Ryan Headlines Branstad’s B-Day Bash

Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan suggests the G-O-P needs to be the party that proposes solutions — and he hinted at a bid of his own for the White House during a speech at Governor Branstad’s “Birthday Bash” fundraiser last(Saturday) night.

The last time Ryan was in Iowa it was the night before the election and he was Mitt Romney’s runningmate.
Ryan told the crowd he and the rest of the Romney team had been “in a funk for a good six months” after losing the election.  Ryan says Americans are now seeing “big government” in action through the failures of the Affordable Care Act.

Ryan told the crowd he’s “optimistic” about the Republican Party’s chances in 2014 and 2016, but he cautioned the G-O-P to be the party of “proposition” rather than “opposition.” Senator Chuck Grassley says Paul’s prospects as a 2016 presiderntial candidate “depend on how hard he wants to work.”

Governor Branstad says Ryan is an “ideas person” who is “really working hard to try to put together a bipartisan” budget deal in Washington, but Branstad now is not the time to talk presidential politics. About eight-hundred people gathered at the Palace Theater at Adventureland in Altoona for Branstad’s weekend fundraiser.