TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan huddled with aides, tweaked his speech and did final practice runs for what will be his national introduction as Mitt Romney's running mate when he addresses the GOP convention Wednesday.
Ryan's wife, Janna, their three children, and his brother and mother flew here together the day before what will be the biggest speech of his political career. Asked if he was ready for the moment as he boarded the plane, Ryan said: "I am."
The usually media friendly Wisconsin congressman ignored reporters' other questions.
En route, he huddled with senior adviser Dan Senor and senior aide Conor Sweeney. As Ryan read through the speech again at the front his campaign plane, he dictated changes to Sweeney, who typed them into an Apple laptop.
The speech is almost finished, aides said, but Ryan wanted to put some final polishes on it and make sure it is to his liking. That revision process continued at his Florida hotel before Ann Romney's prime-time speech Tuesday night.
Ryan is expected to talk Wednesday night about his family's immigrant roots and small-town upbringing. Aides pointed to a speech he gave Monday at his high school in Wisconsin as a guide for how he will talk about his biography.
Ryan also is expected to offer rousing praise of Romney and a scathing indictment of President Barack Obama.
Romney accepts the GOP presidential nomination on Thursday.