Biden vs Ryan: No. 2s with similar roots, vastly different political views

DENVER — Paul Ryan likes exercise, budget charts and the Green Bay Packers. Joe Biden likes train rides, foreign policy and talking — a lot.

In some ways, these presidential ticket No. 2s could not be more different. They are separated in age by nearly three decades, were born to families in different regions of the country and have views on opposite ends of the political spectrum.

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But in other ways, the 42-year-old Republican congressman and 69-year-old Democratic vice president are very much alike. Both were born to Catholic families in working-class neighborhoods and were young stars in their parties who became experts on the inner workings of Washington.

And perhaps above all, these men both do political things their respective No. 1s cannot.

Biden, with his back-slapping image, big smile and hardscrabble roots in Scranton, Pa., is seen as more effective than President Barack Obama at courting white working-class voters. Ryan, while less known outside his Janesville, Wis., hometown, is a favorite of the Republican Party’s conservative base, a group that long has been skeptical of Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney’s conservative credentials.

Over the next three months, Biden and Ryan will play key roles in the White House race, raising money, criticizing the opponent and helping lend credibility in complicated policy debates — Biden on foreign policy and Ryan on federal budgeting. They will also inevitably create headaches for their bosses, as Biden did this week when he told a Virginia crowd that included hundreds of black people that Romney’s plans for Wall Street would put them “back in chains.”

Mostly, their job: Sell the boss to Americans — and tear down the other guy.

Routinely, Biden says Obama has “a backbone like a ramrod” and says he considers himself Obama’s older brother. He also unleashes scathing attacks against Romney and, now, Ryan, including his proposals to overhaul Medicare.

Ryan, just days into his new role, has said repeatedly of Romney that he’s “the kind of man who you want to serve as your president. He’s the kind of man who, when he gets involved, he fixes things.” And he lambasts Obama, saying he’s “spending our children into a diminished future.”

When talking to voters, both often offer personal touches.

While visiting a firehouse in Hillsborough, N.C., to thank firemen for the work they do, Biden shared the story of his first wife’s and daughter’s deaths in a car accident. Then, at high school football practice in Danville, Va., he offered some of his father’s favorite words: “When you get knocked down, get up!”

With a football in his hand, the silver-haired Biden told players that when he played high school football he weighed about 158 pounds but with pads he clocked in at 175. Asked if he was ready to suit up and play, the vice president declared, “I’m ready to go!”

It was a moment of connection for a man who has maintained his everyman appeal, despite having worked nearly 40 years in Washington. Elected to the Senate at 30, he commuted by train more than two hours most days to and from Delaware to see his family. An Amtrak station in Wilmington, Del., was named in his honor last year.