Ryan Boosts Romney's Conservative Credentials, But Also Mobilizes Opponents

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney discarded his increasingly inert better-safe-than-sorry campaign strategy Saturday when he named budget hawk and Democratic bête noire Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin as his running mate.

The decision to go with Ryan, 42, the conservative architect of recent GOP budget proposals that would slash federal spending and remake entitlement programs like Medicare (though not cut the deficit for decades) delighted conservatives who had begun loudly and publicly grousing about the trajectory of Romney's campaign, and who had long been suspect of Romney's conservative bona fides. - More