Governor Terry Branstad and Lt. Governor Kim Reynolds.
Iowa Governor Terry Branstad will escort fellow Republican Paul Ryan around the Iowa State Fair today. Branstad says the Wisconsin congressman is a good pick by Mitt Romney as his running mate for vice president.
“Well I think Paul Ryan is a great choice. First of all he is a very intelligent hard-working congressman and he is the one who has come up with a budget to get American back on track,” Branstad says. “It’s clear that you cannot continue to spend more than a Trillion dollars more than you are taking in every year. Forty cents of every dollar spent is borrowed money. America is clearly headed in the wrong direction.”
Branstad has said in the past he prefers to see a governor become president and he says Romney fits that bill, while Ryan adds to the ticket. “I think he brings a compliment to Romney that gives him some experience in the federal budgeting process that is going to be necessary in order to get our nation back on track financially,” Branstad says.
The governor was asked if he was being considered or ever contacted about being Romney’s running mate. “No,” Branstad answered. “I’ve made it very clear that my love is of Iowa. And I ran for governor again because I want to get the state of Iowa back on track. I’m obviously very interest in new leadership in Washington, D.C. because with the highest federal taxes and the massive deficit I think we need new leadership to help us achieve the very ambitious goals we have at the state level.”
The governor made his comments at his weekly meeting with the media. Ryan is scheduled to speak at the Iowa State Fair at 1:30 today.