the dems will show Ryan pushing grandma over the cliff. So then he should pick a less tough vp?
Romney has been fighting back, he’s no mister nice guy. In the words of conservative hero Dan Rather: Courage.
While Rubio would be a great conservative choice and may guarantee Florida, the media would portray the choice as pandering. Portman would also be a good choice providing substantial policy credentials and tip Ohio. Romney’s team is meticulous, while they may have wanted to milk the VP announcement until after the Olympics they also want to stop any slip their internal polling may be showing from Obama’s negative ads from what was a probably safe lead. Ryan will be seen as a fairly brave choice - principled as it goes to the ultimate issues regarding the economy and budget, not some particular voting bloc or state. Romney would only make this choice if he also knows it is a safe choice - he can afford to forego the particular bloc/state.
Pretty darn good analysis.