1.
He's wanted to reform entitlements since his time as a Senate staffer in 1995.
2.
He was first elected to Congress in 1998. His father died when he was 16 and his family has lived in Wisconsin since the 1800s.
3.
He said he's "not a fan" of his running mate's health care plan in 2010.
4.
He released a budget in 2011 commonly known as "the Ryan Budget" or "Path to Prosperity" to fix America's debt problems.
5.
He once was a salesperson for Oscar Mayer and drove the Weinermobile while in college.
6.
He supported the Iraq War and the troop surge in 2007.
7.
He gave a speech in support of the Bush tax cuts at the 2004 RNC.
8.
He often defends his budget plan from Democrats' charges it "ends Medicare as we know it."
9.
Democrats attacked him for his plan with a notorious ad featuring an older woman being pushed off a cliff.
10.
He voted for the bank bailout known as TARP in 2008, but had serious issues with it.