On Sat., Aug. 11, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney announced his pick of Rep. Paul Ryan, from the swing state of Wisconsin, as vice-presidential nominee. Ryan is best known for his austere budget plan, which was voted on by Congress earlier this year. Democrats nationally are now trying to tie Ryan's very conservative deficit-slashing plan to the local Congressmen and women who voted for it. In NY-19, the new Congressional district that includes the WGXC listening area with incumbent Chris Gibson (R-Kinderhook), that may be more difficult. "Freshman Republican Rep. Chris Gibson of Kinderhook, who is in a tossup re-election campaign in a redrawn Hudson Valley-Catskills district against Democratic attorney Julian Schreibman, instead voted for a bipartisan budget proposal for deficit reduction proposed by Democratic Rep. Jim Cooper of Tennessee and Republican Rep. Steve LaTourette of Ohio," reports Brian Tumulty in the Politics on the Hudson blog. CJ Macklin, Julian Schreibman's new press secretary, wants to clarify that, telling WGXC that, "Congressman Gibson actually did vote for the Ryan budget the first time it went to the floor and only voted against it the second time because it didn't reduce military spending enough." He says Schreibman would not have voted for either Ryan budget.