Paul Ryan and Mitt RomneyAfter months of anticipation, Mitt Romney has announced his running mate. His choice:

Congressman Paul Ryan.

Romney made his selection known via a mobile app created just for the announcement. He'll spend the next four days making campaign stops in key battleground states along with his new running mate.

Our political bloggers will be talking about Romney's selection throughout next week- In the meantime, we'd like to know what you think of Mitt Romney's selection.

Tell us in the comments -- and read more about Romney's new VP pick -- after the jump!

42-year-old Paul Ryan is a Wisconsin Republican and House Budget Committee Chairman who's made a name for himself as a rising star in Washington. He's best known for submitting two popular alternative budget plans in 2009 and 2010 to counter Obama's proposed budget. Both plans centered around defecit reduction. Rep. Ryan is also a husband and father of two sons and a daughter.

He's known for his conservativism and his intellect. He also seems to have a tight personal friendship with Mitt Romney. But perhaps the best way to get a sense for Paul Ryan is to read his own words.

In remarks Ryan delivered this morning in Norfolk, VA, he had this to say:

My dad died when I was young. He was a good and decent man. I still remember a couple of things he would say that have really stuck with me.  "Son you are either part of the problem or part of the solution."  
 
Regrettably, President Obama has become part of the problem,...and Mitt Romney is the solution.
 
The other thing my dad would say is that every generation of Americans leaves their children better off. That's the American legacy.
 
Sadly, for the first time in our history, we are on a path which will undo that legacy. That is why we need new leadership to become part of the solution – new leadership to restore prosperity, economic growth, and jobs.
 
It is our duty to save the American Dream for our children, and theirs.
 He followed with these comments:

I represent a part of America that includes inner cities, rural areas, suburbs and factory towns.  Over the years I have seen and heard from a lot from families, from those running small businesses, and from people who are in need.  But what I have heard lately troubles me the most.  There is something different in their voice and in their words. What I hear from them are diminished dreams, lowered expectations, uncertain futures.
 
I hear some people say that this is just "the new normal." High unemployment, declining incomes and crushing debt is not a new normal.  It's the result of misguided policies.  And next January, our economy will begin a comeback with the Romney Plan for a Stronger Middle Class that will lead to more jobs and more take home pay for working Americans.
 
America is on the wrong track; but Mitt Romney and I will take the right steps, in the right time, to get us back on the right track!

Meanwhile, in response to Romney's announcement, Obama campaign advisor Jim Messina had this to say:

Congressman Paul Ryan is best known as the author of a budget so radical The New York Times called it "the most extreme budget plan passed by a House of Congress in modern times." With Mitt Romney's support, Ryan would end Medicare as we know it and slash the investments we need to keep our economy growing -- all while cutting taxes for those at the very top.

Paul Ryan is young and charismatic. He may be just what Mitt Romney needs to make the emotional connection with voters that Romney's supporters have been telling me for months that they worry their candidate lacks.

Ryan also is likely to help Romney add concrete details to his budget plan -- details that until now have been noticeably missing.

 

Here's what our political bloggers have to say about Paul Ryan. (Check back daily for a new opinion.)








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