Quick hit before I get on the road: the choice of Ryan, flying in the face of any pivot-to-the-general strategy (and asinine because it centers on deeply unpopular policies & puts taxes and "entitlements" front & center) and providing invaluable "Thurston Howell / Eddie Munster 2012!" optics, reveals the degree to which Romney is owned by Koch Brothers .1 Per Centers. He's doing this not because it will win but because he was instructed--just as Sherman Adelson instructed him to say insane things about Palestine--by his corporate masters.
From where I'm sitting that is the best explanation--and Chicago will be able grind into their faces that this is bald-faced strapping-on-the-knee-pads by Boston in order to service the Oligarchs.