many times, do you get a sense from inside the campaign this was all calculated. this was all well planned for this friday night rollout and into an august weekend or does this feel rather abrupt? >> the timing is not traditional to do this on a weekend, to do it on a friday night breaking saturday morning news cycle is not the traditional way of doing it. but the romney campaign doesn't take a lot of unnecessary risks and don't like to get their hands forced. the campaign held a briefing yesterday in boston laying out the importance of the four swing states we're about to visit. we have virginia today, north carolina, ohio and florida. mitt romney cannot afford to lose any one of those states. any time they were going to have a vice presidential rollout, you were going to see the ticket together in those four states. while the actual rollout, sort of the timing of it last night into this morning seemed a bit

odd. now that it seems this is the way the campaign has chosen to go, a more traditional rollout appears to be taking place in terms of where we'll go and audiences we'll see these two men campaigning together for first time. >> it is blan keting virginia as we have the announcement and then traveling to manass that i is. >> what might have gone into the choice behind paul ryan? >> governor romney, sort of tipped his hand a little bit in interviews he gave to chuck todd in new york city where he said the thing he wanted most out of his vice presidential candidate, someone who would be bold and defender on the big issues. the campaign doubled down again on the brief yesterday, they want to talk about the issues. what paul ryan does, the ryan budget has been the singular piece of republican policy that's been both most controversial and most emblem

attic of the sort of resurge ent right in the last few years. by selecting paul ryan, romney can try to focus once again the campaign on fiscal, economic issues than if they were talking about social issues or personalities at the top of the ticket. >> garrett haake, thank you very much. let's go for analysis now. i'm joined by managing editor of the grio.com and msnbc contributor and republican strategist susan dell purse yo. >> susan, this is team we're talking about. we met in the makeup room and you walked in and do you want to share what you said? >> i was surprised. i was taken back. it does show that the romney campaign is concerned about

getting out its base and concerned also about having people of substance. if paul ryan is nothing but a rock star of substance when it comes to this. will there be concerns rolling him out potentially as far as the controversy around him? yes, that's why i think they are doing it this weekend. once they move past that, i think you'll hear this is a campaign about two very different point of views and that's where the campaign was moving in the last two or three weeks and this does line it up that way. >> david, give me the feed back from there. paul ryan, shocking effect here or do you think in the last couple of days you were seeing momentum build behind him behind the scenes? >> what's interesting about this pick, it's one of those picks that not only excites the republican base which can get behind an intellectual type there -- over the last few hours, democrats and obama folks

are saying, we're excited about this because they want to run against paul ryan as well. the president really tried to tie him to paul ryan and the conservative elements and the president has gone to florida several times and talked about medicare and issues that paul ryan stands for. i think you're going to see a doubling down of that among democrats and the president. >> there was a democrat, high profile democrat this morning as saying, wow, christmas came early. >> do you feel that way or do you think this is a game changer? >> it's interesting, i was one who thought paul ryan was the right choice for him to make -- >> this coming from a democrat. >> right choice meaning this is good beneficial or you want to go after him? >> both. i think it's good for him. romney has had a problem convincing conservative base that he's one of them. he's still trying to do that in august. the convention is less than a month away and he's still

fighting over whether his spokesman likes romney care. he needed somebody to convince the base that movement conservatives will own the president. they want him to be the hand that signs -- that holds the pen that signs the ryan budget. they aren't letting him lead. picking ryan allows him to sort of common strademonstrate to th are in charge. on the democratic side, it forces him to own that ryan budget which he does anyway, but now we fight about the idealogical differences on the issue of entitlements and medicare and whether it should exist. ryan represents that libertarian wing of the party that wants to emerge. >> how are we going to get through? how is this country going to get by? is that does involve entitlements and not about just the entitlements itself, it's about a vision. do we need to tighten our belts?

yes, absolutely. how are we going to do it? it's not just about tax increases. i agree with joy, there's a difference of opinion how it needs to get done. it may lead to a substantial debate of the issues instead of the some of the nonsense. >> all three of you are in this for the long haul. sit tight, i'm going to bring in alex moe who is outside ryan's home. with a dark early good morning to you. doesn't look like a lot of activity there? do we know if mr. ryan is home and planning to travel to norfolk? >> we haven't seen movement in the house from just before midnight local time. we do believe the congressman and his family still in the house. i've been here all day yesterday and haven't seen the congressman at all since yesterday afternoon when he got home from the

memorial service from the victims of the oak creek shooting that happened in his district. the congressman was supposed to go on vacation leaving for colorado for a week with his family but obviously that seems like that will be canceled as we do expect him to head to virginia to be with governor romney for the event this morning. >> it's always interesting something like this. if he is indeed home, you have to wonder if they are sitting in a dark room listening to you talk about where he may or may not be. alex, you've been following his movements. what this they been like the last week or so? >> reporter: well, congressman ryan has been here in wisconsin all week. he did a couple of close fundraisers for local candidates. did a police night out over in oak creek after the shooting there. all of this kind of happened right when the buzz about ryan started. we asked him on tuesday, what did you think all of this, your name rising to the top for the vp contender?

he's always kept it short, he's not going to comment. asked about his name rising, that he thinks it's just because the convention is coming up and that's why the speculation is increasing and blew off the fact that his name was beating out rob portman and tim pawlenty, the other two we thought would be a chance for the number two spot. he was very relaxed and enjoyed a lot of time with his family. like i said, traveled to a couple of different places here in wisconsin for local candidates. he really did play it off. if he did know for a couple of days, we had no idea in wisconsin that he was going to be picked as the vice presidential candidate. >> is there any chance given the geography of where you are the ryan family may have slipped out the back door in the cover of at a darkness and could already be in norfolk? >> i guess it is possible. anything is possible these days. but the ryan household does have a fence around the backyard. we've been walking around making sure we don't see them in the darkness. we did see the lights on until

just before midnight local then they went out. we could see the tv on and now it's not. we expect him to be in the household with his family. he's a big family man. he loves coming home and seeing his kids and wife on the weekends. we do expect that we should see him, we hope, anyway at some point in the near future so he can make it to norfolk. >> a father of three. must be a congenial guy because he spends his time in washington living with his in-laws, sister-in-law in bethesda. that says something about his personality right there. we'll check in with you when things get stirring there in the household. we'll have more on the announcement this morning. and susan, you are a republican consultant. i'll ask whether this was an ill-advised choice, would you have recommended this? hold that thought and we'll get it when we get back. hese are th♪ [ male announcer ] 6 years old. then 7.

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less than three hours from now we'll have our eyes trained on the "uss wisconsin" where we expect representative paul ryan to be named as mitt romney's vice presidential nominee. let's bring you more analysis. i'm joined by contributor and manager for the grio.com, joe-an reed and susan del percio, who i put on the hot seat. is there an element of this choice that is ill-advised? >> you don't know because a campaign is like a marriage. you never know what's going on unless you're on the inside. that being said, they probably have a lot of polling

information and things that need to say they need to shore up the base because the independent vote is so slim they have to guarantee their base is out really strong, that it can really make the difference in the election. that's probably what that i have seen. if that's the case, then this absolutely was a good strong choice. just from the political landscape, it was a surprising choice because there are some negatives at least initially that go along with which choice. like joy is very happy to bring up when she speaks next. you do have that happening, but it's always hard to say unless you're on the inside and on the inner circle to say what's it the wrong choice? i think that this is a very consistently thoughtful campaign that wouldn't just randomly do something like this. >> so the things that will come up that are the negatives of paul ryan, are they the kind of things that will be vetted in these last couple of weeks of

august into summer, get all of those things out, get through the muck, if you will, by the time everyone arrives in tampa, two plus weeks from now, it's over and done with. is it possible he's of that caliber? >> i think not. i think you're headed to florida, the place where medicare is a third rail issue. if you remember, after the ryan budget passed, no less a conservative tea party favorite is allen west was getting shouted down in his own town halls for the medicare change, voucher program. that's very unpopular in florida or in pennsylvania that have the older populations. now they are going to have to defend the ryan budget. every aspect of it and also ryan represents this idealogical movement who really do believe in things like privatizing social security. people forget, he was the guy that pushed for that when george w. bush first won the second

term when he rolled out this idea, that was paul ryan's big push. now they are going to have to defend these idealogical sort of feints of the hard right. this is about the republican party's future. we wondered will they go back to being the moderate party, they are going full steam ahead to the far right. the economic conservatives are winning. >> david, there in washington, do you have a sense of how paul ryan is perceived among his colleagues on the hill? >> absolutely, both on the hill and the white house, there's a lot of respect for paul ryan, a serious intel lecture legislator and policy sen trik. now we already have a return of focus on the budget on serious topics and i think that's what the romney campaign wanted. you come off a foreign trip where romney had problems with some of the things he said

there. they really want to get back on message. this is a quick way to do that. for the democrats and white house now, you'll have to return to the playing field where yes, the president wants to go on the attack on medicare and he's going to and already has. now you'll have to fend the president's budget and the president's priorities which include a lot of spending and continued investments, not only entitlements but infratrustruct and education. i think we're really in the stretch run now. >> david, you say he's a gentleman who is well respected there in washington, even within the hall of the white house. 42-year-old rising star in the gop party. that said, look at the "washington post" op-ed. paul ryan is high risk for one basic reason, most of the picks who have done badly during the campaign or in office or have looked bad after the fact have one thing in common, very little high level campaign experience. from what you know covering paul

ryan and his personality, the way he conducts himself, do you think he's a high risk out on a national campaign trail like this? >> i don't think there's any evidence that he stuck his foot in his mouth or had problems that way. certainly when you come from the house of representatives when you're focused and known for policy proposals, you don't have a lot of national campaign experience, really none in that level. no one is really ready for that. i think he's young and they are placing a lot of faith on his ability to quickly get up to speed on the political side at the same time where he has probably led the way on policy. so it's going to be a cauldron and intense spotlight on him. everyone will be excited how he does on the national stage, not only today but at the republican convention at the end of the month. the president has some fundraisers tomorrow. i think he's going to start making attacks on the romney/ryan ticket.

you'll see sharper rhetoric even from the president starting tomorrow. >> we're going to take a short break but we're not veering away from the topic. we'll have more of mitt romney's expected announcement this morning. we'll hear from david gregory and chuck todd. the first railw, the first trade route to the west, the greatest empires. then, some said, we lost our edge. well today, there's a new new york state. one that's working to attract businesses and create jobs. a place where innovation meets determination... and businesses lead the world. the new new york works for business. find out how it can work for yours at thenewny.com.

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♪ something to me ♪ that nobody else could do welcome back. the breaking news this morning, we expect mitt romney to announce paul ryan as his vice presidential running mate, just about two and a half hours. here's some sound from both of them recently and see if you detect similarities. >> what do you want your running mate to say about you? what do you want why are selection to say about what kind of president you're going to be? >> i don't think i have anything for you on the vp running mate other than i certainly expect to have a person who has strength of character, vision for the country, that adds something to the political discourse about the direction of the country.

i mean, i happen to believe this is a defining election for america. that we're going to be voting for what kind of america we're going to have. >> we have enormously high stakes election. we have a new health care law that we don't win this election, it will get put in place and do great damage to head care and our health care system. we have a dead crisis coming and a president who has punted and not led on the issue. >> any comment on vp? >> no. >> had to ask. >> joy ann reid and susan delperccio. the question before the break, what does this say about the topic choice that mitt romney wants to put forward going to november? >> it's all the economy. social conservatives will have to wait. this is not going to be a debate about issues. it says romney wants to go back to what he originally wanted to

do, go against barack obama on the economy. >> what happens to the social far right versus the social moderates within the gop? >> i think joy-ann is right. it goes for the economy. romney has been talking about things he really didn't want to for the last couple of weeks and it brings the economy square and center. and it's going to be a referendum on the president. that's what this choice does, this is the vision i have, do you think you're better off today than you were three years ago or do you think it's time for something new? >> it's a bigger picture. not just about the economy and how people's personal finances are doing. paul ryan brings with him big idealogical ideas from the right as far as social security and medicare. big picture ideas about austerity, whether we want to do it the way europe has done it which is not good for the economy. paul ryan does come with baggage in the sense it will force

romney to suspend the notion we should not have the social net the way we're ugsed to. >> people are voting on where they are today and how it affects thex. >> and on medicare. a lot of voters, particularly in florida and pennsylvania -- >> that's a direct effect on their pocketbook. >> if you're saying you want to make fundamental changes, privatization, think what that would have done had that passed in 2005 and we had that crash in 2007. those are pocketbook issues. >> ladies, sit tight, hang on. we have david gregory up next and chuck todd. both joining me with reaction and analysis to the expected paul ryan pick. what do the latest polls show about people's attitudes towards paul ryan? p with the spark cash card from capital one,

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witt." sourcing telling nbc news that mitt romney will announce paul ryan as his running mate at 9:00 a.m. eastern time today. a seven-term member of congress, paul ryan is the chairman of the house budget committee and senior member of the ways and means committee. joining me now, nbc's david gregory, host of "meet the press." first your gut check. >> a bold pick for sure and risky pick. bold, an attempt by mitt romney to choose someone who he's clearly comfortable with and use to make a very strong statement in the campaign that he wants conservatives in the party concerned about the budget who are fiscally conservative. who can help him draw a bright line between his platte platform and that of president obama. and the risky part, this is a

young, sometimes brash republican legislator who can excite the conservative base, but who is also going to gal vannize democrats as well because of views on the budget and medicare. i proposed in his on budget, changing the way medicare operates. the program for seniors by offering a voucher program. highly controversial and it's going to put medicare as a chief talking point in the president's stump speech as he reacts to congressman ryan being the running mate. >> how much does this change things from the white house re-election campaign perspective? >> well, it allows them a running mate for romney who's a target rich environment, who they can really go after as someone who is out of touch with the middle class. who is going to take a whack at medicare, how they are going to portray it, end it as we know it is a line you'll hear again and again from democrats and president obama and the

president's campaign. so you know, from the obama campaign's perspective, they want a campaign that draws bright lines and has clear distinctions between president obama and mitt romney. adding paul ryan to that mix as romney's running mate certainly does that. >> paul ryan, well known inside the beltway, if you look at the recent poll from cnn, 38% of the rest of the country hasn't heard of congressman. you've got also 16% who have no opinion at all. add those numbers up, you have 54% of the folks out there who will be able to have -- to form an opinion about him. how much does that work in mitt romney's favor, or might he have needed somebody who was well known that could gal vannize the enthusiasm that way? >> he's going to galvanize conservatives for sure. certainly within the beltway in washington, a lot of conserve

tim columnists and other thinkers who were championing the cause of paul ryan. you're getting behind in the race, don't go cautious, go bold with a real fiscal conservative. so he's done that here. he can go out there and give a very tough speech criticizing president obama and raise money and be a strong surrogate he'll be a good debating on the chief issue which is the economy and nation's debt. he has always of those areas covered. the danger is he is unknown. it is an opportunity for the romney campaign to cast him. he's got young children. he himself is young. he's 42 and looks younger than that. it's a nice picture of two politicians for the country. they also have to be careful and it will start on the bus tour that begins in virginia and goes through florida, to make sure they don't allow democrats to define ryan before he can define himself. if that happens, he's going to be trying to play catch-up on this issue of medicare and how

he'll affect seniors. he is catholic and has working class appeal. there's a lot in the mix that both campaigns are going to work on. >> david, if he's been picked to galvanize the base, what does that say about the state of the base right now? is it in a relatively apathy thetic state, when it comes down to the middle 10% every time, what does it do for that voting bloc? >> first of all, i don't think the conservative base is ap thetic at all. that said, there still are reservoirs of suspicion about mitt romney in the base. and i think that paul ryan speaks to that. but we can overanalyze this. remember, at the end of the day, there are a ton of political considerations but when candidates make these choices, they are about who do i want to govern with, who is somebody that i want in the white house

with me? it's not simply the question of how do i campaign with this person? because you can get different political advice on that even from within your own team. i think back to the president i covered, president bush, who chose dick cheney who at the time might have had more independent appeal to appeal who remembered him as being secretary of defense. so in this case i think there's an argument that will be made that paul ryan will be seen as conservative but whose views on the deficit and willingness to take stuff stands on issues like medicare and the budget will be applauded by some in the middle. those on the left will say, no, he's not bold, he's not courageous, what he is is dangerous because of his views on the budget and how it would affect the poor and middle class and certainly how it would affect seniors. that's everything that you've put into the mix now. in the end, this is a choice

that mitt romney gets to use to be bold and risky, to take people by surprise, to not be cautious and that's going to frame the kind of coverage he gets here both locally and beyond that. one other point if i can. this is somebody who is from the midwest. the industrial midwest is very important to mitt romney as he tries to expand that electoral map. can paul ryan deliver wisconsin? republicans haven't done it in about 30 years. but there's a chance. he can certainly make it more competitive and that's got to be part of the calculation as well. >> we're bringing into the conversation chuck todd. chuck, i know you and david have been up and night and going over this. i want to bring you into analysis. does this allow mitt romney to have things both ways, put a solid appeal to the conservative base and then allow him as an individual to get out of the the

initial campaign mode and get into a general election mode right now and move himself a little bit more towards the middle and try to get the middle 10% voter? >> i don't know if it allows him to go to the middle. it gives him an opportunity to relaunch. it was clear when i spoke with him late last week, saturday, thursday would be late last week. >> couple days ago. >> when he was clearly saying he wants his running mate pick to basically give him a help, reinforce his vision, reinforce a message. and i think that's something that the campaign felt it was lacking, that it was becoming too much a choice -- too much a focus on him personally and anything to take the focus away from romney, the person and make it a battle of ideas, gives romney a fighting chance. and so that's what the pick of ryan does, more so than anybody

on the short list. ryan gives romney issue definition as opposed to the idea of whos going to make him more appealing to the blue collar voters, things like that. that's not to say paul ryan might be able to help on that front though you could make the same args. it could hurt if the conversation turns to medicare. the more i thought about this and more i keep thinking about this, medicare on the ball ot, very popular. how does the romney/ryan ticket frame what they are wanting to do with medicare and beat back what democrats have been successful in doing any time they've taken the ryan plan and focused it on the that phrase and i heard david talking about it, end medicare as you know it. any time they've been able to win that phraseology in campaigns that we've been watching, it's been advantage to democrats. i think about florida and iowa and the demographic group that the president struggles with as much as any, which is seniors.

he suddenly has an opening this morning. >> where are the states as we give viewers a look at the 2012 swing states projections, where are the states you think paul ryan will help mitt romney the most? >> look, wisconsin obviously is one. he's not well known statewide. that was something that actually romney folks learned when ryan endorsed and sort of polled him, very popular, though in the democratic areas of wisconsin that southeastern portion there near milwaukee. there's a clear win there. iowa has always been i would argue deficit sensitive. and that's a place taxes and deficit sensitive. he could help there plus being a neighboring state he could help. the question is, does he hurt in florida? i know that some romney folks -- that was always one of the draw-backs to him, which is boy,

florida is already a challenge for both campaigns. he certainly puts an extra 5-pound weight on the side of the republican ticket in order to try -- that you're dragging along because you're going to spend a lot of time having to explain medicare and try to convince older voters there that the democrats are wrong in their interpretation. >> okay, david, you mentioned the bus tour and we have a map to show folks where he's going. ohio, virginia, north carolina, florida. we've discussed florida. give me your sense of how paul ryan will play in virginia, ohio, north carolina specifically? >> let's start with the basics right now. this is going to be a new team as chuck says. relaunched. we're moving into a part of the campaign where voters are actually going to start paying attention. it's not going to be a battle of super pack ads. now we're zeroing in on big choices and a vp choice is a big choice. a convention speech is a big

movement and debates are big movements. we moved into a different phase of the campaign and paul ryan represents that. romney promises to have a good few days as he unveils this choice. a young running mate who's smart and bold and known as a strategic thinker who has young children. it's an attractive political picture that romney is going to paint. as that begins to settle in, the harder part moves forward and that's the definition of ryan both in the ryan campaign and then by the obama campaign. so in all of those states, it's going to be an issue. if we step back, we say, look, mitt romney wants to make this like president obama, a campaign about big issues. the economy, the heading of the country. the debt, the tough choices that have to be made to get america headed into a sustainable fiscal path. paul ryan is very much a part of that debate. mitt romney is signaling he

wants to have that debate. i think voters are going to welcome that as difficult as the debating is going to get from here on in. >> david and chuck, stand by because i want to ask about the other names that had been talked about as a romney vice presidential pick and what are they saying about this latest news. we'll come back to you after a short break. ♪ ♪ three, six, nine ♪ the goose drank wine ♪ the monkey chew tobacco on the streetcar line ♪ ♪ ♪ clap, pat, clap your hand ♪ pat it on your partner's hand ♪ ♪ right hand ♪ clap, pat, clap your hand ♪ cross it with your left arm ♪ pat your partner's left palm ♪ clap, pat, clap your hand, pat your partner's right palm ♪ [ male announcer ] it's back. the volkswagen beetle. that's the power of german engineering.

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the mileage card with special perks on united. get it and you're in. giving you a look at the home of the reported vice presidential nominee from mitt romney's camp, paul ryan. that is in jamesville, wisconsin, when we were told that there were lights on until midnight last night and all went dark. we do know paul ryan is expected in norfolk, virginia in two and a quarter hours. if he has yet to leave, he'll get to it pretty soon. david gregory and chuck todd joining me. i want to ask about the two

notable names that were passed over. david, you first with regard to rob portman. >> highly regarded, part of the bush administration, that could have been a liability as he was budget director in the bush administration at a time when deficits began to expand and a lot of conservatives were highly critical of the bush administration for that. but portman was seen as a safe pick. somebody who knows the ways of washington and ways of the senate and former congressman as well and all important ohio. there was a lot of talk he was the lead finalist as you move down the stretch because he could reinforce governor romney while still doing no harm. with the ryan pick, we can safely say mitt romney felt he neededed to go a bit bolder and bigger. >> i now you have tim pawlenty tomorrow. but to you, chuck, tim pawlenty was somebody who was running his

own presidential campaign against mitt romney. what do you think the big reason is that he was not chosen? because many see him as having been the good soldier. >> well, that's exactly right. that's what made him the loyalist, good soldier and frankly the fact he had been involved in a national campaign was very appealing to a lot of folks, including governor romney, because you know, you don't know what it's like to run for national office unless you've done this, even if his presidential campaign was cut short, he still had done this, gone through the rigors of national fund raising and that mattered. the problem is was he going to be an obvious governing pick, was he going to be an obvious idealogical pick? that wasn't clear. and what is exactly the message that was going to be sent beyond. this is tim pawlenty who has this appeal to blue collar voters which by the way might have only reinforced the negatives in mitt romney.

i remember talking to some republicans who were concerned while all of the positive side that paul lenity would have gotten and all of us would be talking about helping mitt romney connect. what that is also reminding people, is that mitt romney can't connect. and that might have been more of a down side than it would have been any sort of upside pawlenty would have offered. >> thank you so much, we'll have you back in the next hour. i know you have places to go and people to speak with. david, tomorrow on "meet the press", tim pawlenty will be your guest. it will be a special live edition at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow. we'll see you in a bit. we'll get more on the paul ryan pick for vice president after a short break on msnbc. with the spark cash card from capital one,

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in just over two hours, all eyes will be trained on that

man, wisconsin congressman paul ryan who will be on board the "uss wisconsin" standing aside mitt romney. and we expect him to be named as his running mate. we'll have all eyes trained on norfolk, virginia at 9:00 a.m. eastern time. jamie has been covering tim pawlenty in manchester, new hampshire. jamie, i know you were listen to our conversation being described as the good soldier. and it would seem he developed a rapport with mitt romney. there were fundraisers yesterday where tim pawlenty was accompanied by one of mitt romney's sons. what can you tell us about that? >> good morning, i think the good soldier monoiccer applied, two fundraisers in the manchester area, one in durham,

new hampshire and next one in dover. both of the fundraisers, alex, he was joined by tag romney, who is mitt romney's oldest son. nbc news reported last night that tag romney may have been his father's em sarry passing information to people who are not selected that they this not been selected for his father's ticket. so we noticed that tag was at these fundraisers, this was before the reporting that tag may have been acting as emisary, but we found it curious. then it drama played out at the end of the second fundraiser where pawlenty stayed in the restaurant for an unusually long time. just as he pulled out this long drive back to manchester began and the reports started coming in that an announcement would be made the next morning. >> great nugget of information.

i appreciate that. we'll jump from there back to the guests in the studio with me. when you hear what jamie just reported about that he was being used as a em sary compare that to a report that you're not going to be the one? >> i understand they were very close. the family got very close to tim pawlenty, especially because he's been out there over a year supporting mitt romney, doing what he had to do. they had tim pay off his campaign debt. i wouldn't reach it too much into it as far as as knock against portman by any stretch. >> what about tim pawlenty and where he goes? >> i think he'll be on the campaign trail with mitt romney. one of the things the romney campaign has done well, get a

good group of surrogates that he can deploy across the country and will really help this fall. >> what are the nuggets you took away from the conversation with david gregory and chuck todd. they were great despite the hour and being up all night. >> i think it's fascinating. i'm fascinated what this does say about mitt romney and where he is. i don't think there's anyone who is a more forceful kind of leader of the republican idealogically, where they want to take the country than paul ryan. in a lot of ways, the biggest risk for mitt romney is that paul ryan, in a sense, it's kind of paul ryan's program that mitt romney is running on. whether or not there's a little bit of an overshadowing potential there, despite the fact this is a young sort of relatively unknown person, i thought this was fascinating. it does say a lot about what mitt romney needs but where the republican party wants to go and whether or not in a lot of ways he's a passenger rather than a

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it's an ultrabook. i'm good. with an ultrabook, everything else seems old fashioned. introducing the ultra sleek, ultra long-lasting ultrabook. a whole new class of computers powered by intel. breaking news at the top of this hour, sources tell nbsz news that mitt romney will announce paul ryan at his running mate at 9:00 a.m. eastern time today. welcome. that huge political news developing late last night and the announcement is expected shortly, two hours from now when mitt romney will hold an event from the "uss wisconsin." paul ryan is the chairman of the house budget committee and senior member of the ways and means committee. garrett haake is ahead of the

game in norfolk, virginia. let's get a preview of what to expect and thousand ahow this w >> we're on our way to the "uss" area now, we're expecting an event in the next few hours, 9:00 to start the bus tour. late last night the campaign sent out a press release saying they would make the announcement today, scramble among the reporters nationwide to confirm it would be paul ryan. nbc has confirmed that the congressman will be the man to get the nod this morning. as of this hour, no sign as yet in norfolk, staffers continue to set up the scene with the "uss wisconsin" in the back drop. >> two minutes ago the mitt's vp app has gone live. those with smartphones, there yo