parents. it doesn't matter if you're gay or straight. we do it for free. >> he figured out how to get us over that finish line. our family wouldn't have adopted each other if it hadn't been for david. >> i'm fighting for the right of that child to have that family. >> daddy, is tonight movie night? >> it's why i keep doing it every single day. and this is a cnn special, paul ryan in-depth. he's the man of the hour, hand picked by presidential candidate mitt romney to join him on the republican ticket. i'm joined by cnn's chief national correspondent john king. he's in waukesha, wisconsin right now. of course, it's paul ryan's home state. i think you're 50 miles from janesville, which is paul ryan's district. his supporters are gathering there in waukesha for a warm welcome. tell me about the crowd. >> there's quite a large crowd

here. they're going through the preliminary speakers now. you see a big crowd behind me. trust me, it runs out there way as well and over this way. this is the wisconsin homecoming. paul ryan and mitt romney landed just a short time ago. paul ryan said it was great to be home. he said he's been flying into the airport in milwaukee for the 14 years he's been in the united states congress. never has he returned home for a welcome like this. he now will be the republican vice presidential nominee. we're in a state that's been democratic for a long time. these republicans here think because of the romney pick of paul ryan, because of the election buzz in this state this year, the republican governor recently survived that bruising recall election, they think it's possible they can put wisconsin back in the republican column. a big homecoming for paul ryan here in wisconsin. these people know him quite well. the american people are just getting to know the coressman, the house budget committee chairman, sometimes controversial. mitt romney asked him to join the ticket. the republican ticket traveled

here from high point, north carolina. another state that barack obama carried four years ago that's critical to the republican strategy of taking back the white house. mitt romney leads the ticket, but as we try to get to know paul ryan better, let's listen to paul ryan earlier from north carolina. >> we have a clear choice of two futures. are we going to accept the status quo, accept the path that president obama has put us on with government taking over health care, government taking over all these different aspects of our economy, washington picking winners and losers in our economy, putting us on a path of debt, putting us on a path of doubt and decline, or are we going to get america back on trackturn this economy around, get people back to work, and leave our children a better future? [ cheers and applause ] we can turn this around. we can do this. we can get this country back on track. we can get people back to work. we can get our debt paid off so

our children inherit a better standard of living than we got because that's what our parents did for us. so there you hear paul ryan earlier today. that's high point, north carolina. he'll be here in wisconsin momentarily. you hear the excitement building in this crowd. this is a critical part of the state, as you well know. milwaukee votes democratic. these are the suburbs around milwaukee. reliably republican. they don't just need margins. they need big turnouts. barack obama carried the state, 56% to 43%. we'll see how it plays out in the 86 days ahead, but this crowd here tonight thinks that with the energy paul ryan brings to the ticket in this state we might have an interesting race. >> you know, john, i think he's also bringing money in for them. according to the campaign tonight, they've raised about $4.8 million since ryan has been on the ticket. i don't know about you. in watching mitt romney, he kind

of looks relieved, doesn't he? like he has somebody else standing next to him to carry the message. >> reporter: paul ryan is the same age as mitt romney's oldest son. there's a little bit of a generational signal here. a lot of republicans yesterday saw the optics of this. the introduction in norfolk, virginia. paul ryan seemed to get more looser as the day went on. north carolina today. wisconsin tonight. then paul ryan will break off. we'll see him solo campaigning through the state of iowa tomorrow. they like the energy. they like the youthful vigor. they know there are going to be some huge, huge debates about federal spending priority, the ryan budget, which would trim the medicare budget. we're going to see if this man is up to the challenge. what the republican ticket believes already is they've changed the tone of the debate to make it about bigger issues. we had the bain debate for a long time. this will be about bigger issues for now. >> well, you know, one thing we know for sure is tt paul ryan got the attention of barack obama today. the president mentioned him by name at a fundraiser, so he's

clearly aware, and i think he's looking forward to talking about paul ryan a bit. take a listen to this. yesterday morning my opponent chose his running mate. the ideological leader of the republicans in congress. mr. paul ryan. i want to congratulate -- no, no, no. look, i want to congratulate congressman ryan. i know him. i welcome him to the race. congressman ryan is a decent man. he's a family man. he is an articulate spokesman for governor romney's vision. but it's a vision that i fundamentally disagree with. >> john, it seems to me like the president cannot wait to start talking about paul ryan's vision. the question of medicare. you know, seniors are a very, very important constituency. the democrats lost in the 2010

midterm elections. they're dying to get them back. they see this as a huge opening. >> reporter: it's fascinating, gloria. we stopped by the organizing for america, the obama campaign's office here in wisconsin. they expect to be beat here in the suburbs. one of the volunteers when we walked in was asking the office manager, she said we need more information on paul ryan's record so i can rebut people when i meet them. because they say they are so proud in fact, they're already doing that. of the state of wisconsin. we just heard from the president there. his campaign staff today had a new script. they're calling voters around the states. in that script they were saying, you might like paul ryan, you might think this is good for wisconsin, but we urge you to take a look at his budget and what it does. >> today david axelrod came out and called paul ryan a right-wing idealog. seems to me like they are trying

to put ryan at the top of the ticket, as opposed to him being number two. they want to define mitt romney by the ryan budget plan, and romney's people are saying, no, no, no, mitt romney's going to have his own budget. >> reporter: well, look, what david axelrod is trying to do is motivate the democratic left base. what governor romney is doing is signaling he thinks this will be a based election. john kerry versus george w. bush back in 2003. in 2004, which party could best motivate its base from now to election day? this is more looking like that race than the mccain/obama race. if you go to the polls, some people think it could be as close as another race, bush v. gore. there's no question. both parties think the key to this election is getting turnout among your base. they believe the middle of the electorate is increasingly shnking. >> one of the problems i think the romney campaign has in trying to describe paul ryan, is

romney has called himself an outsider. paul ryan is somebody who is a product of washington. i think most people will agree. but today mitt romney tried to describe paul ryan as a reluctant candidate, somebody who put his own private career on hold to serve in washington, but he made it sound like he wasn't really as interested in washington as we've seen here from where i sit. take a listen to this. >> his can career ambition was not to go to washington. that is not what he wanted to do, but he became concerned about what was happening in the country and wanted to get america back on track. so he put aside the plans he had for his career and said, i'm going to go and serve. he's gone there. he's put the country and policies to get america right again ahead of ambition. he planned on doing something else with his career, but, you know, he looked at the country and recognized the real

challenges we had and decided to go and try and make a difference. so he went to washington not to get along with everybody but instead to bring some new ideas and to help bring people together on both sides of the aisle. >> john, does he seem a reluctant washington person to you, paul ryan? >> reporter: you know, not so much. look, paul ryan served as a staff member on capitol hill. a wisconsin republican senator. he served jack kemp and bill bennett at the conservative think tank in the '90s. when he was in his 20s -- he was elected to congress when he was 28. when he was younger than that, he told people he was going to build a little washington experience and go home and run for congress. so when he was in his early 20s, he was planning, yes, to come home to wisconsin, but to come back to washington. so to call him reluctant warrior in washington is a bit of a stretch, shall we say. not to disparage public service. paul ryan has been in public

service for 14 years now. but he's there because he wanted to be, and he wanted to be ther at a very young age. we're told the romney/ryan bus is on its way here, about five minutes away. a large crowd here. some cheese heads in the crowd here in wisconsin. eagerly awalting the arrival of the republican ticket. >> it's very clear to me that paul ryan always wand to be on this ticket. when i asked him about it months ago, he didn't turn it down and say, you know, we'll have to take things as they come. it's clear to me that paul ryan is somebody political. he's ambitious. nothing wrong with that. was even thinking about running for the presidency himself. now, john, i think he's going to have a homecoming in a few minutes like none he's ever seen before. the bus is just a few minutes away. we're going to stay here and wait for his return. joining the republican ticket, coming home to the state of wisconsin. i think four years ago, who could have imagined paul ryan

rising to these heights? we're going to take a look at who he is and we're going to listen to him and listen to mitt romney right ahead. [ bell tolls ]

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sz it's a great ticket, a terrific pick. by governor romney and congress ryan is bringing energy to the ticket and he's got a clear, specific vision, an adult approach to solving the nation's problems and you don't see that from the president a his team. >> welcome back to our cnn special. paul ryan in depth. you just heard there tim pawlenty.

he was one of the men on the short list. a good friend of governor romney's. governor romney called him first among those he considered several days before he called the others to tell them he decided to go in a different direction. now governor pawlenty saying he'll be a good soldier, continuing to fight on for the romney/ryan ticket. i'm john king in waukesha, wisconsin. the bus arrived here just moments ago. a giant crowd on hand here to welcome paul ryan home. the first rally in this state since governor romney announced him yesterday as his choice to share the republican ticket. the people of this state know paul ryan well. the the people of the country, maybe if they've followed big budget debates, but to most americans, paul ryan is largely unknown so listen here as paul ryan, as mitt romney introduced him yesterday, at the first stop at the u.s.s. wisconsin. you get na? that? in norfolk, washington. paul ryan discussing his family.

>> it's where i was born and raised and i never really left it. it's our home now. for the last 14 years, i have proudly represented wisconsin in congress. there i have focused on solving the problems that confront our country. my dad died when i was young. he was a good and decent man. there are a few things he would say that just always stuck with me. he'd say, son, you're either part of the problem or the solution. regrettably, president obama has become pt he proem and tt romy is t sn. rs and applause ] >> now, that was pl ryann norfolk, virginia, at the unveiling. here we are in waukesha, wisconsin. they're waiting for him to speak here. now, why would governor romney decide to put ryan on the ticket? there is no question of his knowledge on the budget. governor romney wants a debate

with the president of the united states about taxes, spending, about how to revive the economy, about how to cut the federal deficit. he has decided paul ryan is that man. he has energized the conservative base. you can see that here. the conservative base, very, very energized here in waukesha, wisconsin. 42 years old. he also brings some youthful vigor to the ticket. the question now going forward is, is that enough? is that enough? some will question his experience. many will question his proposals, but the two candidates are here at the rally. we'll watch what happens in wisconsin. this could be our first test case. if they can move the numbers here in their favor when they see that the ryan pick, people pick presidents, not vice president, but we'll see how much of an impact paul ryan can have. >> i think there was some thinking in the romney campaign, john, that if they were going to win the election by just saying that president obama's economy is bad, they would have been a little higher in the polls than they are right now. so i think a decision was made that they needed to do, to have

another plan and that would be to have a vision for the future and go big. which is what they're doing with paul ryan. they're not only saying okay, president obama's economy bad, but here is our long-term plan for the future and i guarantee you that at some point, they're going to be saying to president obama, where is your long-term plan to save entitlement programs important to senior citizens? where is your long-term plan on tax reform? by the way, paul ryan is for tax reform, but we're not sure what taxes he would raise as a part of that. so i think this is a way they can kind of say to the obama campaign, okay, guys, we need to get you on the record on things that are important to voters, particularly independent voters in this country. >> i think that's exactly right. look, the race was very competitive. the polls have drifted a bit in the president's favor,

especially the national polls in recent days, but the romney campaign and governor romney himself made calculations to make the race about something bigger. we've had this debate, mitt romney, wealthy man, the president said he won't release his taxes. he ran this company that shut down factories. he doesn't care for the middle class. that's what the president has been saying. governor romney has been saying mr. president, you had tlae years p, your approach to reviving the economy was a stimulus program that failed. it was sometimes petty and often personal debate. now what do you have? by embracing paul ryan, now, he says he's not embracing every spending number, every cut, but he is making this a bigger campaign now. the question is can they keep it as a big campaign if they're debating every line of the ryan budget, the republicans may lose this election, but if they can make it about the economies in trouble, it's time to make big, tough choices. the republicans believe they can win and the reason is they look at 2010, they lookt the recall

election here where governor walker had a run-in with the labor unions. he did cut back on their benefits, and he won that election even though labor and the democrats poured in all that money. they think if they can make it about yes, it's tough choices. some are controversial. some may hurt, but they theed to be made if they keep it up here and not in the weeds of the ryan budget, they think they can change this race. >> i think in the week after that walker win, paul ryan's chances for the vice presidential nod certainly got a lot better, don't you think, john? i mean, if i'm a republican, i'm looking at that win in the state of wisconsin going, okay, maybe we can win that state and paul ryan is the guy that can do it for us. okay, and it's been an extraordinary week as we know for paul ryan. we're waiting for bus to pull up with him, but right after this, we're going to show you the nservative congressman as you've never seen him, and his life may never be the same. so, who was paul ryan before

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i'm john king live in waukesha, wisconsin. welcome back to our special cnn coverage, paul ryan in depth. paul ryan, mitt romney's choice to share the republican ticket, to be the vice presidential nominee for the gop to speak at this boisterous rally just momentarily. speaking now is ron johnson, a 2010 tea party favorite, business man. proof he just told this crowd that wisconsin can become a red state again. now, wisconsin has a big role in our national politics thisear. up next will be reince pebus. he's the republican national committee chairman. he happens to be from the state of wisconsin. then scott walker, the republican governor, will speak. he is now known across america because of that big recall battle. he just survived a race over

recall of benefits with the labor unions. and governor walker will introduce the man mitt romney hopes will be the next vice president of the united states. a large crowd here. gloria borger joins me from washington and it is interesting to see the state has been democratic for so long, having so many republican faces. they hope that means they can turn this stays from blue in presidential politics. purple at the moment, you might say. they want to make it red come november. >> john, they really, really hope they can make the state of wisconsin red. it is not anything the romney campaign was counting on, but now, i think they have it in their sights. everybody in wisconsin knows who paul ryan is, but most of the country doesn't. we're going to tell you a little bit about him. he's only 42 years old, and he's somebody who never felt he had a lot of time to accomplish his goals. and given his family history, you can understand why. and ryan is a man in a hurry. in washington, he bunks in his congressional office. it's cheaper, near work and

closer to the house gym. which is good, since he's a fitness bu, who got some of his colleagues hooked on a grueling exercise routine called p90x. in a a, he owes his devotion to fitness to his father. when he was a teen. your dad was 55. when he died and you were -- 16. >> 16. >> how did that affect you? you say you're more sensible. >> you know, yeah. i was a young kid working at mcdonald's that summer. my mom was out visiting my sister who got a job in denver. i went to wake him up in the morning, he wasn't alive. >> you found him. >> so i basically had to learn to sink or swim. my grandmother who had alzheimer's, moved in with us at the time, then my mom and i took care of her. my mom went back to school to learn a skill.

i did a lot of growing up very fast. made me very, i'd say initiative prone. live life to its fullest because you never know how long it's going to last. >> but y had the the opportunity to run for president at the age of 41 if you're in a hurry. >> nice boomerang on that. >> and you said no. >> sure because i think there are other good people who can do this job, but other good people who can't raise my kids. >> that didn't stop the push to try and draft ryan to run. the argument is simple. he's proven he can take on the president. >> paul, look -- >> it's just a difference in philosophy. it is. >> this is an important point. >> bill bennett says that ryan really flashed on to the president's radar after some fiery exchanges at his health care summit. >> you can tell barack obama took notice, took the measure of him. paul ryan was in his brain a little bit. >> actually, a lot.

the white house seated paul ryan right up front at the president's budget speech in april and then proceeded to denounce his plan. >> simply, it ends medicare as we know it. >> what i was thinking you know what? we're getting divided government to work. we're actually compromising, getting things done. so what i got out of that was politico mode, demagoguery and sort of nullify the notion there's an alternative path for this country. >> with neither side budging, ryan had settled in. >> paul ryan is the right guy! >> as a hero to republicans and a devil to the democrats. and he's okay with that. >> they had an ad of me pushing some older woman off a cliff or something like that. >> does it bother you? >> no, not really. we have a normal life here in janesville. my wife and i, three beautiful kids. soccer on saturday, cub scouts. we have a normal life like everybody else. i go to washington four days a week, which i call the silly

place. two different kind of worlds and if we don't tackle these kinds of problems, they're going to tackle us. >> you know, john, he's a very attractive candidate there, but he does have some downsides that people have been talking about. that he's never really run statewide, never anything more than a congressional race, but of course he has no foreign policy experience. some folks are going to question whether somebody who's 42 years old is actually ready to be commander in chief. but john, i think the big question is whether he can sustain the attacks that the democrats are going to wage on him about going after entitlements like medicare or raising the retirement age for social security. >> and gloria, that's the question. he's going to get many punches. he's been in the middle of these fights for years, as the ranking member, as the budget chairman now. he's had these debates face to face with president obama, so he's proven to be a pretty good debater and pretty tough.

as you know, a lot of politicians who have a good reputation get on the national stage and we learn new things. so it is testing time for paul ryan. to the points you made about his youth and lack of foreign policy experience, i went to a diner here today and put that question to some loyal republicans. they got quite combative. what about president obama? he was only a couple of years older. he had no foreign policy experience and to be factual, paul ryan has much more experience in washington than senator obama did when he ran for president, so when you ask the experience or age question, you get a lot of push back from republicans who take us back in time and say if you're going to be critical of paul ryan, remember, he has more experience than then senator obama did. don't! i've washed a few cupcake tins in my day... oh, so you're a tin expert now. is that... whoa nelly! hi, kitchen counselor here. he's actually right... with cascade complete. see cascade complete pacs work like thousands of micro-scrubbing brushes to help power away tough foods even in corners and edges.

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paul ryan! [ cheers and applause ] ♪

>> as you see, governor romney and congressman ryan getting off the bus here. i want to note, not only this is a made for tv moment in the state of wisconsin, but there are cameras all over the place, including a camera going high above the crowd. it's a pretty safe bet you're going to see some of this in television advertisements, web videos, and the like quite soon. as you watch the two candidates make their way up on stage, people who are veterans in wisconsin politics say when it comes to presidential politics, it's been a white since they've had enthusiasm like this.

♪ >> this must be quite a moment for paul ryan too, john. i think it's something he kind of wanted but never coted on happening. ♪ >> gloria, it's interesting. as we wait for the candidates to come on stage, you want to talk about the intensity of this state. there were some union workers in the parking lot when we came in representing the obama campaign. as we're talking here, i just had a woman make her way through the crowd to hand me a press release saying, workers facing outsourcing by bain. you have a huge republican crowd here, but the democrats are

trying to turn out as well to make clear that, yes, the energy of the moment is with the romney/ryan ticket. yes, the focus in this state, there's a lot of buzz. but the democrats we ran into today said of course we're proud to have a son of wisconsin on a national political ticket. this is how it works in presidential politics. the republican side because it goes first, governor romney just has his running mate, they get most of the attention now, but it is safe to say here and elsewhere, when the glow of the republican announcement fades a little bit, the democrats are more than ready to fight back. >> as you look at mitt romney, john, he seems in the last events we've seen over the last day or so, pretty comfortable with paul ryan and i'm told that that was really important to him. when he was making his choice that it was someone he could feel comfortable with. maybe it's because they both call themselves nerds. but i do think that it is somebody who would have hired and clearly paul ryan is very emotional about this moment. >> governor romney's been in politics for some time. he ran for president in the last

cycle. he was governor of massachusetts. if you watch this, it happens every cycle. somebody clenches the nomination who's relatively new to national politics, and they have a bit of aness to more to mags. picking your running mate, it's sort of that first moment where it's proof, whoa, i'm the nominee, i get to pick a number two. then you get your convention speech, a chance the reintroduce yourself to the american people. then step o -- three of that process. then that first presidential debate and governor romney's enjoying, i'm going to call this the easy part. this is the easy one. he picks his running mate. when he steps in at those debates with president obama especially in a close election, they could be defining, so as we get introduced to congressman ryan, we're also watching a very important transformation and evolution of governor romney

into the republican nominee. >> john, look at how emotional this is for paul ryan. obviously wiping tears from his eyes. coming back to his home state of wisconsin and being welcomed like this. you see ann romney back there behind him. >> it's an emotional moment for somebody -- this is when you see them, gloria -- sometimes, they try to stay on script. sometimes they enjoy the moment. >> he's enjoying it. >> thank you, everybody. thank you, wisconsin.

it is good to be home. i tell you, i love wisconsin. oh -- i see my family over here. that's this half of the stadium. i got a lot of family. i tell you what, i love you, too, man. i'm fifth generation from this state. my families came here back in the 1800s. made a go of it. it's where we've all raised our families ever since. this is such a phenomenal place to live, to work, to raise your family. [ cheers and applause ] i think back about, you know,

the summers up at our grandparents at lake winnabego. i think about deer camp at fairchild. son, charlie and sam, we live on the block i grew up on. with about ten other ryan families within about eight blocks of our home. my veins run with cheese, bratwurst and a little spot of samilla. i was raised in the packers, badgers, bucks and brewers. i like to hunt here. i like to fish here. i like to snowmobile here.

i even think ice fishing is interesting. i'm a wisconsinite through and through and i've just got to tell you what this means to be home. i also want to say a great thanks to my friend, scott walker. [ cheers and applause ] and my friend reince priebus. and ron johnson. we're just guys from tosa, kinosha, oshkosh and janesville. and what we learned in this state just a little while ago is that we want to elect men and women who run for office and tell us who they really are,

what they really believe, what they're really going to do and then when they get elected, they do that. that's what we do here in wisconsin! we've seen a few elections in wisconsin lately. we're ready. we're tested. we put these ideas out there, we implemented it, our leaders fixed the problems in madison. and we as voters said keep doing it. on june the 5th, courage was on the ballot in wisconsin and courage won.

we saved wisconsin that day and on november 6th, we wisconsinites will help save america that day. [ chanting "usa" ] friends, i see to many familiar faces in this audience. it's just amazing. >> we're all family, brother. >> we are all family. and that wasn't my brother who said that, actually. we have a very critical decision to make in this country. we are at that proverbial fork in the road in america. the president came into office with so much hope, offering so

much change. he got the power he wanted. he got his party in control. he passed almost every item on his agenda. it's law now. and now, we're seeing the results. a country with a health care system that's out to be taken over. a country with four years of trillion dollar deficits. a country in economic stagnation. the worst economic recovery in 70 years. the largest deficits and the biggest government since world war ii. nearly one in six americans are in poverty today. that's the highest rate in a generation. you know what? we're not going to take that. we're going to turn this thing

around. the good news is this. we can do this. we can turn this around. we can get this economy turned around. we can get people back to work and most importantly, i look at my kids -- sam, i'm over here. [ laughter ] i look at my kids -- it's been a long day for him. i look at my kids and i want them to have the kind of future that i had. that's what my dad always told me. in this country, every generation fixes their problems, makes things better and leaves their kids better off. it is our duty to save the american dream for our children. so we have a choice to make. and if we look at the path that we are on, if we look at all the things the president's been

doing, more government, more regulations, the promise of a lot more taxes on successful small businesses, we see a president who took what we pioneered here in wisconsin, tommy thompson, welfare reform, getting people off of welfare, back to work, personal responsibility, on to a life of hitting their potential. if this president is going to do these kinds of things in a very difficult, tough election year, imagine what he would do if he never has to face the voters ever again. you know what? we're going to find out. [ cheers and applause ] so here is our choice. we can either stick with the

politics of the past, with dividing, with distorting, with distracting. we can put ourselves on the path toward a welfare state with a debt crisis, where we now see the government's role as not promoting equal opportunity and protecting our natural rights, but giving us new government-granted rights, putting the government in charge, running our society, driving our economy, picking winners and losers, equalides -- equalizing the outcomes. this country is so special. the state is so special. it's so special because it's the only country founded on an idea. it's very special. and that idea in a nutshell is in the declaration of independence. our rights come from nature and

god, not from government. [ cheers and applause ] so here's our choice. do we want the opportunity of society, the safety of the land of upward mobility where people can make the most of their lives, where they can get ahead or do we want to go down on the path of debt, doubt, and despair? do we want a copy here? no. it's going the take leadership. it's going to take courage. it's going to take another election just like we had in 2010 to get this right. and when we , we will look back at this moment in 2013 as the day our generation fixed it so the american idea was turned around and our children had a brighter future. [ cheers and applause ] as you now know, i've spent some time with this man lately.

we need a man of integrity. we need a leader of principle. we need somebody who is a bedrock of principles, a moral compass, a vision for the country and the experience, the expertise to put that vision into place. those are the things that describe this man, mitt romney. [ chanting "mitt" ] when you see how this man, how warm he is to his family, to his associates, when you see the successes he's achieved, raising a beautiful family, working hard, creating small businesses, turning around struggling

businesses, creating jobs. this is a person who has a life experience who knows that if you have a small business, you did build that. this is a man who, when the olympics was struggling, when it was failing, the country called him to serve and revive it and he made us all proud, by running the olympics and saving it. this is a man, who as governor, worked across the aisle, got things done, balanced a budget without raising taxes, increased employment, increased the credit rating and increased household incomes by providing leadership. this is a special moment for us, our family, for all of us, because we are all family.

this is it. this is the election. we owe you, our follow citizens the choice, so you get to decide what kind of country do you want to have? what kind of people do we want to be? we want to have the kind of election where we earn your support, where we in and election because you said, go fix the mess in washington, so when we win this election, we go fix this mess in washington! [ cheers and applause ] this is an exceptional nation, this is the greatest idea. there is no other system that has done more to help the poor, to help spread opportunity, to help people rise up and make something of their lives than the american system of freedom and free enterprise. we have a leader here who understands that, who more

importantly, knows how to delivery that. that is our contract with you. ladies and gentlemen, we're going to do this. we're going to turn these things around. guess what? this man, his name imitt romney, and he's going to be the next president of the united states of america. [ cheers and applause ] >> thanks, buddy. >> mitt romney now speaking to this rally in wisconsin. you just heard from the man of the moment here in this state, paul ryan. he'll be the republican vice presidential nominee. our special coverage, paul ryan in depth, will continue in a moment. i'm done. i'm going to... drink this... on the porch! ♪ give me just a little more time ♪ [ female announcer ] mops can be a hassle, but swiffer wetjet's spray cleaner and absorbent pads can clean better in half the time

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welcome back. we're live in waukesha, wisconsin. i'm john king. our special report "paul ryan in depth." one off the biggest debates from the democratic side is should governor romney release more of his income taxes. because paul ryan turned over several years during the vetting process, democrats say, ah-ha, governor romney should release more. now we're told paul ryan has decided just what he will release to the public. they understand the pressures and the heat from the democrats. what will paul ryan release to the american people? >> from what we're hearing, paul ryan is doing that interview with mitt romney and said he will be releasing two years of his tax returns.

i went to a ryan spokesperson and asked him about this and tried to confirm it. they said, yes, that is the plan. he's going to release two years of his tax returns. the timetable, i just got word back from a ryan spokesperson that as soon as they're ready is essentially when we're going to see those tax returns. as you know, this has been a pressing issue for the romney campaign all throughout this primary and regular campaign season cycle, and i think what we're going to see eventually from the romney and ryan team is them trying to get ahead of some of these issues. you know, they have been playing a lot of defense. i think the sign they're giving tonight that they're going to release these tax returns is the sign they're going to play more offense and get in front of these issues. >> two years matches what mitt romney has done. gloria, back to you in

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