With his pick of U.S. Representative Paul Ryan as his running mate, Mitt Romney now agrees with President Barack Obama on at least one thing: this election is about big choices.

One set of choices involves the amount and pace of long-term deficit reduction, which Congress must decide by the end of this year for at least a 10-year period or trigger a 10-year, $1.2 trillion “sequestration” of funds for discretionary programs. About half would come from defense; the rest from domestic programs that weren’t exempted from the across-the-board cuts.

Both candidates and their advisers know that any long-term deal must somehow address the rising costs of the three big sequester exemptions -- the entitlement programs of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.