Romney has taken a direct turn to the right with his selection of Paul Ryan. He's betting that the electorate is ready to move considerably more rightward than many analysts (including some in his own party) think.  Democrats now have an opening to campaign harder on the theme, "Romney-Ryan represents a radical turn to the far right." Republicans now are poised to campaign with new vigor on the theme, "Obama-Biden represent an old, failed order…We offer something new and different."

And with Ryan on the ticket it would be something new, if they're elected. What Ryan espouses is the most "conservative" (as Republicans call it) or "right wing" (as Democrats call it) agenda since Senator Barry Goldwater's failed Presidential bid in 1964 -- or at least since Ronald Reagan's winning bid in 1984.

Ryan is a favorite of the Tea Party movement within the Republican party.  His selection pleases the Republican core base. But the decisive battleground is for the votes of independents and swing voters in a few key states (Ohio, Florida and Virginia among them.) And this is where Ryan represents a risk for Romney. Ryan's stances on Medicare and Social Security may be problematic, to say the least, in terms of swaying most of these voters. Romney obviously doesn't see it that way.