BREAKING: Wisconsin’s Paul Ryan said to be Mitt Romney’s vice presidential pick

Break­ing news this evening: A num­ber of media out­lets are report­ing that the 2012 Repub­li­can tick­et has now been set with pre­sump­tive pres­i­den­tial nom­i­nee Mitt Rom­ney’s selec­tion of U.S. Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Paul Ryan to be his run­ning mate. Ryan, who rep­re­sents Wis­con­sin’s 1st Dis­trict and chairs the House Com­mit­tee on Bud­get, is well-liked by move­ment and estab­lish­ment con­ser­v­a­tives alike.

Ryan is the author of the epony­mous (and infa­mous) Ryan bud­get, which would end Medicare as we know it and crip­ple many oth­er vital pub­lic ser­vices that are vital to Amer­i­ca’s eco­nom­ic secu­ri­ty and well-being.

Rom­ney report­ed­ly set­tled on Ryan after rul­ing out sev­er­al oth­er names on his short list, includ­ing Sen­a­tor Mar­co Rubio of Flori­da, for­mer Gov­er­nor Tim Paw­len­ty of Min­neso­ta, and Sen­a­tor Rob Port­man of Ohio.

Rom­ney is set to make the announce­ment ear­ly tomor­row morn­ing in Nor­folk, Vir­ginia, with the USS Wis­con­sin as a back­drop. The Wis­con­sin is an Iowa-class bat­tle­ship that served in World War II, the Kore­an War, and even the First Gulf War before it was decom­mis­sioned and turned into a muse­um ship. The announce­ment is expect­ed at 8:45 AM Eastern/5:45 AM Pacific.

The Rom­ney cam­paign report­ed­ly has sent a pri­vate jet from Boston to Ryan’s home­town of Janesville, Wis­con­sin to fer­ry Rom­ney’s V.P. pick to Norfolk.

Judg­ing by the ear­ly reac­tion on Twit­ter, strate­gists for Barack Oba­ma are rel­ish­ing the prospect of being able to attach the Ryan bud­get to Mitt Rom­ney like an anvil. And pro­gres­sive activists seem about as enthused about a Romney/Ryan tick­et as con­ser­v­a­tives have been pri­or to tonight’s break­ing news.

If it’s real­ly Ryan, Rom­ney will have picked one of the only peo­ple who could have had an impact in the race. But, not the way he wants.

— Bill Bur­ton (@billburton716) August 11, 2012

Who’s call­ing the shots? The base sends Mitt his march­ing orders on VP. nyti.ms/MCbyjD

— David Axel­rod (@davidaxelrod) August 10, 2012

As a Wis­con­si­nite, I can con­fi­dent­ly say that Paul Ryan is a mani­ac mas­querad­ing as a rea­son­able man.

— nilay patel (@reckless) August 11, 2012

Paul Ryan is the one VP pick who can unite lib­er­al and con­ser­v­a­tive Amer­i­ca. #Coupon­sCoupon­sCoupons

— Rachel Mad­dow MSNBC (@maddow) August 11, 2012

Paul Ryan was a speech­writer for Bob Dole’s VP choice, Jack Kemp, in 1996. So apt because Mitt Rom­ney is Bob Dole with a $50M IRA.

— Matt Orte­ga (@MattOrtega) August 11, 2012

Rom­ney’s announce­ment comes on a week­end packed with sport­ing events, includ­ing the PGA Tour and the final two days of the Olympics. Rom­ney is set to embark on a mul­ti-state bus tour fol­low­ing tomor­row morn­ing’s announce­ment — pos­si­bly with Ryan along­side him.