Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, right, and vice presidential running mate Rep. Paul Ryan R-Wis. arrive at Wilson Air Field in Charlotte, N.C. on Saturday, Aug. 11, 2012Read Chattanooga area lawmakers react to Paul Ryan’s nomination
NORFOLK, Va. – After Mitt Romney decided on a running mate, Paul Ryan’s carefully planned transition from congressman to vice presidential candidate began – in deep secret.
Almost a week ago, Ryan snuck through Chicago’s O’Hare airport in a baseball cap and sunglasses and flew to New England. A Romney adviser’s 19-year-old son picked up Ryan and drove him to a private meeting in his parents’ dining room where the deal was sealed.
By Friday afternoon, Ryan was cutting through the Wisconsin woods behind his home to evade a reporter on the street out front, and heading to North Carolina. By night, he was eating Applebee’s takeout at a nondescript chain hotel in that state and preparing for his big debut speech.
All this, so that no one would see it coming: A Saturday morning unveiling of the GOP ticket in Norfolk outside the USS Wisconsin, the battleship named for Ryan’s home state, as the sweeping theme from the movie “Air Force One” played.