I found this to be the most interesting item in a generally positive profile of Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan in The Washington Post:
Ryan comes from one of the most prominent families in Janesville [Wisconsin] — a town of 64,000 that was sustained by factories making GM cars and Parker writing pens. He worked regular-guy jobs that will surely become campaign-trail fodder: grilling burgers at McDonald’s, selling bologna for Oscar Mayer.
At Craig High School, Ryan showed the zeal that would mark him later on Capitol Hill. He played two sports, joined 10 clubs and was prom king. But his classmates also voted him “Biggest ‘Brown-noser.’ ”
What I find intriguing and admirable is not that Ryan won that particular vote (that’s thoroughly unsurprising and of no particular relevance) but that there was such a vote. I can think of a few likely candidates back in the day at my high school, but unfortunately we were never given the chance to vote on it.
Update: In high school, it’s safe to say, Paul Ryan never made a speech like this (from the movie “Election“).