Mark Leibovich wrote this week's cover article on Paul Ryan. He is the chief political correspondent for the magazine and last wrote about the difficulty in reporting on the presidential campaign.
I was struck by the jokey tone Paul Ryan took with you. Did that surprise you?
Not really. Politicians want to be seen as human. He has a gift of appearing sheepish and relaxed while knowing exactly what he's doing at all times and trying to get through a very specific agenda. But this was the first time I had met him, and he does have that quality of newness and freshness. There is the joy of discovery with an entirely new politician. He does seem comfortable in his skin, especially compared to Mitt Romney. He definitely seemed relaxed. I don't know if he was or not.
How do you make sure that you are getting a politician and not just what they are trying to stage for you?
You have to be aware of when things are being done for your benefit in order to be portrayed in a certain way. My way of dealing with it is to point it out to the reader. Ryan and I both know it's a transaction and we both have goals in mind for the transaction. I don't want to be totally cynical. If you stick around long enough, you'll see some organic moments.
Ryan defended evading questions during a Fox News interview about how he would offset the 20 percent rate cuts in Romney's tax plan by saying it would take longer than a 30-second TV spot to explain. He spent much longer than that with you — did he walk you through the numbers?
No, he didn't. His defense is "this is too complicated." I certainly would have welcomed him going through this stuff with me. I don't think they're ever going to answer that question. Their strategy seems to be not to explain — I don't know if it is because they are hiding anything or they think it would be politically disadvantageous. They've probably calculated that the downside of being specific outweighs whatever criticisms he's getting.
How did you think Ryan did in the vice-presidential debate?
He did O.K. He was largely overshadowed by Vice President Biden, who was amped up for the occasion, but Ryan never got that deer-in-the-headlights look. There was certainly nothing disqualifying in there.
That probably was part of the strategy with allowing you to do this profile, too. Don't make a huge gaffe.
That's the objective of the whole campaign. The first rule of being a running mate is to do no harm. Especially when you are under the microscope of your first-ever national campaign, you don't want to do anything memorable.
Was it difficult to get access to Ryan?
It's always a challenge and it's always a risk on their part. I was pleasantly surprised, especially because the Romney campaign has not been especially welcoming to reporters. I asked many times and was as earnest as I could be.
You wrote a poignant article for the magazine over the summer about how this was the first presidential campaign you were really dreading. How do you feel now?
Well, it's almost over. It hasn't been a great campaign. It's October. It's very, very close. If you care about the country I think it is hard for anyone not to be engaged at this point. What I wrote was genuine at the time, but of course it is fun to be out there reporting, and it's a privilege to meet these people. The campaign is certainly not about my entertainment.
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