NORFOLK, Va. - The announcement came early Saturday morning - Mitt Romney has chosen Paul Ryan for the number 2 spot on the GOP ticket.

With the USS Wisconsin as a backdrop, the official announcement was broadcast on traditional network television. But many learned of the VP choice early on through "Mitt's VP" app.

In introducing his choice of a running mate, Romney said "we offer our commitment to create 12 million new jobs and to strengthen the middle class...champion small business...and to achieve energy independence. We will work to preserve and protect Medicare and reform health care by repealing Obamacare" he said.

Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan, 42, is best known as the chairman of the House Budget Committee and has been a House member since 1999.

In his first comments to the crowd at Norfolk as the presumptive Republican VP choice, Ryan said "Governor Romney and I will restore the greatness of this country. I have been asked to serve the country that I love. It is our duty to save the American dream for our children and theirs."

Romney said he was looking for someone with "a strength of character" and "a vision for the country that adds something to the political discourse about the direction of the country".

In March, Ryan led House Republicans in releasing a budget plan that would repeal President Obama's health care law, cut billions in spending and overhaul the federal tax code in order to reduce - but not eliminate - the federal deficit over the next 10 years.

The Obama administration claims Ryan's plan would "end Medicare as we know it" and called it "thinly veiled social Darwinism."