Call Me Stormy

Paul Ryan for VP

Mitt Romney named US Rep Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) as his vice presidential running mate Saturday morning in Norfolk, Va. The announcement was made in front of the USS Wisconsin, with Romney vowing to present solutions to the nation’s economic woes “that are bold, specific and achievable.” He further pledged, “We offer our commitment to create 12 million new jobs and bring better take home pay to middle class families.”

Ryan, 42, serves as chairman of the House Budget Committee and has been identified with efforts to rein in federal spending and control entitlement costs. He is a conservative, pro-life, Irish-German Catholic from Janesville, Wis. He and his wife, Janna, have three children — Elizabeth, Charles and Samuel. He once said, “The reason I got involved in public service, by and large, if I had to credit one thinker, one person, it would be Ayn Rand.”

Earlier this year, Ryan outlined how the Republicans could win back the White House in 2012, while delivering the keynote address at the George W. Bush Presidential Center’s Tax Policies for 4% Growth conference at the New York Historical Society.