In the wake of Mitt Romney's selection of Rep. Paul Ryan as a running mate for the 2012 elections, there is one basic question to be answered at this point - does it really change anything in this year's race for the White House?
While Ryan is well known in political circles in Congress, he isn't exactly a household name around the country - so it's not like his selection is going to cause a huge block of undecided voters to suddenly move to Romney.
Because Ryan isn't really a household name, the attacks from the Obama campaign against the Wisconsin Republican - unless something crazy drops from the trees about Ryan's past - probably won't make that much difference either.
But the Ryan pick does sharpen the focus in this race in a number of ways.
Democrats had wanted to tie the "Ryan budget" to Romney - now they've been given that opening by Romney's selection of the guy who actually developed the Ryan budget.
Republicans wanted Romney to make a choice that would highlight the difficult choices they want to make on the budget and spending - in contrast, they argue to the President - and Ryan's choice certainly does that.
When you look at the vote ratings about Congress, Ryan is no conservative ideologue. The National Journal ratings for 2011 had him the 150th most conservative lawmaker in the House.
Critics inside the party quickly noted that Ryan voted for the Wall Street bailout, the original auto bailout and spending bills that didn't exactly cut the deficit.
But Ryan will get a pass with many of them simply because of what he did in the last two years, as he presented a budget plan that did lay the groundwork for difficult choices on spending and entitlement programs.
It's one reason Democrats from the top down are licking their chops at the idea of tying him directly to Mitt Romney.
President Obama on Saturday labeled Ryan "the ideological leader of the Republicans in Congress," which actually might make him appear a better selection to some Republicans who were looking for Marco Rubio, Bobby Jindal or someone else.
But unlike a lot of Republicans over the years, who talked a lot about spending cuts, Ryan actually laid out a plan to take a big chunk out of the deficit, though when you actually sit down and look at his plan, it doesn't achieve a balanced budget for about 40 years.
The Romney campaign on Saturday and Sunday churned out a steady stream of press releases that had favorable reviews of Ryan's choice, trying to make sure the party faithful give it a warm embrace.
"Courageous reformer," said Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL).
"Governor Romney and Congressman Ryan will focus this election on the issues that matter to the American people," said Rep. Tom Price (R-GA).
Gov. Mary Fallin of Oklahoma labeled Ryan "a smart, committed advocate" for policies that will create economic growth.
Democrats were also churning out their own battery of anti-Ryan releases, almost drooling at the thought of attacking the Republican duo on Ryan's plans for Medicare.
"There is no question that former Governor Romney now owns the Republican, Ryan budget that puts millionaires ahead of Medicare and the middle class," said Rep. Nancy Pelosi.
We will see if the polls show any shift - there might well be a short term boost for Romney that sometimes goes along with the choice of a running mate.
For now, what I see is that the Ryan pick only reinforces the arguments that the two parties were going to make anyhow.
The last time a member of the House was elected Vice President was 1932 - but that was a Speaker of the House.
The last time a regular member of the House was put on the winning ticket was in 1908.
We'll know in twelve weeks whether 2012 is more like 1908 or 1984 when Walter Mondale picked Rep. Geraldine Ferraro.
