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In selecting Paul Ryan as his running mate, Mitt Romney signals his determination to conduct a campaign of ideas.In part, this decision almost surely stems from recent polls suggesting Romney couldn’t win a campaign of personalities.

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Why did Mitt Romney choose Paul Ryan? Movies. In action movies, the climactic scene often goes something like this: The bad guys have captured the hero. He’s bound and gagged thousands of miles from civilization as the final minutes tick away until the detonation of the super-thermo-subatomic death ray that will kill both him and half of humanity.

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With the choice of Paul Ryan as Romney's running mate, the 2012 presidential election will be the first in U.S. history with a Roman Catholic on both sides of the ballot. The contrast between the Catholicism of Vice President Joe Biden and Congressman Ryan perfectly represents the ongoing debate about the Catholic vote going back to the Reagan years.

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Mitt Romney knew Paul Ryan was his VP pick Aug. 1—but keeping that decision a secret took some careful planning. Beth Myers, who led the presumptive Republican nominee’s search, broke the silence around the pick Saturday, saying that the campaign had to arrange a covert rendezvous between the two men in Brookline, Mass.

Mitt Romney’s new attack dog isn’t wasting any time. Hours after being added to the GOP ticket, Ryan called Obama out for his “record of failure.” Ryan added that under Obama’s watch the nation is experiencing “the worst economic recovery in 70 years” and promised that a Romney-Ryan White House “won’t duck the tough issues.

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OK, Mitt. This is your moment. You’re down in the polls, you’re being called a wimp, and your campaign needs a boost. You’ve scampered down some steep battleship steps without tripping, you’ve managed to muster up a bit of excitement on a Saturday in the middle of the Olympics, and the country is hanging on your every word.

From Paul Rudd to Matthew Morrison, here’s a rundown of some of the VP candidate’s most convincing doppelgängers.

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At last, and at least, with the selection of Paul Ryan, this election will now be about something.A failure to act. A terrible, stunning legacy for any leader. But far worse when it is the president of the United States. And that’s the point driven home by Mitt Romney’s selection of the young Paul Ryan as his running mate.

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Just four hours after announcing Rep. Paul Ryan as the GOP vice-presidential candidate, the Romney campaign had raised $1.2 million. Now, that number has almost doubled, according to Romney press secretary Andrea Saul, who tweeted this afternoon “Just passed $2 million raised since ‪@MittRomney announced ‪@PaulRyanVP.

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Mitt Romney’s selection of Paul Ryan clearly enthused President Obama’s reelection advisers by essentially offering a de facto campaign theme: two heads for numbers without much heart for people.One campaign consigliere concurred with my Twitter-sized initial take: that the specifics of Ryan’s budget plans would make the normal Jack and Jill nervous even as his “big ideas” excite more cerebral conservatives, ranging from The Wall Street Journal editorial page to my friend William Kristol, the pundit and Ryan fan.

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“The Legendary Paul Ryan” Republicans “envision an administration in which Romney has relegated himself to a kind of head-of-state role, at least domestically, with Ryan as the actual head of government.” President Obama wants to attack Ryan’s highly controversial budget plan, but faces backlash from the right and the bipartisan center whenever he attempts to do so.

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During a campaign stop in Ashland, Va., Mitt Romney said, “This is a critical time for America,” explaining that President Obama has “added almost as much debt as all the presidents combined.” Romney claimed he and Paul Ryan are not running for partisan reasons, saying, “We step forward out of love for America.

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Budget If you were already familiar with Mitt Romney's new running mate before today's announcement (and last week's New Yorker profile) it's likely because of his controversial budget plan. As chairman of the House Budget Committee, Representative Paul Ryan put forth a dramatic proposal this year to cut the U.

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1. He Sleeps in His Office An unabashed nerd and constant worker, Paul Ryan is known to often catch 40 winks on a cot in his House of Representatives office. Of course, that’s not Ryan’s only residence. When he’s at home in Janesville, Wisc.

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Reader Tom Doran (twitter handle: @portraitinflesh) offers a sixth hypothesis explaining why Mitt Romney selected Paul Ryan to be his vice president, to supplement the five proposed below: The more I think about it, the more the "pick Ryan because he's the best person to sell the Ryan plan" logic makes sense to me as Romney's rationale.