CHICAGO (FOX 32 News) -
Congressman Paul Ryan went solo on the campaign trail today for the first time since Mitt Romney named him his vice presidential running mate.
In Iowa, he responded to repeated interruptions by mocking a heckler. The heckling continued there at the Iowa state fair in Des Moines, but Ryan didn't respond to it.
While Ryan is a leader of GOP conservatives on Capitol, he represents a swing Congressional District that President Obama carried in 2008.
FOX Chicago's Mike Flannery, visited Ryan's hometown of Janesville, Wisconsin, today, looking for clues to Ryan's political appeal.
At the Catholic Church that Paul Ryan worshipped as a boy, and where he now takes his own three children to Mass, parishioners moved thousands of pounds of food, then gave it away to about 400 of the poor and unemployed.
Several volunteers said it's the sort of parish project the Republican vice-presidential nominee supports.
"He's a great guy. He's very kind. He's very smart. I think everyone says that about him. He's such a gentleman," said Jeanne Vogt who has known Ryan for 30 years.
Ryan and wife Janna now live in a $450,000 home once occupied by the heir to the Parker Pen Company fortune. He grew up in a more modest house around the block.
While Ryan's family roots go back five generations in southern Wisconsin, the roots of his first political success were planted at Janesville's Craig High School. He was elected President and Prom King of the class of 1988. He also played basketball in a catholic league and join a dozen extra-curriculars from Latin Club to History Club and the Model United Nations. He even drove the Oscar Mayer weiner mobile one summer.
He and Jim Hessenauer played together on a soccer team that made it to Madison for sectional finals. Jim still recalls an impromptu pep talk at halftime when the team was trailing. He said Ryan got up and spoke to the team.
"It was on of those, ‘Let's go guys. Let's not hang our heads or anything like that. You know, we're still in it.' You know, we still lost the game. But it's the mark of a leader."
One measure of the Janesville Ryan grew up in, he now shares Craig High School's ‘Wall of Honor' with another famous alumnus and son of Janesville, former Democratic Senator Russ Feingold.
