At Time, Mark Halperin lists 20 ways in which the Ryan rollout demonstrated technical skill by Team Romney. Here are the first five:
- The choice and the timing of its announcement was a kept a secret up until the last minute, allowing the campaign to control the rollout.
- The announcement event was well staged.
- The optics of the Romneys and Ryans together are very good.
- The talking points intended to smooth over rough spots (such as policy disagreements between the top and bottom of the ticket) were carefully written in advance.
- Boston had a thought-out pushback on the Medicare issue – raising ObamaCare’s Medicare cuts – and made sure all surrogates were ready to make the same case.
The Des Moines Register reports that not everything went smoothly at the Iowa State Fair:
Frank Cordaro, a member of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, a liberal advocacy group, stood near the platform as Ryan spoke and repeatedly shouted, “Stop the war on the common good.”
Cordaro, a retired Catholic priest, has been arrested many times over the years at anti-war demonstrations. Cordaro has most recently been detained during Occupy Wall Street protests.
After the speech, his arm was bleeding from a cut he said he sustained as the crowd jostled him. Some people who filed by him as they left accused him of being rude.
“When Jesus went to the temple, he was rude, too,” he said.
A police officer later shoved Ross Grooters, 38, a CCI member from Pleasant Hill, down the sidewalk and away from the stage.
Grooters’ exit came shortly after another CCI member was escorted out of the area shouting, “Stop the war on the poor,” after she had tried to climb the stage.
