At Real Clear Politics, Tom Bevan and Carl Cannon rightly note that “[Mitt] Romney’s selection of Paul Ryan cheered fiscal and social conservatives within the Republican Party and provided a much needed shot in the arm for Romney’s campaign.”  But they also argue that, “by choosing Ryan, Romney passed over the more qualified Rob Portman, Ohio’s Republican senator who could have helped in the Buckeye State.”  Moreover, they speculate that “Ryan’s presence on the ticket might have actually hurt marginally in Florida, where his ideas about reforming Medicare were used, unfairly, to scare the bejesus out of seniors.”  

It’s surprising to hear the claim that Portman was “more qualified” than Ryan, the well-liked House Budget Committee chairman who has been the intellectual leader of the Republican party throughout the Obama presidency.  Few would have thought of Portman — who was President George W. Bush’s budget director for part of Bush’s second term — as a viable presidential contender in his own right, while many of us strongly encouraged Ryan to run.  By all accounts, Portman did an excellent job of helping Romney in his debate prep and contributed greatly to his campaign.  But he surely wouldn’t have generated the same enthusiasm that Ryan did, nor would he have done nearly so much to unite the party, and it seems rather unlikely that he could have swung the Buckeye State to Romney.