Red, White and Blue/Audio
Senators Erpenbach, Darling debate Paul Ryan's electoral impact
Click to listen to Senators Alberta Darling and Jon Erpenbach talk about the Paul Ryan VP pick
MADISON- Janesville Republican Representative Paul Ryan has been the talk of Wisconsin politics ever since GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney selected Ryan as his running mate.
To Wisconsin state Senator Alberta Darling (R-River Hills), the Ryan VP pick was a slam dunk.
"Paul Ryan is a leader who has solutions," said Darling to Newsradio 620 WTMJ's "Wisconsin's Afternoon News with John Mercure."
"(Paul Ryan) is a consensus builder," said Darling, citing Ryan's ability to win his 1st Congressional District with consistently over 60 percent of the vote. "He attracts Republicans, Conservative Democrats, and Independents."
State Senator Jon Erpenbach (D-Middleton) told "Wisconsin's Afternoon News with John Mercure" thinks Ryan pick actually hurts the Romney campaign.
"It's going to divide the president and Governor Romney very clearly," said Erpenbach. "(Paul Ryan) is an extremely Conservative legislator."
According to the DW-Nominate, a statistical system that evaluates how partisan a candidate is -- Paul Ryan is one of the most Conservative legislators in all of Congress.
Both Senators believe the Ryan pick will give a Republican boost in Wisconsin, but to Senator Erpenbach, "When push comes to shove...people will vote for the presidential nominee (not the VP)."
Nationally, Ryan's name is hardly brought up around the water cooler.
A recent USA TODAY/Gallup poll found more registered voters thinking of Ryan as an "only fair" or "poor" choice for VP than an "excellent" or "pretty good" selection. Only Dan Quayle in a 1988 Harris Poll of likely voters was viewed less positively than Ryan
According to a recent national poll, Romney and President Obama are in a virtual tie.
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