Why Romney chose Ryan

This is only my own speculation, but here's why I think Romney chose Paul Ryan as his running mate.

1.  Ryan will fire up the ultra-conservative base like no one else.   The only others who could create such excitement among the extreme right wing would lose the moderates and independents (Bachmann, Santorum, etc).

2.  Romney either has to embrace and defend the Ryan budget, which has already been passed by the Republican controlled House, or he has to fight Ryan and the deficit and small-government hawks he represents.  So he might as well put Ryan himself in the spotlight to defend the budget himself.  He'll do it more effectively than Romney could.

3.  The hope is that this will take the heat off Romney's personal wealth management and put it on the policy itself.

4.  Ryan is attractive, young, and fresh.  He will create a whole media frenzy that will take the focus off Romney, and that is what they need right now. why is this the same choice that the Obama campaign would have made?

BUT:  Why is the same choice the one the Obama campaign was hoping for?

1.  It shifts the focus from a referendum on Obama's performance to the policy differences between the two parties.

2.  Even Romney cannot now disavow ownership of the Ryan budget -- and it can easily be fought as taking from the poor to give to the rich.   And besides that, the CBO says it will increase the deficit.

3.  The Romney-Ryan ticket cannot by any stretch pretend to have the slightest credentials on foreign policy or commander-in-chief readiness.    True, neither did Obama.  But then he picked Joe Biden as his VP, and that is Biden's strong suit.

So . . . Game on !!!

Ralph