As practically every breathing person in America knows, it’s election time. But as opposed to focusing in on Warren, Romney, Brown or Obama, there are  additional candidates that informed voters should be considering: the Vice Presidents.

    The GOP  vice-presidential candidate, Paul Ryan, has, according to senior Connor Horgan, “been handling the media very poorly.”  More and more of Ryan’s past has been revealed since Romney announced him as his VP choice in August. Having paid for his college education at Miami University with the money he received from Social Security after his father’s death, Ryan is now being called a hypocrite after including in his platform his goals to privatize social security.

    Senior and AP Government student Marisa Marshalka said, “Obviously if you benefit from it, you shouldn’t be taking it away from other people.”

    However, as Scituate High School world history teacher Mr. McNeil phrased it, “Biden has a reputation within his own party of saying things he regrets. This can be a liability to the ticket.”

    If both potential VPs are such liabilities, why were they chosen for the candidacy in the first place? There are a variety of answers: to have good chemistry with the presidential candidate, to bring youth or experience to the ticket, and most importantly, to gain the support of swing states.

    According to whitehouse.gov, Biden is native to Delaware, excluding him from bringing swing states to the Obama campaign. If Biden were from a swing state, such as Ohio or Florida, state loyalty could have caused voters to support the Obama campaign. However, he had and has good chemistry with Obama, and brought a Washington insider’s experience to the presidential campaign of a one-term senator.

    To parallel this, Romney, a member of a genuine American political dynasty, chose a rising star as his VP, Paul Ryan. Ryan is a fresh and committed conservative to complement the ticket of an older moderate.

Meanwhile, senior and AP Government student, Connor Horgan, says that “both deal poorly with the media,” Biden will be a more popular choice for voters, due to his experience, which superstar Ryan lacks.

    Despite both of their failings with the press, for some people, these vice presidential candidates may be the reason a voter chooses to vote for a certain presidential candidate. Marshalka reminds voters that “You have to have your own opinion, and look at candidates with an open mind, not just make a choice based on the party.”