A Patch poll conducted Saturday found that Wisconsin Republican insiders are enthusiastic about e.
The overwhelming majority of respondents — 96 percent — to the "Red Wisconsin" Survey agreed that the selection of Ryan will "galvanize" support for Romney in the Badger State.
"I absolutely love Romney making a bold decision like this," said one GOP influencer. "I believe I speak for the majority of conservatives when I say we have been waiting for Romney to make this sort of decision — a very specific one — for months... I am excited, and I believe Romney just showed he is all in. Game. Set. Match. "
Added another respondent: "Paul Ryan is a great pick for Romney. He runs intellectual circles around both (President Barack) Obama and (Vice President Joe) Biden. He has a great depth of knowledge in all of the most important issues facing the country. He is especially knowledgeable in what it takes to assure prosperity for future generations."
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Patch on Saturday morning sent questionnaires to 93 key Republican activists, elected officials, conservative bloggers and talk show hosts, and others who agreed to anonymously give their opinions in a series of surveys between now and November. Patch received completed surveys from 48 people — or 52 percent of those surveyed.
Responses were a bit more tempered on whether the selection would help Romney win over undecided voters in Wisconsin: 39 percent strongly agreed and 36 percent said they somewhat agreed.
Not only did Patch's political insiders strongly support the selection of Ryan, but 89 percent agreed with the statement that move will "help win over Wisconsin's undecided voters."
Respondents overwhelmingly disagreed with the notion that the Ryan pick would allow Democrats a chance to win the presidential race by running against the Congressman’s budget plans, especially his proposal for Medicare: 56 percent strongly disagreed and 23 percent said they somewhat disagree with that notion.
Reaction was more divided on whether adding Ryan to the ticket would galvanize Wisconsin Democrats: 53 percent said they agreed with that it would; 31 percent disagreed; and 17 percent were unsure.
Other comments from GOP insiders who took part in the survey on Saturday:
- "Every Wisconsin conservative and Republican will vote in November. Romney wins Wisconsin."
- "Paul Ryan will find a way to speak to the American people so they can understand the dangerous slope we are on and why reform of these programs is so critical to American. The Dems will use scare tactics, and Paul Ryan will use data, ideas and the truth."
- "He is one of us. Regardless of your politics, he can and will do great things for the country and Wisconsin."
- "This is by far, the best choice for VP. Not only does it strengthen the base, but Paul Ryan is not afraid to take on Obama's policies head on, and I honestly believe that Paul Ryan scares the Obama administration."
- "When the tide comes in, all ships rise. This is a Republican tide. All Republicans running for office or re-election will benefit from a galvanized, energized Republican base."
About Red Wisconsin
Our surveys are not a scientific random sample of any larger population but rather an effort to listen to a swath of influential local Republican activists, party leaders and elected officials in Wisconsin. All of these individuals have agreed to participate in the surveys, although not all responded to Saturday's questions.
Patch will be conducting Red Wisconsin and Blue Wisconsin surveys throughout 2012 in hopes of determining the true sentiment of conservatives and liberals on the ground in the state. If you are an activist, party leader or elected official and would like to take part in a weekly surveys that lasts just a few minutes, please email Mark Maley at mark.maley@patch.com.
Participants in Patch's Red Wisconsin Survey are:
Jim Bender, president of School Choice Wisconsin, former chief of staff for Assembly Republican Leader Jeff Fitzgerald; Bill Berdan, first vice chairman, Wauwatosa Republicans; Keith Best, public relations chairman for Waukesha County Republicans; Bob Bradley, party activist; Charles Brey, field director for state Assembly candidate Tracy Herron; Tracy Brodd, Republican campaign worker; Paul Bucher, former Waukesha County district attorney and candidate for Wisconsin attorney general; Roy Catron, Tea Party activist; Andrew Cegielski, former Milwaukee County Board candidate; Sara Conrad, party activist; Bill Cosh, spokesman for the state Department of Natural Resources; Michael Crowley, Waukesha County supervisor; Jake Curtis, former state Assembly candidate; Lou D'Abbraccio, board member, Racine County Republican Party; Brian Dey, Racine County Tea Party member; Fred Dooley, conservative blogger; Steven Duckhorn, former Republican candidate for Milwaukee County sheriff; Bill Folk, chairman of Racine County Republican Party;Elisabeth Friesen, Republican activist; Jesse Garza, chairman, St. Croix County Republican Party; Mark Green, senior director of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, former U.S. ambassador to Tanzania and former congressman; Chris Haines, longtime campaign volunteer and former GOP campaign manager; Deb Hawley Jordahl, conservative strategist and consultant; John Hiller, co-chair of Scott Walker's transition team as governor; Sandra Hollander, member of Mitt Romney's “Juntos con Romney” leadership team; Ethan Hollenberger, former chairman of the College Republicans at Marquette University and staff member on several legislative campaigns; Mark Honadel, state reprsentative, 21st District; Marguerite Ingold, party activist; Valerie Johnson, former GOP fundraiser and staffer for various campaigns; Thomas J. Keeley, political consultant; Scott Kelly, communications director for former state Sen. Van Wanggaard; Cindy Kilkenny, conservative blogger; Rik Kluessendorf, attorney and former state Assembly candidate; Dan Knodl, state representative, 24th District; Tif Koehler, campaign volunteer and civic leader; Johnny Koremenos, regional field director for Tommy Thompson campaign; Gordon Lang, member of North Shore Republicans; Chris Larsen, trustee in Village of Sturtevant Trustee; Noelle Lorraine, field coordinator for Americans for Prosperity; John P. Macy, first vice chairman of Waukesha County Republican Party; Kathleen Madden, Waukesha County Clerk of Circuit Court; Ginny Marschman, party activist; Jessica McBride, conservative columnist; Bill McCoshen political consultant and; former cabinet secretary for Gov. Tommy Thompson; Joe Medina, party activist; Randy Melchert, field director for Mark Neumann's campaign; Gerald Mellone, Brookfield alderman; Ryan Morgan, conservative blogger; Dean Munday, conservative blogger; Mark Neumann, U.S. Senate candidate and former congressman; Kelly O'Brien, founder of Shorewood Citizens for Responsible Government; Eric Wm. Olsen, conservative activist; Nick Oliver, state Assembly candidate, 22nd District; Victoria Ostry, treasurer of the Wisconsin Federation of Republican Women.; Rick Owen, Brookfield alderman; Monnine Parnitzke, party activist; Steve Ponto, mayor of Brookfield; Don Pridemore, state representative, 99th District; Paris Procopis, grassroots activist; Jim Pugh, director of public relations and issue management for Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce; Denise Rate, Tea Party member; Bob Reddin, Brookfield alderman and executive director, Jobs First Coalition; Pam Reeves, treasurer, Waukesha County Republicans; Joe Rice, former county supervisor and member of North Shore Republicans Executive Committee; Nate Ristow, candidate for 13th District State Assembly; Brandon Rosner, Wisconsin Republican consultant; Bill Savage, aide to state Rep. Don Pridemore and officer of Menomonee Falls Taxpayers Association; Jim Schaefer, Muskego-Norway School Board president; Josh Schimek, conservative blogger; JB Schmidt, conservative blogger; Christian Schneider, senior fellow at Wisconsin Policy Research Institute and former policy analyst for Wisconsin State Legislature; Ashley Schultz, state director of the Recall Action Fund; Nick Schweitzer, Libertarian pundit and blogger; Tim Schwister, former State Assembly candidate; Dan Sebring, vice chairman, Milwaukee County Republicans and candidate for 4th Congressional District; Cathy Stepp, Wisconsin Natural Resources secretary and former state senator; Jeff Stone, state representative, 82nd District; Jonathan Strasburg, attorney; Dave Swarthout, board member, 1st Congressional District Republicans; Charles Sykes, conservative talk show host for WTMJ Radio; Steve Taylor, Milwaukee County supervisor; Jenny Toftness, executive director of the Republican Assembly Campaign Committee; Greg Torres, Jefferson County supervisor; Jim Villa, former chief of staff to County Executive Scott Walker and Alberta Darling; current CEO of Commercial Association of REALTORS® Wisconsin; Robin Vos, state representative; 63rd District; Dan Vrakas, Waukesha County Executive; Yash Wadhwa, former State Assembly candidate; Jeff Wagner, conservative talk show host, WTMJ Radio; Tom Weatherston, candidate for 62nd Assembly District and Village of Caledonia trustee; Steve Welcenbach, head of the Menomonee Falls Taxpayers Association and Tea Party activist; Todd Welch, Wisconsin state coordinator at Campaign for Liberty; James Wigderson, conservative blogger and columnist for Waukesha Freeman; Eddie Willing, conservative columnist in Racine County and executive director of FoundersIntent.org; Chris Wright, Sturtevant village trustee and former candidate for State Assembly; Phil Ziegler, CEO of InPro Inc. and party activist.
Aside to "Jerry": Your lack of education is showing...... "no" and "know" are NOT interechangeable. they mean two different things. HMMMMMM.....
Your comments based on "conspiracy theories" display a lack of seriousness. So, perhaps you shouldn't cricize "Jerry's" lack of education, as you call it.
How exactly do you reconcile these facts: For 16 years, Obama held himself out to the world, via a biographical summary printed by his publisher, that he was born in Kenya, only having it changed when he decided to run for the Presidency: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS/born-kenya-obamas-literary-agent-misidentified-birthplace-1991/story?id=16372566#.UCgP-aCQmuY Obama's wife Michelle stated during a speech that Obama's home country is Kenya: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6M7Rp_Ghv6k And Obama himself admitted to being born someplace other than here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Se5zvGF6u9g Are you telling us that both he himself and his wife are this confused about his actual place of birth? And yet you trust this man to hold the highest position in this country? That's incredible!
BTW - Ryan isn't a Tea Partier. True Tea Partiers have embraced either the Rand Paul / Mike Lee / Jim DeMint budget or Gary Johnson's proposed budget. The Ryan budget balances too slowly for true Tea Partiers. Maybe you should spend some more time objectively researching the candidates instead of accepting all the propaganda and rhetoric as gospel.
Trash Ryan Parrot Obama That's it! He brings nothing of his own to the table - he's simply an empty shell puppet of the Democratic Party. In 2008, Obama/Biden rode a wave of false perception of a disenchanted electorate premised upon lofty rhetoric . Now that the people have seen, or not seen on C-SPAN 3 as Obama promised we would, how the Obama/Biden administration truly functions and the results of their policy positions, they'll actually have to have a serious conversation with voters about the issues. Hoffa has a feeling that the debates will determine this contest - and it doesn't look too good for either Obama or Biden against team Romney / Ryan!
@Mr. Hoffa, You are spreading more of the same old b.s. Read the whole article, Mrs. Obama didn't say he was "born" in Kenya and the clip of the President is from the National Correspondents dinner - which is an evening of JOKING. He was poking fun at people like you The BIRTHERS. Get over it or at least use facts for your arguments.
So you say that Ryan isn't a TEA PARTIER? Perhaps you might want to tell that to Americans for Prosperity, one of the hardcore TEA PARTY organizations. I kind of shocked that you have sunk to the level of just spewing "crap". Be sure your tinfoil hat is firmly in place. BTW, President Obama has been in office for nearly four years now and the Kenyan/Marist/Leninists/Socialists/Communists have not yet taken over the country, but keep a sharp lookout for the black helicopters lurking just over the horizon. BTW, you have cheapened the "currency of Hoffa" beyond redemption. You are now as reliable as Donald Trump and Orly Taitz.
Michelle stated very clearly that "when we took our trip to Africa and visited his home country in Kenya." If one was born in the US, why wouldn't they refer to the US as being their home country? The only time I've ever heard Americans referring to another country as being their 'home country' is if they're legal immigrants. My maternal grandparents legally immigrated here from Italy and Russia, respectively. They would commonly refer to Italy and Russia as being their home countries. But my mother, who was born here, never once mentioned Italy or Russia as being her home countries. If Obama's comment was meant to be funny, how come no one was laughing? Finally, why did he hold himself out as being from Kenya for 16 years in his publisher's biography? Why was this important enough to suddenly fix when he decided to run for the Presidency, but not before? Why is he so unwilling to release his college records? You guys want Romney's taxes so badly - well, maybe Romney will release the taxes when Obama releases his sealed records. Hoffa believes that Obama was in fact born in Hawaii, but that he probably perpetrated a fraud on American colleges by claiming to be a foreigner. Much like Elizabeth Warren claiming to be a Native American on her employment application and bar documents. The current Dem party is comprised of a bunch of scam artists.
Ohhhhhh..... I think I hear the helicopters now. Thumpa, thumpa, thumpa. Out to take you to one of the UN detention camps perhaps. Like the Wizard of Oz, you pulled the curtain of reason aside and there is now nothing but a blustering scared crazy person left.
Lauren, he's only half-black. And that may actually be his best qualification for being president. He certainly isn't qualified based on his experience.
Could you please quote wherein Hoffa claimed that Obama was not born in this country? You must have a reading comprehension problem, as Hoffa merely pointed out how confused both he and his wife appear to be about the topic. If you read Hoffa's response to Renee, you'll see that Hoffa expressly declared that he believes that Obama was in fact born in Hawaii. Next time, try reading a bit closer before spewing your crap all over the Patch! @lauren - Are you accusing Hoffa of being a racist? I RESENT that! Party of tolerance my rear-end! While you may value intelligence, you've proven that you don't often exercise such yourself.
Hoffa suggests remedial reading 101. Sign up quickly before fall registration ends!
ROMNEY / RYAN 2012!!!
"Wulf"
Many may not realize this about Nader, but a balanced budget, government efficiency and effectiveness, and fair trade were just some of the top priorities of his platform - he was much more fiscally conservative than the Democrats made him out to be in calling him the spoiler in the 2000 election. People, especially those on the left, really need to start doing their homework better!