Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s pick of controversial Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan as his running mate is the subject of Tom Schaller’s latest Salon column, “Ryan pick in 5 easy steps.”
The political science professor explores what Romney’s VP selection means for the election and the GOP’s feature, starting with the arguments that Romney is playing it safe with the nomination and “the Romney camp clearly believes that a base-mobilizing strategy, rather than a swing voter-conversion strategy, is its best chance to win the White House.”
Schaller also argues that Ryan’s selection is further evidence the national GOP has become a “House-dominated party” as opposed to a presidential-oriented one. This “congressionalization of the Republican Party” is the topic of his forthcoming book from Yale University Press.
