House Ways and Means chairman Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., speaks with Roll Call in the House Ways and Means Committee room in the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, April 30, 2015.Bill Clark—CQ Roll Call
Former vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan is getting into the 2016 race—as a moderator.
The Wisconsin Republican plans to lead a January forum on opportunity with the 2016 hopefuls for the Jack Kemp Foundation. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina also plans to guide the forum, scheduled in his home state.
“There are few challenges tougher than the fight against poverty, and we need all hands on deck,” Ryan said in a statement. “I’m looking forward to exploring ideas about how we can expand opportunity in America.”
The candidates are not expected to appear on stage together, and the event falls outside the Republican National Committee’s list of sanctioned debates. All presidential candidates have been invited, the foundation said, but none have confirmed they will attend yet.
Ryan, the Chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee, was former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s running mate in 2012. Ryan declined to seek the nomination in 2016 and instead has focused on his job in the House.
He’s a natural fit to moderate the forum, which is scheduled for Jan. 9 and comes less than a month before Iowa has its leadoff caucuses. Ryan has been a leading voice inside his party on issues of urban development and poverty and he delivered a well-received speech on poverty during a visit to Cleveland during the 2012 campaign. The remarks came too late, however, to remedy Democrats’ unyielding criticism of the GOP nominees as too focused on the rich.
Jack Kemp, an NFL quarterback-turned-congressman, was the GOP’s vice presidential nominee in 1996 under Sen. Bob Dole. Like Romney-Ryan, the Dole-Kemp ticket came up short.
See the Covers of the 2016 Presidential Hopefuls' Memoirs
The cover of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's 2014 book "Hard Choices" is a classic of the political memoir genre: The politician's face, front and center with a strong but vague title beneath.Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina's 2007 book "Tough Choices" followed the same playbook as Clinton's, even down to the similar titles.Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson's 2014 book "One Nation" is a variation on the theme, the crossed arms and the subtitle underlining the message, since he's not been a politician before.Former New York Gov. George Pataki's 1998 autobiography, "Pataki," presents him as such a towering figure that he doesn't even need a regular title.Other politicians go for a softer touch with a more autobiographical book to help voters learn more about who they are, as in Florida Sen. Marco Rubio's 2013 memoir, "An American Son."South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham's 2015 e-book, "My Story," takes a similar approach.Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum's 2005 book, "Rick Santorum," is less autobiographical, but the cover also goes for the soft touch.Some books zero in on a specific image. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's 2015 book, "God, Guns, Grits and Gravy" and the photo of him, tieless, in a pastoral scene, sells him as an avatar of rural America.Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry's 2014 book defends the Boy Scouts, reinforcing the fact that he's an Eagle Scout and a cultural conservative.And business mogul Donald Trump's 1988 book, "The Art of the Deal," sells his image as a dealmaker so much that he still references it today.Other candidates aim to show they are leaders, as in Ohio Gov. John Kasich's 2006 book, "Stand for Something."Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul's 2015 book, "Taking a Stand," goes a similar route, though the subtitle, "Moving Beyond Partisan Politics," gives it a slightly different spin.Texas Sen. Ted Cruz's 2015 book also pitches him as a truth teller, with a casual portrait and the title "A Time for Truth."Former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee's 2010 book, "Against the Tide," also promotes him as willing to go it alone, in this case referencing his vote against the Iraq war.Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's 2014 book, "Unintimidated," goes the same route, promoting his fight against labor unions.Penguin Group/APAnd Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal's 2010 book, "Leadership and Crisis," adds a photo of first responders to bring to mind natural disasters.But the cover of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders' 1998 memoir shows that he really does go his own way. It breaks all the design rules, looking more like an airport thriller.
