"Paul Ryan isn't running for president. He's after something even bigger."

"No member of Congress has understood the power of the institution to set the president's agenda in recent years as well as Ryan. His budget became the de factopolicy platform of the Republican Party. Pretty much every GOP presidential candidate endorsed some form of it (Newt Gingrich began his campaign by trying to distance himself from Ryan's work, but he quickly realized his folly). It got Ryan named to Romney's ticket.

But the most telling — and most perceptive — line on Ryan's budget came from Grover Norquist. Speaking at the conservative confab CPAC in 2012, Norquist said, "We don't need a president to tell us in what direction to go. We know what direction to go. We want the Ryan budget ... Pick a Republican with enough working digits to handle a pen to become president of the United States.""
http://www.vox.com/2015/1/14/7537371/paul-ryan-presidential-run