Mitt Romney’s selection of budget hawk Paul Ryan will send a clear message to the conservative wing of the GOP that he is “serious” about beating President Obama and hasn’t forgotten them, pollster Matt Towery tells Newsmax.
“This is going to be a bold choice and I think it will help Romney," said the head of InsiderAdvantage. "He needed to send a message to the conservatives in the GOP that he was serious about all of this.”
Towery said Ryan was one of several possible choices who would have been capable of igniting the conservative base, including Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.
“He needed to do that. You can’t win unless you’ve got fervor and excitement behind you,” he explained. “I think it’s a good choice overall, a very good choice overall, and I think it’s going to help narrow the polling right now for the short term.”
Towery, who served as former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s first debate coach, said he believes that the presidential race may hinge on the debates. “He’ll get a bounce out of his convention and then Obama will get a bounce out of his,” said Towery, who is also a Newsmax contributor. “The three debates in my judgment will basically decide this along with whatever October surprise we get from the economy or whatever.”
While some experts have expressed concern that Paul Ryan’s hardline approach to fixing Medicare may be a turn-off to senior citizens, he doesn’t necessarily believe it will hurt the GOP ticket.
“The vast majority of senior voters are voting for Romney anyway so I wouldn’t think that’s going to be a big deal,” Towery asserted. “If you listen to what Romney said, Romney said we’re going to make sure we preserve Medicare . . . He’ll be the presidential nominee and this guy will be the vice presidential nominee. You can bet he’s going to meld right in on preserving and restoring Medicare.”
Saturday’s announcement came as Romney had been struggling to regain momentum in the polls against President Obama.
“Just as Romney was really rising in the polls, and he was, you had the shooting in Colorado which is very tragic. That took a lot of attention away from Romney. He was beginning to fight back and then he went back into, in my judgment, sort of a lull,” Towery explained.
“This brings him back out again. I hope they’ll build on this. I would think that they would build on this to shift attention in their direction.”
The early announcement may also serve to refocus the presidential campaign on more substantive issues than Romney’s tax returns.
“Really they need to get this thing centerpieced back on the economy and the budget, and take it off all these other things that the Obama administration has managed to use to try to bring Romney off course,” according to Towery, who said that he doesn’t know if Ryan is capable of delivering his home state of Wisconsin to the GOP.
“The one drawback is I don’t think he brings Wisconsin to the table as they tend to think. It may happen but let’s face it, generally speaking to bring a state to the table you’ve got to be a statewide elected official,” Towery observed. “I don’t think it’s a great geographical choice but I think it’s a great overall choice. Ryan is known as the man who wrote the conservative budget that now has become sort of the hallmark for Republicans.”
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