Mitt Romney or Scott Walker?
It’s a question that Rep. Paul Ryan is likely to be asked a lot in the coming weeks as Romney, the 2012 nominee who tapped the congressman to be his vice presidential running mate, and Walker, the governor of his home state, gear up to seek the White House in 2016. Republican sources who have followed Ryan’s career suspect that if forced to choose, his loyalty to Romney and the close relationship they developed on the campaign trail would win out over Badger State pride.
But as it turns out, the Wisconsin Republican and newly minted House Ways and Means chairman has inoculated himself from having to choose.
On Tuesday, the Republican National Committee announced that Ryan would reprise a role he held for the party during the 2012 cycle when he served as chairman of its “Presidential Trust” fundraising program. The trust is the RNC’s premier vehicle for raising money to be spent in coordination with the eventual GOP presidential nominee’s campaign, and as such, Ryan is required to remain neutral in the primary.
Reince Priebus, the Wisconsin GOP chairman before winning the post of RNC chairman in 2011, with whom Ryan is close, made the appointment. The RNC’s announcement comes one day after Ryan publicized his decision not to run for president in 2016. Many political observers took note of the timing,and tied it in some measure to Romney’s move late last week to signal that he intends to make a third run for president.
However, 24 hours was hardly enough time for Priebus to finalize planning for the Presidential Trust. In fact, Republicans familiar with the program say its rollout has been planned for weeks. That means Ryan has probably known for some time that running the Ways and Means Committee, described as his dream job, held more allure than running for president.
