Live-Blogging Tonight's VP Debate

Last week's presidential debate was an amazing, incredible evisceration of Barack Obama's campaign, and I am really looking forward to tonight's contest between Joe Biden and Paul Ryan.

Once again, I'll be live-blogging tonight from my Sulia account. You can follow the posts on the Sunshine State Sarah Facebook page or on Twitter at @rumpfshaker.

The Romney campaign has a widget for following the Twitter feeds of their staffers. I've embedded it below:

Paul Ryan: "This is not even close to what a recovery looks like"

Paul Ryan gave an interview earlier this morning in response to today's jobs report, which he slammed as "the result of failed leadership in Washington [and] bad fiscal policies coming from the administration:"

Excerpts from Paul Ryan's speech tonight

Here are some excerpts from the speech Paul Ryan will give tonight:

Paul Ryan's First Week, By The Numbers

"America's Comeback Team"

The Romney campaign sent out a memo earlier this morning, detailing some of the positive effects from Paul Ryan joining the ticket. The enthusiasm that I have been seeing online and hearing from fellow Republicans is backed up by hard numbers that show a clear enthusiasm for the Romney-Ryan ticket:

Awww. Poor Obama. Paul Ryan is stealing all of his thunder.

Lots of reasons to smile.

The internet exploded with excitement since Mitt Romney announced Paul Ryan as his running mate, with the new official Twitter account for the campaign, @PaulRyanVP, getting over 50,000 followers in the first day. The account now has almost 80,000.

The buzz translated in to real world effects too, with the thousands of conservatives using their wallets to show their pleasure with Romney's choice of Ryan. The campaign raised over $1.2 million in the first few hours after the announcement, and $3.5 million in the first 24 hours, as reported by campaign spokeswoman Andrea Saul:

ROMNEY-RYAN 2012 - November, here we come!

FoxNews.com graphic headlining their website this morning

It's official! Confirming what Twitter knew last night, Mitt Romney has confirmed that Paul Ryan will be his running mate. Here's the official press release from the campaign:

Don't wait for the app...IT'S RYAN! [UPDATED]

PLEASE SEE UPDATE AT BOTTOM OF POST...

Well, the promises from the Mitt VP app that we'd "get the exciting news before just about everyone else (except maybe Ann)" are up in smoke.

Romney VP Pick announced today!

Mitt Romney is announcing his running mate tomorrow morning...err...make that today, since it just passed midnight on the East Coast...

Anyway, it's official. Romney will announce his pick for vice president tomorrow in Norfolk, VA at 8:45 am. Excerpt from Romney digital team email I just received:

Paul Ryan for VP? Charter flight tracker might have the answer

UPDATE: Reports are saying that Romney will make the announcement at the U.S.S. Wisconsin, currently docked in Virginia, tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. Hmmm...the U.S.S. Wisconsin? Interesting...

At National Review a few hours ago, Robert Costa posted a link to a charter flight tracking website that showed a plane going from Boston to Janesville, Wisconsin earlier today:

Romney VP announcement coming soon...tomorrow?

 There has been endless speculation about who Mitt Romney will pick for his running mate - not just who he will pick, but when the announcement will be made. 

As TechPresident reported yesterday, watching Wikipedia to see whose biography page gets a sudden flurry of updates and edits may be a sign. Checking out airplane hangars was a source of intel in 2004, when an airplane mechanic saw John Edwards' name being added to John Kerry's plane.

The Romney campaign has launched an app for iPhone and Android, "Who Will Be Mitt's VP?", and they may have given an important clue at least about the timing of the announcement.

DON'T PANIC: A nerdy discussion about why we can calm down about Romney's VP pick

[Note: this is probably going to be one of the nerdiest posts about Romney's choice for vice president you'll read. Bear with me...]

Fans of Douglas Adams' comedic science fiction series The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy are familiar with the phrase, "DON'T PANIC." These two words are described in the books as being written "in large, friendly letters on the cover" of the electronic guide book that inspired the name of the series. Intergalactic travel is a complicated and dangerous endeavor, so a little reminder not to panic is a helpful concept.

I'm starting to think that all articles speculating about Mitt Romney's choice for vice president should be required to have a large "DON'T PANIC" label on them. Too many people seem to have lost the ability to discuss the topic with any sort of calmness or logic.

Surprise, surprise: MSM story about Rubio turns out to be false

Yawn, so predictable.

Yet another mainstream media story about Senator Marco Rubio, citing the infamous "unnamed sources," makes a claim about him that is proven to be demonstrably false within twenty four hours.

Job well done, New Jersey!

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Newark Mayor Cory Booker have made national news for both their efforts to reform government and their very active online personalities (follow on Twitter: @GovChristie and @CoryBooker). 

Last night, Christie tweeted a link to a hysterical little video featuring the two, which you really don't want to miss: