Ok, sure, Ryan once said he didn’t want to be Speaker—and then he rolled over.
But his repeated attempts to push away an unwanted GOP crown are gathering pace—while the talk shows float him as a possibility.
“Nope, but thanks for the clicks,” his communications director tweeted at Matt Drudge after Drudge pushed yet another headline suggesting Ryan was out to “steal” the nomination at the convention.
This is only the latest denial. Yet folks keep thinking the “draft Ryan” movement has a chance. It’s partly Paul’s fault. On March 15th, he responded to the question with “We’ll see,” which counts as “hell, yes,” in Washington-speak. But the next day, after a backlash, Ryan reversed with a screech of brakes:
Post Boehner news, Paul Ryan spox: "He will not accept a nomination and believes our nominee should be someone who ran this year." #2016
— Alex Moe (@AlexNBCNews) March 16, 2016
“Our nominee should be somebody who has run this year.”
When former Speaker Boehner backed him, Ryan had choice words:
“I saw Boehner last night and I told him to knock it off,” Ryan said. “I used slightly different words.”
Ryan looks like he’s starting to lose his temper over stories that Republican donor Charles Koch is insistent he’s the guy. He went on Hugh Hewitt’s radio show recently and said it directly:
“I do believe people put my name in this thing, and I say get my name out of that. I think you need to run for president if you’re going to be president, and I’m not running for president. So period, end of story.”
It would be very hard for Ryan to reverse himself. Oh Republicans, can’t you just accept it? No means no.
But the establishment could easily coalesce around Marco Rubio—who still has more states and more delegates than John Kasich—or indeed Kasich.
Paul Ryan is smart enough to know that as VP, he didn’t bring much to the ticket, and when Donald Trump got spanked in Wisconsin, one of the few places he took any delegates was Paul Ryan’s home district.
The dark horse may be Mitt Romney. Romney hasn’t “run,” but he has led the opposition to Donald Trump, and is seen by many as a force in the race. With events proving Romney right about everything he argued in 2012—Putin and ISIS in particular—Romney’s activism against Trump might, in the eyes of delegates, give him a good claim.
Still, the best bet for a unity ticket remains Cruz-Kasich: Ohio is a must-win state when the number you focus on is 270, not 1,237.
