Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan | featured news

Romney represents the GOP's old guard as younger Republicans such as Marco Rubio and Rand Paul are in spotlight at conservative event... The event known as CPAC often shines the spotlight on the up-and-comers of the Republican Party and is a critical proving ground for presidential hopefuls. More than a dozen potential 2016 presidential candidates — including Sens. Marco Rubio and Rand Paul, Rep. Paul Ryan and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal — are all on this year's program and represent a new generation of Republican leaders.

While vice-presidential debates typically don't have much bearing on the presidential contest, tomorrow night's Joe Biden-vs.-Paul Ryan showdown has put pressure on both sides. Team Obama NEEDS a strong performance from Biden to make up for last week and change the subject; another bad outing by a member of the ticket and the Democratic handwringing could turn into a full-fledged panic. Meanwhile, Team Romney needs a solid outing from Ryan to keep up the momentum. As we wrote last week, consider tomorrow night Game 2 of a baseball playoff series. After ace Romney beat ace Obama in Game 1, Democrats are looking for their No. 2 starter, Biden, to even the score. And Republicans are looking to go 2-0. That's what at stake Thursday, and that's why there's more pressure on Biden than on Ryan.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vice President Joe Biden and Republican rival Paul Ryan sought votes in political battleground states on Saturday while their running mates took a day off the campaign trail ahead of a potentially make-or-break debate next week.

Trailing in the must-win state of Ohio, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney asked his running mate Paul Ryan to meet him here this week. After 24 days apart, Romney and Ryan reunited on an airport tarmac on Tuesday amid grumbling from some Republicans that the campaign has grown complacent, leaving Ryan, its strongest advocate, off the national stage.

Conservatives had hoped that Mitt Romney’s choice of House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (Wis.) as his running mate would make Romney act more like Ryan — bold, specific, confident.

This dispute is typical of election-year spin. Romney and Ryan want it both ways: credit for cutting spending without detailing what programs would suffer. That allows Obama to fill in the blanks and scare voters by warning that their favorite federally funded program will be decimated.

When Mitt Romney was searching for a ticket mate, Republicans pleaded: Don't pick another Sarah Palin. So it may come as a surprise that, in at least one important way, he ended up doing precisely that with Paul D. Ryan. Like Palin four years ago, the Wisconsin congressman has captured the heart of the Republican convention. The thunderous response to his speech Wednesday night was the latest indication.

"We've had the old Romney-Ryan plan before - the top-down, give wealthier folks more tax breaks and somehow that's going to trickle down - it didn't work, it led to this economic disaster that the president inherited. We tried that, it failed, the Obama plan is much better for North Carolina," Dem. Rep. Jennifer Weiss, of Wake County, said.

Paul Ryan has dutifully set aside some key positions to support Mitt Romney's. It's something most vice presidential candidates have to do, but still opens him up to attacks as a flip-flopper.

Tropical Storm Isaac's outreach is expected to be felt in Florida by late Sunday night -- just as Mitt Romney , Paul Ryan and the GOP faithful are gathering in Tampa for the Republican National Convention.