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Following prodigious leaks, an iPhone announcement, and a press release, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney appeared before a crowd in Norfolk, Virginia, to introduce Americans to Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), his selection as vice presidential running mate. The former Massachusetts Governor made the big pitch in front of the battleship USS Wisconsin , a nod to Ryan’s home state. The Ryan pick will dominate political news for the next several weeks, re-opening the discussion of Ryan’s budget proposal, which is very popular with conservatives. Ryan, a seven-term congressman from Wisconsin’s First Congressional District, was among the riskier of the choices on Romney’s shortlist. Romney was introduced by former Veep short-lister and Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell , who fired up the crowd by taking a few shots at President Obama . He also name-checked former president Ronald Reagan, saying “We’ve got that Romney, Reagan enthusiasm!” Romney emerged to chants of “Mitt! Mitt! Mitt!” ...

Alexia Tsotsis is the co-editor of TechCrunch. She attended the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, CA, majoring in Writing and Art, and moved to New York City shortly after graduation to work in the Media industry. After four years of living in New York and attending courses at New York University, she returned to Los Angeles in... ? Learn More Guys, guys, so because everybody obviously wants to party with Josh Constine, tickets to the TechCrunch annual summer party at August Capital are sold out. In case you want a backdoor way in, don’t know a guy and don’t want to scale the fence, our Facebook Ecosystem CrunchUp tickets are still on sale, though we’ve only got a few left so yeah, roll the dice. In addition to giving you a pass to what promises to be a very intellectually stimulating CrunchUp, the tix offer you entrance to our Sand Hill Road shindig, a get-together which, in accordance with typical Silicon Valley party fare, we’re unofficially calling “Crouching Tige...

Alexia Tsotsis is the co-editor of TechCrunch. She attended the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, CA, majoring in Writing and Art, and moved to New York City shortly after graduation to work in the Media industry. After four years of living in New York and attending courses at New York University, she returned to Los Angeles in... ? Learn More Many people in tech balk that this kind of fun culture stuff, both the reporting of it and the doing of it, is not “serious,” arguing tautology. It’s not serious for a reason dummy, it’s what people do for fun. You wanted a tautological argument, so there you go. I for one am in love with the culture surrounding startups as well as the bumbling, subjective “journalistic” coverage of it. The fashion, music, memes, parties, artwork, literature, etc of tech, love it all — And I especially love the fact that taking it seriously pisses people off like no other. From this post about VC socks, to this post about swag, to this post abou...