Whether or not Paul Ryan is named as Mitt Romney's running mate later this summer, the Wisconsin Congressman's name may become as ubiquitous as Romney's if Democratic party strategists get their way.
In 1996, Bill Clinton ran against "Dole-Gingrich," you might recall. Though the former House Speaker was absolutely not on the ballot (Jack Kemp was), the unpopular Gingrich was such a prominent voice and face of the Republican Party — and an unpopular one at that — that Clinton used those negative feelings toward him in ultimately winning by 8 percentage points over Robert Dole.
For Barack Obama, it's the Ryan budget that he wants to wrap closely to Romney, as you're aware if you caught any of his attack at the Associated Press event in Washington earlier this week.
"It is thinly veiled social Darwinism," Obama said to the annual meeting of The Associated Press. "It is antithetical to our entire history as a land of opportunity and upward mobility for everybody who's willing to work for it ... It is a prescription for decline."
Such criticism will probably only make Republicans grow closer to Ryan — which means Connie Mack might be vulnerable for his remark about Ryan's budget last weekend.
