Paul Ryan

==2012 vice presidential campaign==
{{See also|Mitt Romney 2012 presidential campaign|2012 Republican Party vice presidential candidate selection}}
[[File:Paul Ryan with Mitt Romney in Norfolk, Virginia 8-11-12.jpg|thumb|[[Mitt Romney]] with Paul Ryan after introducing him as his running mate, for the 2012 presidential election, in [[Norfolk, Virginia]], on August 11, 2012]]

[[Dan Balz]] of ''[[The Washington Post]]'' wrote that Ryan was promoted as a candidate for vice president "by major elements of the conservative opinion makers, including ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'' editorial page, the ''[[Weekly Standard]]'' and the editor of ''[[National Review]]''".<ref name="Auto2A-129" />

On August 11, 2012, the Romney campaign announced Ryan as its choice for Vice President<ref>{{cite web |date=August 11, 2012 |title=Mitt Romney chooses Paul Ryan as running mate |url=https://www.boston.com/uncategorized/noprimarytagmatch/2012/08/11/mitt-romney-chooses-paul-ryan-as-running-mate}}</ref> through its "Mitt's VP" [[mobile app]].<ref name="Auto2A-130" /> It was reported that Romney had offered the position to Ryan on August 1, 2012,<ref name="Auto2A-131" /> the day after returning from a foreign policy trip to the United Kingdom, [[Poland]], and [[Israel]].<ref name="Auto2A-132" /> On August 11, 2012, Ryan formally accepted Romney's invitation to join his campaign as his running mate, in front of the [[USS Wisconsin (BB-64)|USS ''Wisconsin'']] in Norfolk.<ref name="NYTimes" /> Ryan is the first individual from [[Wisconsin]]<ref name="Auto2A-133" /> as well as the first member of [[Generation X]]<ref name="jhicks">{{cite news |last1=Hicks |first1=Josh |date=August 19, 2012 |title=How much will Paul Ryan influence Generation X? |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-much-will-paul-ryan-influence-generation-x/2012/08/19/4df618e8-e7c2-11e1-8487-64e4b2a79ba8_story.html |access-date=July 24, 2016 |quote=There is no consensus definition of Generation X, but it comprises the post-[[Baby boomers|baby boom]] generation, born roughly between the mid-1960s and early-1980s. As such, Ryan is the first clear-cut, indisputable member of this demographic to run on a presidential ticket.}}</ref> to run on a [[List of United States major party presidential tickets|major party's national ticket]].

Also in August 2012, the [[Associated Press]] published a story saying that while the [[Tea Party movement]] had wanted a nominee other than Romney, it had gotten "one of its ideological heroes" in the vice presidential slot. According to the article, Ryan supports the Tea Party's belief in "individual rights, distrust of big government and an allegorical embrace of the Founding Fathers".<ref name="Auto2A-23" />

According to a statistical-historical analysis conducted by [[Nate Silver]], "Ryan is the most conservative Republican member of Congress to be picked for the vice-presidential slot since at least 1900" and "is also more conservative than any Democratic nominee [for vice president who previously served in the Congress] was liberal, meaning that he is the furthest from the center" of any vice presidential candidate chosen from Congress since the turn of the 20th century.<ref name="Silver Stats" />

Political scientist Eric Schickler commented that while Ryan "may well be the most conservative vice presidential nominee in decades," the NOMINATE methodology "is not suited to making claims about the relative liberalism or conservatism of politicians" over a long time span.<ref name="Mahtesian" /> A ''USA Today''/[[The Gallup Organization|Gallup]] poll found that 39% thought Ryan was an "excellent" or "pretty good" vice presidential choice, compared to 42% who felt he was a "fair" or "poor" choice.<ref name="Auto2A-134" />

Ryan formally accepted his nomination at the [[2012 Republican National Convention]] on August 29, 2012.<ref name="Auto2A-135" /> In his acceptance speech, he promoted [[Mitt Romney]] as the presidential candidate, supported repeal of the [[Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act]] (PPACA),<ref name="NationalJournal" /> said that he and Romney had a plan to generate 12 million new jobs over the ensuing four years, and promoted founding principles as a solution: "We will not duck the tough issues—we will lead. We will not spend four years blaming others—we will take responsibility. We will not try to replace our founding principles, we will reapply our founding principles."<ref name="NationalJournal" />

The speech was well received by the convention audience and praised for being well-delivered.<ref name="RyanPromises" /><ref name="Paul Ryan Republican" /> Some fact-checkers purported that there were important factual omissions and that he presented details out of context.<ref name="Auto2A-136" /><ref name="Auto2A-137" /><ref name="Auto2A-138" /><ref name="wapo-bitter" /> Conservative media (including [[Jennifer Rubin (journalist)|Jennifer Rubin]] of ''The Washington Post'',<ref name="Auto2A-139" /> the ''[[Investor's Business Daily]]'',<ref name="Auto2A-140" /> and [[Fox News]]<ref name="Auto2A-141" />) disputed some of the fact-checkers' findings. Of 33 of Ryan's statements which Politifact.com suspected of being false or misleading, it rated 10.5% as True, 18% as Mostly True, 21% as Half True, 36% as Mostly False, 9% as False, and 6% as Pants on Fire.<ref name="Auto2A-142" /> On October 11, 2012, Ryan debated his Democratic counterpart, incumbent Vice President [[Joe Biden]], in [[United States presidential election debates, 2012|the only vice presidential debate]] of the 2012 election cycle.<ref name="Auto2A-143" /><ref name="Auto2A-144" />

Romney and Ryan lost the 2012 presidential election, but Ryan retained his seat in the House of Representatives.<ref name="Auto2A-145" /><ref name="Auto2A-146" />