Paul Ryan Will Run New Adds For House Campaign In Wisconsin

While Paul Ryan has his sights set on the Vice Presidency, it appears that the politician is covering all of his bases by releasing his first TV ads for his Wisconsin House of Representatives re-election campaign.

Ryan’s congressional campaign manager has confirmed that the Republican vice presidential nominee will spend $2 million on ads in both the Milwaukee and Madison media markets, reports The Washington Post.

While he is confident that he will be the nation’s next vice president, Ryan has apparently decided that a back up plan never hurt anyone.

Ryan’s new ads could also boost the GOP presidential ticket’s efforts in Wisconsin. While a Republican presidential nominee has not carried Wisconsin since 1984, polling has showed a competitive race so far in the 2012 election season.

Paul Ryan is able to run a dual campaign because of a Wisconsin law, which says that Congressional candidates may also run for president or vice president.

Wisconsin law allows Ryan to run for vice president and his House seat at the same time, but if he wins both contests he can only serve one office. CNN notes that the idea of running two campaigns at once is nothing new, however, as then Senator Joe Biden of Delaware also ran for re-election in 2008 while also running on then Senator Barack Obama’s Democratic ticket. He won both races, but resigned his Senate seat to serve as the nation’s vice president.

Then Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut did the same thing when he doubled as Vice President Al Gore’s running mate in 2000. They eventually lost, but Lieberman won re-election for his Congressional seat.

Paul Ryan’s House re-election campaign ads will come out the same week as the Romney campaign goes up with spots in Wisconsin.