Well folks...it's official.
The selection of Paul Ryan as this proves beyond a doubt the Bain campaign and tax return attacks unequivocally worked.
Romney is saying "long term deficits matter more than the current economy". I just chose the person best to assist me in articulating that vision.
That means they no longer believe they can win by running a campaign exclusively on Romney's business record and hammering on the economy.
In other words, Ed Rendell and Cory Booker should never, ever, ever, give political advice again.
The President's team has eliminated Romney's ability to talk about his business record during the fall. That was always the purpose of the attacks. Too bad the media and Democratic establishment couldn't figure this out. But Chicago understood. Eliminate your opponent's number one strength as soon as possible.
So Mitt Romney threw in the towel...and decided to go all in.
So it is now clear, Mitt Romney has given up on Plan A, but that in an of itself is scary...
This is now not about Romney as much as it is about the Overton window.
Medicare is now officially on the table. And let's remember, Democrats including the President stood up and said they would be willing to change medicare, but we never heard how they would do it. Let's also remember Ron Wyden's name is attached to the current Ryan budget and Medicare changes, so it has the appearance of bipartisan.
You can guarantee Democrats will be forced by journalists to say how they plan on implementing "shared" sacrifice. Will they stand up for one of the Democrats most effective pieces of legislation ever? Or will they triangulate?
So now the liberal base has to be very careful to not let the overton window move just because Republicans have decided that Romney is but a pawn in a bigger movement.
In addition, it looks like the Romney campaign is making a play for Wisconsin. I bet President Obama and Dems wish they played heavier initially during the union debate and Scott Walker recall. But they decided labor wasn't worth it.
So what does this all mean?
I think the politics to win now have become slightly easier for Democrats, if they stay the course. This clearly was a desperation move. They literally did this on top of the closing weekend of the Olympics? Monday would have been huge but the did a Friday news dump? Hiding Ryan's first speech at 9am on a Saturday morning? What are they hiding?
It shows Romney decided the base was more critical than indies...so he went all in. I think Romney's "we have been nice speech" clearly was a call to arms. This is about to get nasty. Trust me.
Lastly, don't forget, this is about Romney, not Ryan.
Romney wants to cut Medicare. Romney wants to raise taxes on the middle class. Romney wants to key programs. Don't fall into the trap of thinking Ryan matters that much.
Let the campaign begin.