Veep contenders in the spotlight this week
Washington (CNN) - Vice presidential candidates may be chosen for different reasons, but they all have one main job: show up where the main guy can't.
By that count alone, two potential running mates for Mitt Romney will get some real world experience this week in two key states.
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While his home state of Wisconsin is the center of the political world Tuesday, Rep. Paul Ryan will be a thousand miles away helping out the Romney campaign. The House Budget Committee Chairman will be at a roundtable put on by Team Romney in Raleigh, North Carolina at Big Ed's City Market.
Meanwhile, Romney will head to Texas, where he has a small business event and a fundraiser Tuesday.
Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio stays closer to home for his turn helping out the campaign this weekend. He will be the star attraction at the Columbus opening of a Romney for President campaign office Saturday.
Ryan and Portman's events are part of the Romney campaign, but other possible vice presidential contenders will have a high profile stage of their own this week.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, and former Romney presidential opponents Rick Santorum and Michele Bachmann all speak Friday at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Chicago.
What about the guy who has that #2 job already? Well, Vice President Joe Biden attends a Democratic Senate Campaign Committee fundraiser in suburban Washington Tuesday. On Wednesday, he makes an "official" White House trip to North Carolina, selling the president's jobs and middle class economic plan in Winston-Salem.
It may be an official trip, but it's no coincidence that it will mark his second trip in two weeks to the state that hosts the Democratic National Convention, as Republicans try to recapture the presidential vote there.
Biden speaks on the administration's behalf while the president heads to California fundraisers.
Different roles, same job description.
- CNN’s Gregory Wallace contributed to this report.
Also see:
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I don't think it matters because none of them really would help Romney win.
Oh yeah.. Paul Ryan is a great choice. The guy who wants to trash Social Security and Medicare will be a big hit with voters.
Romney should pick Ryan as his VP. It will force the voters to confront the GOP agenda, which is to cut government spending at the expense of people. In Wisconsin, Gov. Walker took away collective bargaining rights of unions so that he could unilaterally cut spending on them. This is how Walker balanced the state budget. The GOP has no problem with dictatorship if they are the ones in charge.
The GOP would love to do this on the national scale. The problem is that after defense spending, the biggest government programs are Social Security and Medicare. Social Security costs 800 billion a year, and Medicare costs 500 billion a year. In comparison, Obama's health care program costs 1 trillion over 10 years, or an average of 100 billion a year, according to the CBO's newest estimate. Unilaterally taking away seniors' benefits would kill the GOP. That is why they plan to do it by stealth. They would "reform" Medicare by changing it to a voucher system. The government would pay a fixed voucher amount, which would not be enough to cover rising health care costs.
It should be noted that Obama's health care program, like Social Security, has a revenue component, so the health care program actually reduces the deficit, according to the CBO.
If you just study R-Money's lineup and all you can say is – Ewwww!!!
Obama 2012 – The Only Trusted Way Forward!!
It will be difficult for Mittens to choose between Ted Nugent, Donald T-Rump or Eddie Muster for Veep. What a clown show.