NORFOLK, Virginia (AP) — Mitt Romney introduced Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan as his vice-presidential running mate yesterday, turning to a deeply conservative, budget-cutting specialist to shore up trust in the party ticket among the small-tax, anti-big government tea party movement.

Ryan is the architect of a deeply conservative and intensely controversial long-term budget plan to cut trillions in federal spending, and his conservative credentials are highly regarded by fellow Republicans who control the House of Representatives.

Romney chose Ryan as a means of mollifying the Republican right wing which has shown only modest enthusiasm for his candidacy, given the former Massachusetts governor’s history, until his presidential campaign, of acting from a moderate political philosophy.

Romney also needs to repair his image after a summer filled with political gaffes, especially during a trip abroad, and the incessant drumbeat of negative advertising by President Barack Obama’s campaign apparatus. In combination, those realities have harmed the Republican’s campaign momentum and seen him lose ground to Obama.

Ryan came out swinging early yesterday, blaming Obama for the country’s sluggish economy.

“Regrettably, President Obama has become part of the problem, and Mitt Romney is the solution” to an economy that has yet to make a strong recovery from the worst recession in decades, he said.

Romney exulted in his choice, telling cheering supporters at an outdoor rally that “I did not make a mistake with this guy.”

In the campaign to come, Republicans will present economic solutions “that are bold, specific and achievable”, Romney said. “We offer our commitment to create 12 million new jobs and bring better take-home pay to middle-class families.”

The ticket-mates made their first joint appearance at a naval museum, in front of the battleship USS Wisconsin, the initial stop of a bus tour that will take them through four battleground states — Virginia, North Carolina, Florida and Ohio — in as many days.

First Romney, then Ryan, a generation younger than his patron, jogged down the ship’s gangplank to the cheers of hundreds and the stirring soundtrack from the movie Air Force One.

Having Ryan on the ticket also could help Romney become more competitive in Wisconsin, a state Obama won handily four years ago in the state-by-state race for the presidency, but that could be much tighter this November. Ryan is a seven-term congressman from a district in the southeast of the state.

Democrats also had hoped for the Ryan selection, believing they could boost their fortunes by pinning on Romney what they see as an unpopular budget plan that calls for deep cuts in Government spending and a major overhaul of entitlement programmes.

“The architect of the radical Republican House budget, Ryan, like Romney, proposed an additional US$250,000 tax cut for millionaires, and deep cuts in education,” Jim Messina, the president’s campaign manager, said in a written statement. He added that the Republican ticket’s proposals would place “greater burdens” on the middle-class and seniors.

At 42, Ryan is a generation younger than the 65-year-old Romney.

Ryan is chairman of the House Budget Committee, and primary author of conservative tax and spending blueprints that the tea party-infused Republican majority approved over vociferous Democratic opposition in 2011 and again in 2012. The plan failed to gain approval in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

It envisions transforming Medicare — the national health insurance programme for Americans age 65 and older — into a programme in which future seniors would receive Government cheques that they could use to purchase health insurance from private companies. Under the current programme, the Government directly pays doctors, hospitals and other health care providers. Obama contends the plan would end up costing Medicare beneficiaries more than US$6,000 a year.

Ryan and other supporters say the change is needed to prevent the programme from financial calamity.

In endorsing Romney before his state’s primary last spring, Ryan said, “I picked who I think is going to be the next president of the United States — I picked Mitt Romney. …The moment is here. The country can be saved. It is not too late to get America back on the right track. …It is not too late to save the American idea.”

In recent days, conservative pundits and some mainstream Republicans have been urging Romney to choose Ryan in large part because of his authorship of the House-backed budget plan.

Ryan, a Roman Catholic, also enjoys support among social conservatives for his staunch opposition to abortion.

Ryan has worked in Washington for much of his adult life, a contrast to Romney, who frequently emphasises his experience in business.

Ryan worked as an aide in Congress, and also was a speechwriter for US Representative Jack Kemp, the party’s 1996 vice-presidential candidate who had been one of the driving forces behind across-the-board tax cuts that were at the heart of Ronald Reagan’s winning presidential campaign in 1980.

Ryan is also well-known for his fiendish physical fitness workouts.

Ryan’s selection — as well as Romney’s own nomination — will be ratified by delegates to the Republican National Convention that begins on August 27 in Tampa, Florida.

Obama and Vice-President Joseph Biden will be nominated for a second term at the Democratic convention the following week in Charlotte, North Carolina.

ASHLAND, Virginia — Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Governot Mitt Romney (left), listens as his vice-presidential running mate Representative Paul Ryan speaks at a rally at the Randolph Macon college yesterday. (Photo: AP)