Romney taps U.S. congressman Paul Ryan as presidential running mate

August 12, 2012

Yesterday, in front of the in Norfolk, Virginia, presumptive Republican presidential nominee, former Massachusetts  Mitt Romney selected Congressman  of Wisconsin as his. After an introduction from Virginia, who himself had been considered a potential running mate, Romney officially made the announcement. He referred to Ryan as "an intellectual leader of the Republican Party" and initially labeled Ryan as the "next president of the United States" before correcting himself after Ryan reached the podium.

Ryan, 42, has represented since 1999 and serves as chairman of the. Last year, he authored the budget proposal, , which promotes reductions in federal spending of $6.2 trillion from the Obama plan through a repeal of the, a reformation of , and capping of federal.

During his acceptance speech, Ryan said that his "record of getting things done in Congress will be a very helpful complement to Governor Romney's executive and private sector success outside of Washington." He added that the campaign "won't duck the tough issues—we will lead" and went after the record of President Barack Obama, arguing that his policies "didn't make things better."

On the announcement, senior Obama staffers explained that Ryan's selection "makes clear that Romney would be a rubber stamp for the congressional GOP" and that the choice provides the Obama campaign with "clear advantages".

According to , Romney made the decision on August 1 after returning from his international trip. Four days later, Ryan was secretly flown to, Massachusetts to meet Romney at the home of Beth Myers, who was running the vice presidential search. Ryan was supposed to be announced on Friday in New Hampshire, but he had to return to Wisconsin to attend a memorial for victims of the.

Thereafter, the campaign decided to make the announcement in Virginia, and so Ryan was once again secretly flown, this time to, North Carolina near Norfolk, where he met with Romney and prepared his acceptance speech.

NBC News first announced the decision, and the Romney campaign announced the news to supporters through a phone application at seven a.m., a couple of hours before the official announcement.