Away from the cameras, and with all the usual assurances that people aren\u2019t being quoted by name, there is an unmistakable consensus among Republican operatives in Washington: Romney has taken a risk with Ryan that has only a modest chance of going right \u2014 and a huge chance of going horribly wrong.<\/p>\n
In more than three dozen interviews with Republican strategists and campaign operatives \u2014 old hands and rising next-generation conservatives alike \u2014 the most common reactions to Ryan ranged from gnawing apprehension to hair-on-fire anger that Romney has practically ceded the election.<\/p>\n
It is not that the public professions of excitement about the Ryan selection are totally insincere. It is that many of the most optimistic Republican operatives will privately acknowledge that their views are being shaped more by fingers-crossed hope than by a hard-headed appraisal of what\u2019s most likely to happen.<\/p>\n
And the more pessimistic strategists don\u2019t even feign good cheer: They think the Ryan pick is a disaster for the GOP. Many of these people don\u2019t care that much about Romney \u2014 they always felt he faced an improbable path to victory \u2014 but are worried that Ryan\u2019s vocal views about overhauling Medicare will be a millstone for other GOP candidates in critical House and Senate races.<\/p>\n