A noticeable shift in momentum in the presidential race took place the moment Gov. Mitt Romney named Congressman Paul Ryan as his VP pick. Grassroots conservatives who feared Romney might do otherwise with his choice were heartened by addition of a proven and energetic conservative to the ticket. 

Today, in an attempt to regain some momentum, the Obama campaign has returned to the tired practice of demanding that Romney release five years of tax returns. The intent is to create the illusion that Romney has something to hide, and to use that illusion to distract from the economic disaster Obama's policies have wrought.

Romney is not obligated to release the returns. In fact, he would be crazy to do so, as Obama & Co. only want to get their hands on them in order to go through them line by line and extrapolate talking points with which to distract even further from Obama's failures.

On the other hand, reasonable people still want to know why Obama was rarely seen on campus by any of his classmates at Columbia. Was he given privileges or a special status others did not receive? If so, how did he get that status? Did he earn his grades or where they simply given to him? What kind of grades were they? (The list of questions goes on and on...)

Here's what I say: When Obama says "show your taxes" Romney ought to simply respond "show your transcripts." It will be interesting to see how quickly Obama quits asking for tax returns to be shown.