By H. Darr Beiser, USA TODAYRepublican vice presidential nominee, Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, speaks at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday night in Tampa.
By H. Darr Beiser, USA TODAYRepublican vice presidential nominee, Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, speaks at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday night in Tampa.
"I accept the calling of my generation to give our children the America that was given to us, with opportunity for the young and security for the old," Ryan told the crowd in the Tampa Bay Times Forum before turning his attention to his top-of-the-ticket running mate, Mitt Romney."His whole life has prepared him for this moment — to meet serious challenges in a serious way, without excuses and idle words," Ryan said. "After four years of getting the run-around, America needs a turnaround, and the man for the job is Gov. Mitt Romney."Ryan was far less kind to President Obama, blasting him for failing to revive the economy and pledging to bring down the "Obamacare" health program."We have a plan for a stronger middle class, with the goal of generating 12 million new jobs over the next four years," he said. "In a clean break from the Obama years, and frankly from the years before this president, we will keep federal spending at 20% of GDP, or less. That is enough. The choice is whether to put hard limits on economic growth, or hard limits on the size of government, and we choose to limit government."The speech came one day after former Massachusetts governor Romney was formally nominated to lead the ticket and Ryan, chairman of the House Budget Committee, was approved as his running mate by acclamation."The present administration has made its choices," Ryan said. "And Mitt Romney and I have made ours. Before the math and the momentum overwhelm us all, we are going to solve this nation's economic problems. And I'm going to level with you: We don't have that much time."But if we are serious, and smart, and we lead, we can do this."After the speech, Ryan's family joined him on the stage to rousing cheers. Romney will take the stage for Thursday's finale.Other Day Two headliners included former secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Arizona Sen. John McCain, the party's 2008 nominee, and former Arkansas governor and current conservative media personality Mike Huckabee.McCain pressed the case of Romney as world leader and commander in chief. McCain said that under Obama, the country has "drifted away from our proudest traditions of global leadership" and exacerbated international problems."I trust (Romney) to know that our security and economic interests are inextricably tied to the progress of our values," McCain said. "I trust him to know that if America doesn't lead, our adversaries will, and the world will grow darker, poorer and much more dangerous."Huckabee hammered at Obama for failing to create jobs, saying that "with Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan we will do better.""Mitt Romney turned around companies that were on the skids; turned around a scandal ridden Olympics that was deep in the red into a high point of profitable and patriotic pride; and turned around a very liberal state by erasing a deficit and replacing it with a surplus," Huckabee said.McCain and Huckabee took ample shots at President Obama; Rice made no mention of him. But she had good words for Romney and Ryan."Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan will rebuild us at home and they will help us lead abroad. They will provide an answer to the question, 'Where does America stand?' " she said. "The challenge is real and the times are hard. But America has met and overcome tough challenges before. Whenever you find yourself doubting us — just think of all the times that we have made the impossible seem inevitable in retrospect."But on this night, Ryan was to be the star.Romney campaign political director Rich Beeson told USA TODAY that Ryan's addition to the ticket finally gives Romney a teammate against the "double team" of criticism from President Obama and Vice President Biden. And Ryan strengthens the ticket demographically, Beeson said."You've got a Generation Xer," he said, adding that he believes Obama's advantage among younger voters is fading. "And Wisconsin became a tossup the day (Republican) Gov. Scott Walker won his recall," Beeson said.After 14 years in Congress, Ryan has become the Republican Party's brand name for conservative economic policies: low taxes, reduced spending and entitlement overhaul, all wrapped into a GOP budget plan that bears his name.Ryan, 42, now must sell voters on a different proposition: his own readiness to become president of the United States."Can he step in and do the job? That's really the only thing that matters," said Romney pollster Neil Newhouse.Speeches aside, the now three-day conservative fest has had its struggles. The convention started a day late amid concerns Isaac would hit the city just as the convention was supposed to kick off Monday.The storm dodged Tampa and instead took on the coasts of Louisiana and Mississippi. Mitt Romney tweeted his concern Wednesday morning: "Support the #Isaac relief effort by donating to the Red Cross. Text REDCROSS to 90999 or click here: http://rdcrss.org/PSpvi2." A Red Cross appeal appeared on large video screens in the hall during Wednesday's proceedings.Tuesday brought a mini-revolt from a small but vocal group of Ron Paul supporters. Backers of the Texas congressman and former GOP presidential contender objected loudly to new party rules designed to discourage insurgent presidential candidates from amassing delegates.Paul backers, believing they were being squeezed out, chanted "Object! Object!" RNC Chairman Reince Priebus declined to recognize them, saying at one point, "Guys, we will proceed with the order of business."That wasn't the only problem in the hall: Convention organizers later ejected two people from Tuesday night's session for allegedly throwing nuts at a black CNN camerawoman, and saying, "This is how we feed animals.""Yesterday two attendees exhibited deplorable behavior," said a Republican statement posted by Talking Points Memo.And there have been logistical problems. After the Tuesday sessions, delegates were to board shuttle buses destined for parking lots at a football stadium miles away and, from there, board buses to their hotels. But after Tuesday night's session recessed, thousands of delegates descended on the shuttles at once."It was like a mob," said Sally Beach, an alternate delegate from Florida who said she didn't reach her hotel until after 3 a.m. Convention spokesman Kyle Downey said Wednesday that organizers were "working closely with our transportation management company" to fix the problems.Contributing: Gregory Korte; David Jackson; Paul Flemming, Tallahassee (Fla.) Democrat; Jackie Kucinich; Krystal Modigell; Associated Press
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By Jack Gruber, USA TODAY
By Carolyn Kaster, APRyan, who chairs the House Budget Committee, holds up a copy of President Obama's proposed fiscal year 2013 budget on Feb. 16.In 1988, Quayle — a year younger than Ryan is now — said his 12 years in Congress meant he had "as much experience in the Congress as Jack Kennedy did when he sought the presidency." That led Democratic nominee Lloyd Bentsen to famously blistering retort in a debate, "Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy."The lesson, Goldstein said, is that the length of experience isn't as important as how voters judge the quality. And when Ryan debates Biden on Oct. 11, he will, like Quayle, be facing an adversary decades older, who occupied senior leadership positions in government while his younger opponent was still in school.Ryan's backers say tenure isn't everything."Twenty-five years of experience can be 25 years of making the same mistakes over again," said former Education secretary William Bennett, a mentor of Ryan's at the conservative group Empower America."Readiness is all," he said, quoting Hamlet. "And I think he's ready.""The Budget Committee is pretty big time," Bennett said. "He knows what a full day is. He's agile and smart and prepared. Whether you're a Republican or a Democrat or for him or against him, you know that he has serious ideas and he means business."Democrats have picked at pieces of Ryan's record, noting his lack of significant foreign-policy experience and his failure to push a legislative agenda through a mostly divided Congress, but the thrust of their attacks has been more that Ryan is a conservative extremist than a lightweight.A background document on Ryan circulated by the Obama campaign contains six items attacking his foreign-policy pedigree — and 26 on abortion and women's rights. It's Ryan's positions on federal spending, taxes and fiscal policy that have made him the Republican gold standard. Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., is probably the Democrat who knows Ryan best — so much so that he's been tapped to play Ryan during Biden's preparations for the vice presidential debate.As the ranking Democrat on Ryan's Budget Committee, he and Ryan have enjoyed an unusually collegial relationship. He said Ryan is easy to like but difficult to work with. "There's a big difference between collegiality and a willingness to compromise on policy issues."Attacks on Ryan started within minutes of him being named to the ticket and have helped to polarize public opinion on him. Heading into the convention, Ryan was the most controversial running mate in a generation: 38% of Americans view him favorably, but 36% have an unfavorable view, according to a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll. That's the highest unfavorable rating at the convention of any non-incumbent vice presidential candidate in the 20-year history of the poll. Ryan doesn't have the typical vice presidential résumé. Indeed, parties have rarely looked to the House to fill out a ticket. The last sitting House member nominated as vice president was Ferraro, a three-term New York Democrat picked by Walter Mondale in 1984 as the first woman to run on a major national ticket. The last Republican was Rep. William Miller, R-N.Y., Barry Goldwater's running mate in 1964. Both lost. Yet Ryan's rise is proof of how influential House Republicans have become to the GOP, said Guy Harrison, the chief strategist for the House Republicans' campaign operation."We have a House candidate as our vice president. I think that shows you a pretty good idea of how House Republicans are going to be involved in the presidential race," he said. "We take a lot of pride in Paul Ryan."Is the jump from the House to a national ticket too high a hurdle? Ryan has never run for statewide office, and each House member represents only about 0.2% of the nation's population.Senators tend to get much of the attention on Sunday talk shows, especially on foreign policy, but Ryan is a veteran of the TV circuit, getting more Sunday morning face time this year than any member of Congress but Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., according to a database of appearances maintained by the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call.The foreign policy questionObama and Biden both earned their foreign-policy stripes by serving on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, a résumé gap with the GOP ticket that Democrats hope to exploit."Whether it's the Cold War or the age of terror, to not have someone with national security credentials is unusual," Goldstein said. In addressing his foreign-policy experience, Ryan has noted his votes in favor of wars in Afghanistan and Iraq — "that's a vote you take very seriously, very solemnly," he said in New Hampshire last week — and his work on the budget, which proposes maintaining robust defense spending.While addressing the Alexander Hamilton Society, a neoconservative group, last year, Ryan tied the nation's fiscal underpinnings to foreign policy and national defense: "Our fiscal policy and our foreign policy are on a collision course; and if we fail to put our budget on a sustainable path, then we are choosing decline as a world power." Ryan also has noted his congressional travel has focused on the Middle East, including trips to Afghanistan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus shrugs off questions about whether Ryan is ready, telling USA TODAY that Ryan has been preparing for this moment his entire career."He tries to win the mission every day. He works hard, he waits on God's timing and generally good things happen," he said. "I've seen Paul on big stages. There is no doubt that Paul will hit it out of the park."
By Charles Dharapak, AP
By Johnny Hanson, AP
By Danese Kenon, APJean Johannigman sings "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the beginning of the FreedomWorks rally for GOP Senate candidate Richard Mourdock on May 5 in Indianapolis.After Dewhurst failed to win more than 50% of the vote in the May primary, conservative activists were emboldened for the runoff election, knowing that such races traditionally have lower turnout and tend to favor the candidate whose supporters are most engaged. "We have an election cycle under our belts, and we're more attuned to how the game is played," Walker said.Cruz's youth — he's 41 — and biography — he's the son of a Cuban-American father who was imprisoned in Cuba before fleeing to Texas — have drawn comparisons to Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., a Tea Party-favored candidate in 2010."I think Ted Cruz is a superstar for the conservative movement," said Torin Archbold, 48, a car salesman from Austin.Republicans control the House of Representatives, but Democrats control the Senate 53-47, which has led activists to focus on Senate primaries as part of a two-part effort to get GOP control of the chamber and populate it with more conservative Republicans. The results have been mixed.In Indiana, Richard Mourdock handily defeated incumbent Sen. Richard Lugar by running to his right, but Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, waged a successful re-election campaign against a Tea Party-supported opponent. Senate GOP establishment candidates Heather Wilson of New Mexico and George Allen of Virginia likewise won primaries despite challenges from the right. In Nebraska, Tea Party allies were divided in the primary, opening up a surprise victory for Deb Fischer, who was not as closely identified with the Tea Party but secured an endorsement from Palin in the closing days of the race.FreedomWorks for America, a political organizing group associated with the Tea Party, has endorsed in upcoming primaries businessman John Brunner, who is in a three-way GOP primary to take on Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.; Rep. Jeff Flake in Arizona; and businessman Eric Hovde who is running against establishment favorite, former governor Tommy Thompson in Wisconsin.The endorsements underscore how the Tea Party movement remains loosely organized and often contradictory. For instance, although FreedomWorks has endorsed Brunner, Tea Party Express, another activist group, has endorsed Brunner's primary opponent, Sarah Steelman. In Arizona, Flake is facing wealthy businessman Wil Cardon, who is self-funded and challenging Flake's Tea Party credentials."It's a principled movement, but there's a lot of differences," Walker said. "Some work well with their Republican Party, others want nothing to do with their Republican Party. Some Tea Parties are all wrapped up in Ron Paul; some focus on things like constitutional teachings … but they are all much more engaged in the political process."DeMint, a lawmaker popular among Tea Party supporters, said he views the phrase "Tea Party" in more symbolic terms. "The Tea Party is kind of a visual representation of a lot of citizen activism."If Cruz wins Tuesday, he is all but guaranteed to win in November in Republican-leaning Texas. Mourdock is favored to win, as is Fischer, who is running for a Democratic-held seat and would provide a Republican pickup. The eventual Republican nominees in Missouri and Wisconsin will also likely be in competitive races for Democratic-held seats.For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com. 
Saul Loeb/A.F.P. – Getty Images; Frederic J. Brown/ A.F.P – Getty Images; Logan Mock-Bunting for The New York TimesCondoleezza Rice, Susana Martinez and Nikki Haley are among the speakers scheduled for the Republican National Convention.