or actually, ryan reinforces that narrative. he doesn t break it down. so for democrats i think that is a good thing. the other thing i would sway really quickly demographically, if you re trying it figure out how to win elections, chosen rubio, i would have been less pleased. if they had chosen christie, i would have been less pleased. ryan does not help you with a single demographic that the republicans weren t supposed to win before the ryan pick. jon: let s talk about that, chip. you say that his pick has unified the party. it has energized the base. here you ve got the fellow from the other party saying it doesn t help your you win the election. chris is very good and he is trying to make the best out of this but look, places like north carolina where the ticket was yesterday, traditional marriage, fairly important. i expect, that was state that barack obama won last time, my guess mitt romney and paul ryan will win that. they were in virginia. another state that social issues m
he spoke briefly. didn t make much mention of the paul ryan and the vice-presidential pick. mr. romney wasted little time going after president obama suggesting issues like medicare, that will be important in florida, because of paul ryan s budget and fixing social security and dealing with the economy he argues that the president is ignoring it and distorting it with nasty attacks. listen. it is smear. it is dirt. it is distortion. it is deception. it is dishon festy. it diminishes, it diminishes the office of the presidency itself. reporter: well, romney over the course of the last 48 hours campaigning with paul ryan for the first time as the official gop ticket, every single appearance was more ebb bup yent and upbeat and. his rhetoric was tougher. in iowa, where paul ryan is campaigning where president obama will be the next three
player in the world. so i think that congressman ryan will do his homework on these issues. let s not forget he has been in congress for over a decade. certainly he s dealt with these issues. he s had to take some important votes having to do with the wars that we ve been engaged in. i have confidence that he s ready for these debates. jenna: if you could standby for one second, both of you the president is talking about paul ryan right now. i want to take a quick listen for that. sure. in the meantime i ve made sure my administration, led by tom vilsack is doing everything we can to provide relief to those who need it. last week we announced $30 million to help prapb muchers and farmers get more water to livestock and rehabilitate land affected by drought and today we re announcing that the federal government will help livestock producers by purchasing over $150 million worth of meat and fish right now while prices are low, will freeze it for later, but we ve got a lot of
we are told in the next few minutes the president will open a new front in the attacks against paul ryan trying to tie him to the drought here in iowa and the midwest that has devastated farmers. he will say congressman ryan is part of the republicans in the house that are holding up the farm bill that is holding up relief to some of the farmers. it gives you and idea of who the obama camp finds ryan a target, that he is part of a fairly unpopular house republican caucus. they going to jump all over that. jenna: congressman ryan is also in the same state as well and will have time to respond as well. we ll watch this closely. first lady michelle obama is devoting a lot of time to the campaign these days. arriving yesterday out in california and los angeles attending a series of celebrity-packed fundraisers. help plans call for more campaigning wednesday, guess where. in iowa.
pick and you have seen them go out. they have been talking about some of mr. ryan s idea of entitlement reform, about tax reform. they re not hiding from the fact that this is what he has run on in his own life up until now. they seem to be not shying from the fact that democrats are going to hit them on this again and again, particularly on medicare. jenna: in your columns you ve been complimentary of paul ryan and this pick as well. what do you think is paul ryan s biggest vulnerability? well, again, the democrats are going to go after him on these plans that he has put forward. in particular he has a very aggressive budget plan to cut spending but also some very revolutionary ideas to try to reform entitlement programs like medicare to preserve them for future generations. now, what makes ryan so very attractive to the romney campaign, is not only has he put the ideas out there, but he has proven you can win on them. he, actually comes from a very competitive district in wisconsin