Wednesday, Dec. 07, 2011
Paul Ryan
In terms of an official announcement, Wisconsin Representative Paul Ryan's hat is so far outside of the ring that it's not even in the same county. The fresh-faced GOP young gun has never publicly entertained the prospect of a White House bid, and his deep-cutting federal-budget proposal, which included a plan to voucherize enormously popular health care entitlements, not only failed to pass the Senate this year but also sent Republican congressional candidates scrambling to defend themselves from a Democratic "Mediscare" campaign. Of course, that didn't stop GOP pundits like the Weekly Standard's Bill Kristol from breathlessly speculating that a Ryan run was just around the corner.