By John Reitmeyer, The Record (Hackensack N.J.) –
TRENTON, N.J. — Gov. Chris Christie didn’t make it onto Mitt Romney’s ticket, but New Jersey Republicans like the budget-minded Wisconsin congressman who did.
Yet Romney’s selection of U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan as a running mate may help President Barack Obama pick up more votes in New Jersey, analysts say, and give Democrats new ways to attack the GOP.
Romney introduced Ryan as his vice presidential running mate on Saturday, ending late speculation that the former Massachusetts governor was considering the outspoken Christie.
The decision to go with Ryan, first elected to Congress in 1999, means Christie will likely serve as the keynote speaker later this month at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla.
For Christie, being picked to deliver the keynote address at the convention would be no small consolation prize. The slot has traditionally been used by political parties to boost high-profile, rising stars.
In 2004, then-Illinois state Sen. Barack Obama delivered the keynote address in Boston during Democrat John Kerry’s convention.
Christie, after spending most of the week fundraising for Romney and other Republicans in the West, did not have a public schedule on Saturday. The Romney campaign issued a brief statement from the governor.
“With Paul Ryan on the ticket this is a team that understands the economic stagnation our country has been facing the last four years and the urgency with which we need to change course,” Christie said. “The Romney-Ryan team is uniquely positioned to make the tough choices necessary to confront our fiscal challenges and get results.”
Ryan is best known for his federal budget plan that calls for tax cuts and federal spending reductions, but also seeks changes to federal entitlement programs that Democrats have labeled as potentially disastrous for seniors and the poor.
Reaction in New Jersey saw Republicans portraying Ryan as a leader not afraid to stick his neck out while attempting to fix a problem, but Democrats casting him as a likely advocate for the wealthy in the same manner they have tried to paint Romney.
U.S. Rep. Scott Garrett, R-N.J., is vice chairman of the House Budget Committee, which Ryan heads.
“I’ve seen firsthand how Chairman Ryan has brought Republicans and Democrats together by articulating common-sense solutions,” said Garrett, who could gain seniority, and possibly that committee chairmanship, if the Romney-Ryan ticket prevails. “I look forward to helping my friend, Paul Ryan, continue his strong record of leadership once he is elected vice president of the United States.”
New Jersey Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean Jr. said he’s known Ryan for years, and praised the congressman as a no-nonsense problem solver.
“He’s a great pick,” Kean said. “Ryan is about finding solutions. He rallies people around that solution.”
Ryan’s experience working on budget and fiscal issues also shows Romney is serious about fixing the economy and addressing issues such as the debt and deficit, Kean said.
“He understands how to generate economic growth,” he said.
But New Jersey’s Democratic U.S. Sens. Bob Menendez and Frank Lautenberg said Ryan’s record on federal fiscal issues is a negative.
“The choice of Paul Ryan is an outright attack on middle-class Americans,” Lautenberg said. “While Mitt Romney wants to raise taxes on the middle class in order to give tax breaks to the wealthy, Paul Ryan has sought for years to end Medicare as we know it.”
“Four years of a Romney-Ryan administration would be disastrous for New Jersey’s middle class, who have shouldered too much of the tax burden,” Menendez said.
The Obama campaign went on the attack, focusing on Ryan’s time in office during the tenure of President George W. Bush, when the current economic problems were just beginning.
“As a member of Congress, Ryan rubber-stamped the reckless Bush economic policies that exploded our deficit and crashed our economy,” the campaign said in a statement. “Now the Romney-Ryan ticket would take us back by repeating the same, catastrophic mistakes.”
But Republican state Sen. Joe Kyrillos, who is challenging Menendez in this fall’s election, credited Romney for picking Ryan at a time when national unemployment is high.
“We need thoughtful leaders who want to solve our problems and strengthen our economy like Congressman Ryan, not politicians like Bob Menendez who make our problems worse,” Kyrillos said.
In a recent Monmouth University/Asbury Park Press Poll, Obama held a commanding 51 percent to 38 percent lead among registered voters in New Jersey, and a 50 percent to 42 percent edge among likely voters.
A Christie selection would not have swayed New Jersey voters en masse to side with Romney, said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth poll, but Ryan should help make Wisconsin, which went with Obama in 2008, a little closer.
In New Jersey, Ryan’s addition to the ticket could end up helping Obama, Murray said.
The Republican base was already solidly behind Romney, but Ryan’s addition to the race could turn out voters who may be lukewarm on Obama but feel the need to protect programs such as Medicare and Social Security by voting against the GOP ticket, Murray said.
“That was the risk that Romney took with this pick,” he said. “I think the impact in New Jersey could make the likely voter margin even bigger.”