Paul Ryan bio emerges with insightful, unexpected stories

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The making of Paul Ryan

GOP vice presidential candidate's high school AP government shares memories of famous pupil

The Paul Ryan story -- with facts both random and revealing -- emerges and evolves as the Wisconsin congressman ascends the GOP ladder from the House’s top budget writer to vice presidential candidate.

When Ryan talks about his working-class understanding of business he would likely know – considering that at as high-schooler he worked the grill at McDonald’s.

“The manager didn’t think I had the social skills to work the counter,” Ryan says in an in-depth New Yorker interview published this month.

He also had a sales gig with Oscar Meyer in which he once got to drive the Wienermobile, according to The Daily Caller.

Other former jobs, likely more familiar to Capitol Hill types, are two Ryan held while getting his start on Capitol Hill -- drink server at the popular Tortilla Coast restaurant and trainer at the Washington Sport and Health Club, according to The Politico.

The 6-foot-2 Ryan, who weighs roughly 163 pounds, told the Los Angeles Times he wears a heart-rate monitor during workouts and tries to hit a target heart of 165 beats a minute.

His worst habit?  “I drink two cups of coffee every morning,” Ryan told the newspaper.

While Ryan’s grueling workouts are well known by now, National Public Radio reports that he also spends free time hunting, fishing and likes to listen to Led Zeppelin.

Ryan is married to Janna Little, a tax attorney who graduated from Wellesley College and the George Washington University Law School. The names of their three children are Elizabeth Anne, Charles Wilson and Samuel Lowery, according to Wikipedia.

Don’t bother looking for any personal information on Ryan’s Facebook page; it’s full on budget information, including a budget-deficit graph on the homepage.

That Ryan drew political inspiration from New York GOP Rep. Jack Kemp is well know. Yet The Buffalo News this weekend pulled from it a deep list of sources and thorough reporting to include this anecdote:

“Michael Caputo, a local Republican consultant who worked with Ryan and Kemp at Empower America, recalled gathering with former colleagues at Kemp’s funeral, and wondering who would claim Kemp’s mantle. Everyone agreed it would be Ryan – at which point the congressman entered and said: “Hi, guys,” the paper reports.