Mitt Romney named Paul Ryan as his vice presidential running mate
Quick facts on Romney and Ryan
Mitt Romney announced House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan as his vice-presidential running mate at a campaign event in Norfolk, VA.
The announcement was held in front of the U.S.S. Wisconsin — which just happens to be Ryan’s home state.
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August 11, 2012
By JEFF ZELENY and JIM RUTENBERG
New York Times
The selection of Mr. Ryan means that this campaign is the first in 80 years in which no candidate of either major political party has served in the military. Mr. Romney, a Mormon, and Mr. Ryan, a Catholic, also represent a new era in presidential politics: neither are Protestants.
Video: Romney slips up by introducing Ryan as ‘next president’
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Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney (R) and his wife Ann board a bus after arriving by campaign plane on August 10, in Norfolk, Virginia. Romney embarks on a four-day bus tour Saturday in what his campaign called “the lion’s den” — four swing states Barack Obama won in 2008 that Republicans insist remain up for grabs, Virginia, North Carolina, Florida and Ohio. (AFP Photo/Justin Sullivan)
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Is age important for Romney’s VP running mate?
Mitt Romney would tie as the 3rd oldest President should he win election.
Does Romney need a younger VP to help with his age issue?
Paul Ryan age 42
Ages of U.S. Presidents at inauguration
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#
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President | Date of birth | Date of | Age at |
| inauguration | inauguration | |||
| 26 | Theodore Roosevelt | October 27, 1858 | September 14, 1901 | 42 |
| 35 | John F. Kennedy | May 29, 1917 | January 20, 1961 | 43 |
| 42 | William “Bill” Clinton | August 19, 1946 | January 20, 1993 | 46 |
| 18 | Ulysses S. Grant | April 27, 1822 | March 4, 1869 | 46 |
| 44 | Barack Obama | August 4, 1961 | January 20, 2009 | 47 |
| 22 | Grover Cleveland | March 18, 1837 | March 4, 1885 | 47 |
| 14 | Franklin Pierce | November 23, 1804 | March 4, 1853 | 48 |
| 20 | James A. Garfield | November 19, 1831 | March 4, 1881 | 49 |
| 11 | James K. Polk | November 2, 1795 | March 4, 1845 | 49 |
| 13 | Millard Fillmore | January 7, 1800 | July 9, 1850 | 50 |
| 10 | John Tyler | March 29, 1790 | April 4, 1841 | 51 |
| 30 | Calvin Coolidge | July 4, 1872 | August 2, 1923 | 51 |
| 32 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | January 30, 1882 | March 4, 1933 | 51 |
| 27 | William Howard Taft | September 15, 1857 | March 4, 1909 | 51 |
| 21 | Chester A. Arthur | October 5, 1829 | September 19, 1881 | 51 |
| 16 | Abraham Lincoln | February 12, 1809 | March 4, 1861 | 52 |
| 39 | James “Jimmy” Carter | October 1, 1924 | January 20, 1977 | 52 |
| 25 | William McKinley | January 29, 1843 | March 4, 1897 | 54 |
| 8 | Martin Van Buren | December 5, 1782 | March 4, 1837 | 54 |
| 19 | Rutherford B. Hayes | October 4, 1822 | March 4, 1877 | 54 |
| 43 | George W. Bush | July 6, 1946 | January 20, 2001 | 54 |
| 31 | Herbert Hoover | August 10, 1874 | March 4, 1929 | 54 |
| 36 | Lyndon B. Johnson | August 27, 1908 | November 22, 1963 | 55 |
| 29 | Warren G. Harding | November 2, 1865 | March 4, 1921 | 55 |
| 23 | Benjamin Harrison | August 20, 1833 | March 4, 1889 | 55 |
| 24 | Grover Cleveland | March 18, 1837 | March 4, 1893 | 55 |
| 37 | Richard Nixon | January 9, 1913 | January 20, 1969 | 56 |
| 28 | Woodrow Wilson | December 28, 1856 | March 4, 1913 | 56 |
| 17 | Andrew Johnson | December 29, 1808 | April 15, 1865 | 56 |
| 1 | George Washington | February 22, 1732[1] | April 30, 1789 | 57 |
| 6 | John Quincy Adams | July 11, 1767 | March 4, 1825 | 57 |
| 3 | Thomas Jefferson | April 13, 1743 | March 4, 1801 | 57 |
| 4 | James Madison | March 16, 1751 | March 4, 1809 | 57 |
| 5 | James Monroe | April 28, 1758 | March 4, 1817 | 58 |
| 33 | Harry S. Truman | May 8, 1884 | April 12, 1945 | 60 |
| 38 | Gerald Ford | July 14, 1913 | August 9, 1974 | 61 |
| 2 | John Adams | October 30, 1735 | March 4, 1797 | 61 |
| 7 | Andrew Jackson | March 15, 1767 | March 4, 1829 | 61 |
| 34 | Dwight D. Eisenhower | October 14, 1890 | January 20, 1953 | 62 |
| 12 | Zachary Taylor | November 24, 1784 | March 4, 1849 | 64 |
| 41 | George H. W. Bush* | June 12, 1924 | January 20, 1989 | 64 |
| 15 | James Buchanan | April 23, 1791 | March 4, 1857 | 65 |
| 9 | William Henry Harrison | February 9, 1773 | March 4, 1841 | 68 |
| 40 | Ronald Reagan | February 6, 1911 | January 20, 1981 | 69 |
*George Herbert Walker Bush was born June 12, 1924 and was age 56 when he was inaugurated Vice President on January 20, 1981.
Paul Ryan
Ryan has never won a statewide election. He is a member of the United States House of Representatives.
U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) waves with Republican Presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney after he introduced Romney at a campaign stop at Lawrence University March 30, 2012 in Appleton, Wisconsin. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Born January 29, 1970 in Janesville, Wisconsin.
Currently serving his 7th term as a Member of Congress (January 3, 1999 – Present)
Wisconsin’s 1st congressional district
Chairman of the House Budget Committee
Senior member of the House Ways and Means Committee
Education:
Joseph A. Craig High School in Janesville
Miami University in Ohio -1992 degrees in economics and political science
Paul and his wife Janna live in Janesville with their children, daughter Liza and sons Charlie and Sam.
He is a member of Saint John Vianney Catholic Church.
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Paul Ryan’s strengths and weaknesses
By NBC’s Mark Murray and Domenico Montanaro
Strengths:
•As chairman of the House Budget Committee, the 42-year-old Ryan is a young rising star in the GOP, and has become their chief spokesman when it comes to reducing the deficit and debt.
•Romney picking Ryan as his running mate would signal that he’s doubling down on an austerity/deficit-reduction message. Indeed, while the Obama campaign and Democrats could point to visible improvements with the economy over the past three years (a lower unemployment rate, stronger GDP growth), there hasn’t been much progress in reducing the deficit. The deficit was $1.4 trillion in FY ’09; $1.3 trillion in ’10; $1.5 trillion in ’11 (projected); and $1.1 billion in ’12 (projected).
•Ryan hails from a battleground state — Wisconsin — where polls show Romney currently trailing Obama. Obama actually won Ryan’s district in 2008, 51%-47%.
•Comfort level: When Romney campaigned with Ryan in the lead-up to the April 3 Wisconsin primary, the two men demonstrated a rapport that we haven’t seen with other Romney surrogates.
•He would be a person who could please both the conservative intelligentsia and the Tea Party base.
Weaknesses:
•Ryan’s budget plan has become a lightning rod, and it will be a focus of Democratic attacks in the fall. The most controversial component of the plan is that it significantly transforms Medicare, which is regarded as the government’s most popular program.
•In addition to Medicare, Ryan was one of the driving forces to partially privatize Social Security after George W. Bush’s victory in the 2004 presidential election.
•There are also holes in Ryan’s budget-hawk armor: He voted for some of the biggest drivers of the deficit/debt — the Bush tax cuts, the Iraq war, and the Medicare prescription-drug benefit, all of which weren’t paid for. Moreover, Ryan voted against the bipartisan Simpson-Bowles recommendations.
•Has never held statewide office and has no foreign-policy experience. Both could be liabilities.
•As a member of Congress, Ryan currently works in — and is a relatively high-profile member of — one of America’s least popular institutions.
•And while Romney has criticized Obama for not having private-sector experience, the same is largely true of Ryan: As the New Yorker has written, Ryan briefly worked for his family’s business as a “marketing consultant,” but most of his adult life has been spent as a congressman, congressional aide, or speechwriter/analyst at Jack Kemp’s Empower America think tank.
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Video: Mitt Romney with Paul Ryan in Muskego, Wisconsin
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Recent Vice-Presidents’ background before becoming Vice-Presidents
Lyndon B. Johnson (Kennedy) Senate Majority Leader
U.S. Navy World War II
Hubert Humphrey (Johnson) Senator January 3, 1971 – January 13, 1978
No military
Spiro Agnew (Nixon) 55th Governor of Maryland
U.S. Army Korean War
Gerald Ford (Nixon) House Minority Leader only person never to be elected Vice-President or President
U.S. Navy World War II
Nelson Rockefeller (Ford) 49th Governor of New York
No military
Walter Mondale (Carter) United States Senator
U.S. Army
George H. W. Bush (Reagan) 11th Director of Central Intelligence
US Navy World War II
Dan Quayle (Bush) United States Senator
Indiana Army National Guard
Al Gore (Clinton) United States Senator
Army -Vietnam War
Dick Cheney (Bush) United States Secretary of Defense
No military
Joe Biden (Obama) United States Senator
No military
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Mitt Romney announced his running mate Saturday morning at the retired military battleship the USS Wisconsin in Norfolk, Virginia- odd location for 2 non-military men?
Battleship Wisconsin is one of the largest and last battleships ever built by the U.S. Navy and is located now at The Hampton Roads Naval Museum that is owned and operated by the United States Navy
Neither Mitt Romney nor Paul Ryan has served in the United States military
Mitt Romney avoided military service at the height of the fighting after high school by seeking and receiving 4 draft deferments, according to Selective Service records. They included college deferments and a 31-month stretch as a Mormon “minister of religion” in France, a classification for Mormon missionaries that the church at the time feared was being overused. At the same time some young Mormon men elsewhere were denied that same status. The country was cutting troop levels by the time he became eligible for the draft, and his lottery number was not called.- Huffington Post
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U.S. Presidents’ previous experiences before becoming President
| President | Previous position 1 | Previous position 2 | Occupation | |
| 1 | George Washington | out of office | Constitutional Convention | planter, land surveyor |
| 2 | John Adams | Vice-President | foreign service | lawyer |
| 3 | Thomas Jefferson | Vice-President | Secretary of State | planter, lawyer |
| 4 | James Madison | Secretary of State | U.S. Representative | lawyer |
| 5 | James Monroe | Secretary of State | foreign service | lawyer |
| 6 | John Quincy Adams | Secretary of State | foreign service | lawyer |
| 7 | Andrew Jackson | out of office | U.S. Senator | lawyer |
| 8 | Martin Van Buren | Vice-President | State governor | lawyer, political organizer |
| 9 | William Henry Harrison | local government | foreign service | military |
| 10 | John Tyler | Vice-President | State legislator | lawyer |
| 11 | James K. Polk | out of office | State governor | lawyer |
| 12 | Zachary Taylor | military | —- | military |
| 13 | Millard Fillmore | Vice-President | State office | lawyer |
| 14 | Franklin Pierce | out of office | military | lawyer |
| 15 | James Buchanan | Foreign service | out of office | lawyer |
| 16 | Abraham Lincoln | out of office | U.S. Representative | lawyer |
| 17 | Andrew Johnson | Vice-President | military governor | lawyer |
| 18 | Ulysses S. Grant | military | —- | military |
| 19 | Rutherford B. Hayes | State governor | out of office | lawyer |
| 20 | James A. Garfield | U.S. Representative | military | lawyer |
| 21 | Chester A. Arthur | Vice-President | out of office | lawyer |
| 22 | Grover Cleveland | State governor | Local office | lawyer |
| 23 | Benjamin Harrison | out of office | U.S. Senator | lawyer |
| 24 | Grover Cleveland | out of office | President of the U.S. | —- |
| 25 | William McKinley | State governor | U.S. Representative | lawyer |
| 26 | Theodore Roosevelt | Vice-President | State governor | military historian |
| 27 | William Howard Taft | Secretary of War | Territorial governor | lawyer |
| 28 | Woodrow Wilson | State governor | education | academic |
| 29 | Warren G. Harding | U.S. Senator | out of office | business owner |
| 30 | Calvin Coolidge | Vice President | State Governor | lawyer |
| 31 | Herbert Hoover | Secretary of Commerce | out of office | mining engineer |
| 32 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | State governor | out of office | lawyer |
| 33 | Harry S. Truman | Vice President | U.S. Senator | business owner |
| 34 | Dwight D. Eisenhower | military | —- | military |
| 35 | John F. Kennedy | U.S. Senator | U.S. Representative | politician |
| 36 | Lyndon B. Johnson | Vice-President | U.S. Senator | teacher |
| 37 | Richard Nixon | out of office | Vice-President | lawyer |
| 38 | Gerald Ford | Vice-President | U.S. Representative | lawyer |
| 39 | Jimmy Carter | State governor | Georgia State Senator | farmer |
| 40 | Ronald Reagan | Out of office | State governor | actor |
| 41 | George H. W. Bush | Vice-President | Director of Central Intelligence | businessman |
| 42 | Bill Clinton | State governor | State Attorney General | lawyer, teacher |
| 43 | George W. Bush | State governor | —- | businessman |
| 44 | Barack Obama | U.S. Senator | Illnois State Senator | lawyer |
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Video: Barack Obama officially announcing Joe Biden as his Vice-Presidential pick at rally -April 23, 2008
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Dilemma X 
August 11, 2012
Government/Politics