Paul Ryan: I will give running for president in 2016 “serious consideration”

I wish I had video of this, but for now this transcript will do just fine. Paul Ryan is basically saying that running for president certainly isn’t out of the question, but it’s not something he wants to think about right now. But he does say he will seriously consider it later on:

BLITZER: Senator Rand Paul yesterday was here in THE SITUATION ROOM, 24 hours ago. He said flatly he is going to Iowa in the next few weeks. He is seriously thinking of running for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016. He thinks that is a good idea for him. What about you?

RYAN: I’m going to make my mind up later. The reason why – I think I need to do this job. I’m the chairman of the Budget Committee. When we have a budget crisis on our horizon, we’ve got to get these agreements done. And I don’t think it’s good for me, it’s good for the Wisconsin first district, it’s good for my colleagues to cloud my judgment at this time with other things.

I need to do what I think is right in this moment working on the budget. I have a leadership position. I take it seriously. And I don’t want to cloud it with ideas of what I may or may not do in the future. I want to do the right thing now. Then I’ll consider those things. And I will give it serious consideration, but I’m going to do that later on.

BLITZER: You enjoyed campaigning with Mitt Romney, right?

RYAN: I did. I did.


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