A Strategic Blunder

I like Paul Ryan. I would rather have voted for him with his unquestionable conservative credentials as President than for moderate Mitt Romney, but if I were Romney I would have wanted Marco Rubio as my Vice Presidential nominee. Rubio, who had won statewide office in Florida as US Senator, would have almost certainly secured Florida (which has more electoral votes after all than Ryan's Wisconsin, which Romney lost in any event with the Wisconsin GOP Congressman as his VP nominee) and would have garnered more Hispanic votes for Romney nationally even though a cynic would say that would have been playing to base elements of identity politics. Ryan's presence on the ticket did not ignite popular enthusiasm like Sarah Palin did four years back and did not even carry Ryan's home state. I do not know if any Vice Presidential pick could have turned the tide after "Super Storm Sandy" boosted Obama's perception as a "caring problem solver", but if truth be known, most of the damage done by the storm is still there and Obama's visit to New Jersey was a photo op that turned out to be the most valuable campaign tool in human history.