NORFOLK, Virginia (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's selection of Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan as his vice presidential running mate could dramatically shift the race for the White House into a debate between two sharply contrasting views of government spending and debt and its role in the daily lives of Americans.
In choosing Ryan - a budget hawk whose provocative plan to reduce government spending has won him fans in the conservative Tea Party movement and made him a target for Democrats - the typically cautious Romney on Saturday took the biggest gamble of his year-long candidacy.
Romney also essentially acknowledged that the core argument for his campaign - that Democratic President Barack Obama's stewardship of the economy has failed - may not be enough to push Romney to victory in the November 6 election.So he has embarked on a high-risk, high-reward strategy of aligning himself with Ryan, whose budget plan would cut taxes and restructure Medicare, the popular government-backed health insurance program, and other safety-net social programs to try to inspire investment and rein in runaway government spending.
Democrats say Ryan's plan would amount to draconian cuts in programs that help protect the nation's most vulnerable people.
Democrats - whose platform focuses on middle-class tax cuts, higher taxes for the wealthy and a healthcare overhaul that requires most Americans to buy insurance - already are blasting Romney for picking Ryan, and vowing to cast Romney as an enemy of programs that benefit the poor and elderly.
The potency of such an argument by Democrats - particularly in crucial states such as Florida, which has a large elderly population - was clear on Saturday.
Shortly after he announced Ryan as his running mate before a cheering, flag-waving crowd in front of the battleship USS Wisconsin, Romney's campaign emphasized to reporters that picking Ryan did not mean that Romney supported his entire budget plan.
Romney, the campaign said, would be issuing his own fiscal plan later.
Romney needed a burst of energy for his campaign after falling behind Obama in recent polls.
He chose Ryan, the chairman of the House of Representatives Budget Committee, after ruling out more conventional candidates - such as Ohio Senator Rob Portman and former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty - whose impact on the race likely would have been more benign.
Welcomed onstage by Romney on Saturday, Ryan said the United States is in a "dangerous" moment of trillion-dollar budget deficits and rising national debt.
"We're running out of time and we can't afford four more years of this," said Ryan, 42, who has been in Congress for 13 years. "Politicians from both parties have made empty promises which will soon become broken promises with painful consequences if we fail to act now."
And Ryan, in what could be taken as an acknowledgement that the Republican campaign is willing to engage in a risky debate over spending on popular programs, said: "President Obama and too many like him in Washington have refused to make difficult decisions, because they are more worried about their next election than they are about the next generation.
"We won't duck the tough issues," Ryan said. "We will lead. We won't blame others; we will take responsibility."
Ryan, a Catholic who is a fitness aficionado and avid deer hunter, has many fans in the anti-tax, limited-government Tea Party movement, although some activists have not forgiven him for voting for a $700 billion Wall Street bailout in 2008.
He drew his biggest reaction when he said that "our rights come from nature and God, not from government."
His selection drew fire from Democrats, who said they relished the opportunity to showcase Ryan's proposed reductions for Medicare and other social programs.
"Mitt Romney has chosen a leader of the House Republicans who shares his commitment to the flawed theory that new budget-busting tax cuts for the wealthy, while placing greater burdens on the middle class and seniors, will somehow deliver a stronger economy," said Obama campaign manager Jim Messina.
