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What Does the Ryan Pick Mean? Ctd

Historically, support for presidential candidates is assisted by the selection of a good running mate. That said, it was the Palin pick that disqualified McCain in the eyes of responsible voters. In some cases, the effect can be quite significant:


Nate Silver is doubtful that the addition of Ryan to the ticket will shift the polls in any meaningful sense:
Mr. Romney and Mr. Ryan will get a lot of free exposure in the news media, and Republican voters will be excited by the pick and perhaps become more likely to respond to pollsters. In short, Democrats should probably not worry too much if the polls move slightly toward Mr. Romney over the next week or two. For that matter, Republicans probably should not worry much if the polls fail to move toward Mr. Romney, because of the circumstances of the pick. (What if the polls actually move discernibly against Mr. Romney? Well, that might be a bad sign for him.)
I'm coming round to the opinion that Romney really needs Paul Ryan. Not only as a substantiative tonic to his empty grandiloquence but as someone who can make the GOP candidate something more than an anti-Obama vote. Up until this point (and, part of me still suspects, for the rest of the campaign) the Romney campaign has relied upon the fatal assumption that this election is all about assessing the president's performance: a vote for Romney being a vote against Obama. The policy differences until now have been immaterial, as I've said before. And what Ryan really brings to the Romney package is a Washington background to an executive front. (Isn't it strange that Romney constantly touts his business experience as a 'must-have' attribute for public office, and then elects to choose a Washington wonk for a running mate?) Lizza was right.

(Image: WSJ)