mitchell. andrea, i want to make a tiny little correction. a friend e-mailed and said, hey, the last house member picked on a national ticket was geraldine ferarro. 1984. andrea, your initial reaction, paul ryan, we've thought all the tea leaves were pointing to ryan over the last 48 hours but now that it appears that that's the case, your initial reaction to this picket, romney/ryan? >> my initial reaction is that this is the game changing option among the three finalists as we know it. i heard from a source who cannot confirm that it's ryan but knows that the other two have been told. so that the portman and pawlenty have been told that it is not they, according to this single source that is close to one of those republicans. >> another important piece of the puzzle. >> it's a piece of the puzzle. this is going to be controversial.