Get Rich Or Try Ryan

I could say that Mitt Romney's decision to pick Paul Ryan won't take care of the GOP presidential nominee's most glaring problem. I could point to the many, many things that about Paul Ryan that would turn off moderate and independent voters, most notably his admiration for Ayn Rand (who had questionable judgement of "heroes" herself).  Of course, there's always the budget Ryan is pushing, which is -as some on the left have noted- does not seem to produce the advertised result...unless the result is "no more Medicare."

I could give my version on all that, but as you can see, sharper minds than me have done so. So why re-invent those wheels when I can touch on other aspects, like:

1. Romney Didn't Use The VP Pick For Traditional Reasons: Usually, the VP pick is supposed to cover some deficiency (real or imagined) that the presidential candidate has. In Romney's sense, it practically screamed for someone with a personality that could also pacify the conservative base (at least long enough for Romney to make a reasonable appeal to moderate and independent voters). Instead, Romney picked a guy who's political claim to fame is essentially a scorched earth budget proposal. This hints that Romney is, as early reactions stated, basically "doubling down" on his economic message. Problem with that is...
2. Romney Has Added More Light To His Tax (Release) Evasion Problem: The developing "VP-candiates-gave-up-more-tax-returns-then-the-guy-running-for-president" story isn't going away anytime soon. But what makes it interesting now is not going to be the dodging and misdirection, but whether Romney or Ryan takes the lead in addressing the problem. Which leads to the question...
3. Is Paul Ryan Ready To Lead The Country If Something Happens To a President Romney?: This was a question that led many to not vote for John McCain. Ryan isn't -as far as regular media coverage is concerned- as obsessed with social issue as Sarah Palin, but like I said, that probably won't endear him (or Romney for that matter) to the GOP base. Ryan's going to have to both impress the moderates/independents and please the conservative base with his domestic and foreign policy credentials; that's a hard task to manage with less than four months to go. So...
4. Mitt Romney Still Needs To Address The Moderate & Independent Voters: So far, everything has been either "tear President Obama down" or "cater to the Tea Party crowd." Romney has not done anything that's equivalent to "liberals and Ron Paul agree on ending the war." Despite his claims that he's found middle ground with Democrats when he was Governor of Massachusetts (aka, Romneycare), what has he proposed that his campaign can say, "Look, he's reached out to Democrats with his [insert initiative/legislation here]. He's a unifier?" Obama spent almost two years pissing off liberals trying to find common ground with Republicans in Congress who wanted to see him gone; by now even skeptical voters realize that the President tried to play ball. Can Romney make the same claim?