Paul Ryan (R): Obama said he would respond, then didn't, and never has...

Ryan updated the Roadmap for saving America from fiscal and economic collapse that he’d introduced in 2008...

[2010] was an even greater year for Ryan. His Roadmap began the year as an obscure plan to reform federal spending, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, the tax code, and health care, and became the most important statement of Republican aspirations in Washington. At the seven-hour White House summit on health care in February, Ryan took apart Obamacare in a six-minute speech that quickly went viral on the Internet. Obama said he would respond to Ryan at the summit, then didn’t, and never has.

Democrats were certain the Roadmap would be an albatross for Republican candidates. It wasn’t. After the election, the leaders of the president’s debt commission, Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, issued a plan that included parts of the Roadmap, especially its version of Social Security reform. And two weeks ago, Alice Rivlin, former budget director for President Clinton, backed Ryan’s ideas for reining in Medicare and Medicaid. Ryan, as chairman of the budget committee, will draft the House budget for next year...

Not Yet a Great Race