Was Paul Ryan a good VP pick for Mitt Romney?

[Fuzzy Bear]

I checked "no" because a mere Representative doesn't have the prestige to bring in a state, unless he is in his/her party's leadership.  Then, the candidate drags the ticket down by attaching the negative's of their party's Congressional leadership to the national ticket.

If I were Romney, I'd have picked Portman; he would have, IMO, made just enough difference to bring in Ohio.  That's if I limited myself to guys Romney was considering.  If I wanted a guy that would have added gravitas to the ticket, I'd have gone for Tom Ridge, and I'd have not backed down from the Tea Party types.  Ridge had stature and would have helped Romney carry PA. 

[Fuzzy Bear]

Portman was, in truth, Romney's best choice, in that he could have helped in Ohio more than Ryan could help in Wisconsin.  Ohio is a far more swing state than Wisconsin, which has gone for every Democrat since Michael Dukakis.  His experience with the Bush Administration was, IMO, awfulized; people expect someone on a party's national ticket to have some ties to their party's last Presidential Administration.