Would Vice-President Elect Ryan Stay for the Lame Duck?
Republican vice presidential candidate Rep. Paul Ryan R-Wis., reacts to audience applause during a campaign event at the Waukesha county expo center, Sunday, Aug. 12, 2012 in Waukesha, Wis. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
Should Mitt Romney win, would Vice President Elect Paul Ryan remain in the House until inauguration day? It's a cart-before-the-House question but an intriguing one.
The lame duck is going to be a free for all no matter who wins the presidency or control of the Senate. It's hard to see Ryan leaving the House in order to sit around Romney transition headquarters offering up suggestions for the next transportation secretary when he could be in the thick of what he loves.
Most presidents and vice presidents linger anyway. Barack Obama announced his Senate resignation just a few days after the election but Joe Biden stuck it out a bit longer and Al Gore and Dan Quayle both stayed in the Senate until the January following their election.
Would a vice president elect Ryan bring special clout to the budget negotiations, the sequestration, even a debt limit hike? Who knows? We've never had a lame duck like this and in the history of presidential transitions this might be one of the weirdest.
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