Republican, 2012 Presidential Election | featured news

Democrats are eagerly renewing their fight against privatizing Social Security now that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has picked Paul Ryan as his running mate. It was a fight that didn't go well for the GOP when President George W. Bush pushed the idea in 2005.

Before the presidential campaign hurtles off to the next skirmish, take a moment to notice what happened this week: Mitt Romney vowed to increase the national debt by $716 billion, and no one so much as blinked.

As a congressman in a comfortably safe Wisconsin district, Rep. Paul Ryan voted for some expensive initiatives while building a reputation as a serious conservative. But now that he is Mitt Romney's running mate, some of his ideological inconsistencies are now coming under the microscope.

A Pennsylvania judge upheld the state’s strict voter ID law today, rejecting civil rights group’s claims that the law will disenfranchise thousands of voters... Republican House Majority Leader Mike Turzai made waves in June when he said at the Republican State Committee meeting that the voter ID law “is going to allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania.”

Paul Ryan has been one of the harshest critics of President Barack Obama's 2009 economic stimulus package. But that hasn't stopped the Wisconsin congressman from trying to help companies in his home state tap into the funds....

itt Romney’s selection of Paul Ryan as his running mate underscores the central question posed by this campaign: Should cold selfishness become the template for our society, or do we still believe in community? Romney wanted the election to be seen as a referendum on the success or failure of President Obama’s economic policies. Instead, he has revealed that the campaign is really a choice between two starkly different philosophies. One could be summed up as: “We’re all in this together.” The other: “I’ve got mine.”

Janna Ryan is getting her moment in the political sun. The wife of Rep. Paul Ryan, the GOP's vice presidential contender, already has a fan website (jannaryan.com). She's profiled in The Washington Post. And Yahoo! has written about Ryan's fashion sense, zeroing in on what she wore when Mitt Romney introduced her husband to the world.

Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey is giving the keynote address at the Republicans’ national convention later this month. Christie, who considered a 2012 presidential bid of his own before endorsing former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, is already at work on his speech to the convention in Tampa, Fla. His record of cutting his state's budget, curtailing public sector unions and dealing with a Democratic Legislature with disarming and combative confidence all were expected to be on display as he looked to fire up his party's base.

Mitt Romney is holding a campaign event at a Miami restaurant owned by a convicted cocaine trafficker. Romney appeared at El Palacio de los Jugos, which is owned by Reinaldo Bermudez. Court records show that Bermudez pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute cocaine in 1999 and served three years in federal prison.

If there were any questions about whether Paul Ryan would spark strong reactions as Republican Mitt Romney’s newly-picked running mate, they were answered today amid the Jumbo Corn Dog stands and funnel cake carts of the Iowa State Fair.