ZEGS!

House Republicans are about as popular as asbestos.

Romney has run a campaign of vague generalities regarding...well...everything, from his "eliminating loopholes" to his immigration policy.

So, well-played, sir.

In theory, this should be a net negative for the Romney ticket. To be successful, contemporary conservatives need to focus on generalities about “taxes” and “spending”; when you actually get to specifics, their plan of slashing federal spending on health care, Social Security, and other important programs to finance upper-class tax cuts is exceptionally unpopular. Ryan still cheats by not specifying cuts a lot, but his budget should have enough detail to hang the GOP. But whether the Obama campaign will do this effectively, or how effective counterattacks will be given that any attempt to point out the actual consequences of Ryan and Romney’s McKinleynomics will be scored as a million Pinocchios setting a million pants on fire is less clear.

The good news is that this sets up a real difference in the two campaigns' respective vision of America's economy and the future of the New Deal and Great Society.

Not to mention, we have seen how picking a VP who is more popular with the base than the #1 on the ticket works so well for the GOP.