Vice presidential candidacy of Paul Ryan

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Paul D. Ryan

Speaker of the House

Congressman Paul Ryan was chosen by the Mitt Romney 2012 campaign as the Vice-Presidential Nominee of the United States Republican Party.

On August 11, 2012, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney announced that he had selected Ryan to be his vice-presidential running mate. Ryan was also running for re-election to his seat in the House of Representatives in November 2012. Ryan was officially nominated at the Republican convention in Tampa on August 29, 2012.

Congressmen as Vice Presidential candidates

In the United States, most Presidential and Vice-Presidential nominees are governors or senators. It is somewhat rare for members of the House of Representatives to be nominated—the last time a sitting House member had been nominated by a major party as VP was 28 years earlier, when Geraldine Ferraro was nominated in 1984. The last time a sitting House member won the Vice-Presidency was 80 years prior to the Ryan pick: In 1932, House Speaker John Nance Garner was elected to the Vice-Presidency under President Franklin Roosevelt.[1]

Selection

Dan Balz of The Washington Post wrote that Ryan was promoted as a candidate for Vice President "by major elements of the conservative opinion makers, including The Wall Street Journal editorial page, the Weekly Standard and the editor of National Review."[2]


Rollout

Mitt Romney with Paul Ryan after introducing him as his running mate, for the 2012 presidential election, in Norfolk, Virginia on August 11, 2012

On August 11, 2012 the Romney campaign officially announced Ryan as its choice for Vice President through its "Mitt's VP" mobile app[3] as well as by the social networking service Twitter,[4] about 90 minutes before Romney's in-person introduction. Before the official announcement in Norfolk, it was reported that Romney had decided to choose Ryan on August 1, 2012,[5] the day after returning from his foreign trip through the United Kingdom, Poland and Israel. On August 11, 2012, Ryan formally accepted Romney's invitation to join his campaign as his running mate, in front of the USS Wisconsin in Norfolk, Virginia.[6] Ryan is the major parties' first-ever vice-presidential candidate from Wisconsin.[7]

According to a statistical-historical analysis conducted by Nate Silver, "Ryan is the most conservative Republican member of Congress to be picked for the vice-presidential slot since at least 1900" and "is also more conservative than any Democratic nominee [for vice president who previously served in the Congress] was liberal, meaning that he is the furthest from the center" of any vice presidential candidate chosen from Congress since the turn of the 20th century.[8] This analysis, using the DW-NOMINATE statistical system,[8] has been described as "one of the more statistically rigorous approaches to Ryan's congressional voting record."[9] Political scientist Eric Schickler commented that while Ryan "may well be the most conservative vice presidential nominee in decades," the NOMINATE methodology "is not suited to making claims about the relative liberalism or conservatism of politicians" over a long time span.[9] A USA Today/Gallup poll found that 39% thought Ryan was an "excellent" or "pretty good" vice presidential choice, compared to 42% who felt he was a "fair" or "poor" choice.[10]

Convention

Ryan formally accepted his nomination at the 2012 Republican National Convention on August 29, 2012.[11] In his acceptance speech, he promoted Mitt Romney as the presidential candidate,[12] supported repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA),[12] said that he and Romney have a plan to generate 12 million new jobs over the next four years,[12] and promoted founding principles as a solution: "We will not duck the tough issues – we will lead. We will not spend four years blaming others – we will take responsibility. We will not try to replace our founding principles, we will reapply our founding principles."[12] The speech was well received by the convention audience and praised for being well-delivered.[13][14] However, media fact-checkers at the New York Times,[15] the Associated Press,[16] and Factcheck.org[17] accused Ryan of "a litany of falsehoods"; Jennifer Rubin of The Washington Post,[18] the Investor's Business Daily,[19] and Fox News[20] disputed some of the claims by the fact-checkers.

Vice-presidential debate

On October 11, Ryan debated his Democratic counterpart, incumbent Vice-President Joe Biden, in the only Vice-Presidential debate of the 2012 election cycle.

The debate was satirized by the subsequent Saturday Night Live, which feature an appearance by Olympic runner Usain Bolt.[21]

References

  1. ↑
  2. ↑ Dan Balz, Romney shakes the race with pick of Ryan (August 11, 2012), Washington Post.
  3. ↑ Schultheis, Emily (August 14, 2012). "Mitt Romney's VP app needs new purpose". Politico. Retrieved August 28, 2012.
  4. ↑ "Mitt Romney officially announces Paul Ryan as his choice of Vice President on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
  5. ↑ Hunt, Kasie (August 11, 2012). "Mitt Romney Announces Paul Ryan As Vice Presidential Running Mate". Huffington Post. Associated Press. Retrieved 2012-08-11.
  6. ↑ Zeleny, Jeff; Rutenberg, Jim (August 11, 2012). "Mitt Romney Names Paul Ryan as Running Mate". The New York Times. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
  7. ↑ Ryan joins host of Wisconsin politicians in U.S. limelight (August 11, 2012), Wisconsin State-Journal.
  8. 1 2 Nate Silver, A Risky Rationale Behind Romney's Choice of Ryan (August 11, 2012). The New York Times.
  9. 1 2 Charles Mahtesian, How conservative is Paul Ryan? (August 13, 2012)
  10. ↑ Catalina Camia, USAT/Gallup Poll: Paul Ryan gets low marks for VP, USA Today, August 13, 2012, accessed August 13, 2012.
  11. ↑ Bacon, John (August 29, 2012). "Ryan accepts Republican nod for VP". USA Today. Retrieved August 30, 2012.
  12. 1 2 3 4 "Paul Ryan's Republican National Convention Speech -- Excerpts" National Journal, August 29, 2012. Retrieved September 1, 2012.
  13. ↑ Karen Tumulty, Paul Ryan promises GOP ‘won’t duck the tough issues’ (30 August 2012). The Washington Post.
  14. ↑ US Elections, Paul Ryan Republican speech 'contained errors' (30 August 2012). BBC.
  15. ↑ Ryan's Speech Contained a Litany of Falsehoods
  16. ↑ FACT CHECK: Convention speakers stray from reality
  17. ↑ "Paul Ryan’s acceptance speech at the Republican convention contained several false claims and misleading statements."
  18. ↑ Rubin, Jenifer, Ryan freaks out Obamaland, Washington Post, August 30, 2012.
  19. ↑ Investor's Business Daily, The Media's 'Fact Check' Smokescreen, August 30, 2012.
  20. ↑ Rosen, James, Fact Check: Paul Ryan's convention address, Fox News, August 30, 2012.
  21. ↑
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