Joan Walsh points out that few VPs candidates on losing tickets see their presidential aspirations take wing (FDR is the notable exception). Larison still sees an upside to how things are playing out:
Romney’s blundering in the last week makes it even easier to argue that Romney is solely responsible for most of the biggest mistakes of the campaign. Ryan’s presence on the ticket initially helped many disgruntled movement conservatives to get over most of their reservations about Romney’s nomination, and should the ticket lose it will serve as the focus of speculation about how things might have gone if only Ryan had been at the top of the ticket. We saw some of this in 2008 even before Obama won, and in Ryan’s case there would be even more of it. Even if a loss in 2012 ended Ryan’s future presidential chances, it could perversely secure his position among movement conservatives all the more.
But if Obama wins Wisconsin by 14 points, as the new Marquette University Law School poll [PDF] shows, all bets are off.
Dishhead bait: when was there a losing ticket that lost the home states of both its candidates? Mondale won Minnesota. Dukakis won Massachusetts. Bush I won Texas. Dole won Kansas. Kerry won Massachusetts. McCain won Arizona. But Romney will lose Massachusetts and probably Michigan, and, after a bounce, it looks as if Ryan could be buried as veep in Wisconsin. That's gotta hurt.
The Dish 