Obama campaign dubs Romney-Ryan 'America's Go Back Team'...Presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney on Saturday morning announced US Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) as his running mate during an event in Norfolk, Virginia, a crucial swing state. Speaking with a backdrop of the USS Wisconsin, the duo introduced themselves to the nation at 9:00 AM ET as "America's Comeback Team." (Above: Romney, left, with Ryan)
"Glad to have you on board," Romney said to Ryan as he joined him onstage.
Ryan, 42, is a rising GOP star and the party's point man on fiscal and budget issues, chairing the House Budget Committee. The seven-term congressman grew up in Janesville, Wisconsin and is married to Janna Ryan; they have three children. Ryan is an "avid outdoorsman," according to the Romney campaign, an archery enthusiast and sport fisherman. He is also a practicing catholic, just like Vice President Joe Biden.
President Obama's campaign had an e-mail in supporters' in-boxes by 11:24 AM ET from Campaign Manager Jim Messina, deriding Romney's choice and asking for a donation.
"This election is about values, and today Romney doubled down on his commitment to take our country back to the failed policies of the past," Messina wrote. "Our job is to make sure Americans know the truth about what Romney's choice says about him as a candidate and leader, and to stand with President Obama and Vice President Biden at another major moment in this campaign."
"More to come," Messina promised.
The President had traveled to Chicago and met with staff at his campaign headquarters by the time "more" arrived in his supporters' in-boxes. At 6:20 PM, senior campaign advisor David Axelrod sent an e-mail that included a "Get to know Paul Ryan" video, and a link to the new "Go Back Team" site on BarackObama.com.
"'Go Back Team' would be more appropriate--because a Romney-Ryan administration is the definition of a fast track back to the failed, top-down economic policies of the past," Axelrod wrote.
The e-mail included a dismantling of Ryan's proposal for a federal budget.
"In Ryan, Romney has selected a running mate best known for designing the extreme GOP budget that would end Medicare as we know it, and--just like Romney's plan--actually raise taxes on middle-class Americans to pay for an additional $250,000 tax break for millionaires and billionaires," Axelrod wrote.
"As a leader of the House Republicans and a Tea Party favorite, Congressman Ryan has led the relentless, intensely ideological battle for these kinds of budget-busting policies that punish seniors and the middle class."
The Obama team also took to Twitter on Saturday, sending out anti-Romney-Ryan messages on the @BarackObama account, which included tweeting a Team vs. Team photo, among other graphic creations. "Now that we know who's on each team, RT to say you're with Obama-Biden," read the tweet, with the photo compilation, above.The Obama team also sent out "Fact" tweets on @BarackObama, such as "FACT: Paul Ryan would ban all abortions, even in cases of rape or incest" and "FACT: Paul Ryan voted against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which helps women fight for equal pay for equal work" and "FACT: Paul Ryan would end Medicare as we know it by turning it into a voucher program, costing seniors up to $6,350 a year."
The Obama video about Ryan:
*Photo from Mitt Romney campaign
