After four months of searching and vetting candidates, Mitt Romney has finally announced the pick for Vice-President for his upcoming election bid and formally announced the appointment today at a rally in Norfolk, Virginia. The appointment of Ryan, a 42 year-old Representative from Wisconsin, is a seen as a popular choice on Capitol Hill for many right-wing republicans and other fiscal conservatives like the Tea Party ,who have sought to slash government spending on healthcare and other social programmes. 

The move underlines the lack of trust that many Republicans have in Romney and believe that he lacks belief in true conservative values that have recently dominated the GOP landscape. Many on the right see Romney as too willing to change his stance on core issues to suit his own ends and the appointment of Ryan will buffer any allegations of him being soft on expenditure. Ryan has been the Chairman of the House Committee of the Budget and has previously proposed alternative budgets in an attempt to reduce taxes on top earners, all while cutting drastically governemnt spending to reduce its national debt. 

The choice of Paul Ryan will not be a universally popular choice though, especially amongst democrats who feel his policies of tax cuts for the rich and increasing taxes on the middle class are unfair. While the Ryan pick may prove to be energising to the right, many voters in swing states like Florida and Virginia may well be opposed to the principle of increasing the tax burden on the middle class, while maintaining tax breaks for the wealthy. Obama has previously criticised many of Ryan's proposed policies as disingenuous and accused his previous budgets as being "extreme." The Obama campaign team made no delay in getting their message out on Paul Ryan's policies, which they claim will hurt the middle class and senior citizens.

The appointment of Sarah Palin was a pivotal moment back in 2008 which ultimately damaged the McCain election bid, owing to the inexperience of Palin but generally Vice Presidential picks do not often change the votoral landscape too much. The appointment might see Ryan become a factor in the swing state of Wisconsin but the long term impact of the appointment remains to be seen butit remains likely that this election will still come down to the wire.