Mitt Romney got exactly what he wanted from picking Paul Ryan as his running mate — a campaign kicked into overdrive.
In the week since the Wisconsin congressman joined the ticket, the campaign has pulled in $10 million in online donations, Romney campaign manager Matt Rhoades said yesterday.
Traffic to the Romney campaign Web site spiked to 2 million visitors, and more than 124,000 of them made donations. More than two-thirds of those donors were new contributors.
More than 860,000 people have “liked” Ryan’s campaign Facebook page, and his new Twitter account, @PaulRyanVP, has more than 120,000 followers.
More than 45,000 people have signed up online to volunteer for the campaign, a memo from Rhoades says.
“It’s clear that [Ryan] has reshaped the race in a positive way,” Rhoades said.
“The Obama team’s increasing vitriol is a sure sign that they’re rattled by the pick. Unable to engage in an elevated policy debate, they’ve spent the past few days drowning in their own venom.”
Ryan this week has been rallying supporters in the swing states of Colorado, Ohio and Nevada.
Romney yesterday took a 2-point lead over Presdient Obama, 47-45 percent, in a national tracking poll by Gallup.
The Republican White House hopeful was in a New York state of mind last night as he hobnobbed on Long Island with the gentry at Southampton’s posh Sebonack Golf Club. He collected $3.5 million from supporters who had plunked down $25,000 apiece.
And he marveled that two rival football-team owners — Woody Johnson of the Jets and Steve Ross of the Miami Dolphins — had joined forces for his cause.
“Having Steve Ross and Woody Johnson in the same room at the same time, given the rivalry with their respective teams, is something else,” Romney said.
Former New York Sen. Alfonse D’Amato also attended.
Meanwhile, Ryan stumped yesterday in the battleground state of Virginia, where another poll showed Romney advancing to a 3-point lead over Obama, 48-45 percent.
Ryan blasted the president for allegedly engaging in “corporate welfare and crony capitalism” and pushing a plan that seeks to pay for it with higher taxes on small businesses.
Ryan also released two years of his tax returns yesterday. The Midwesterner and his wife paid an effective federal tax rate of 20 percent on $323,000 income in 2011. Romney paid 15 percent on more than $20 million income last year.