Republicans, Democrats scramble to frame Paul Ryan’s political persona

"The truth is seniors and people near retirement aren't going to be touched under [Ryan's] plan. And the bigger truth is in the end, it's going to be governor and then President Romney's plan that will ultimately prevail,” Gov. Walker said on NBC’s Meet the Press. "He's going to protect Medicare for seniors. He's going to protect Medicare and other programs for future generations.”

Senior Romney campaign adviser Ed Gillespie emphasized the same point on CNN's "State of the Union."

"It is the Romney-Ryan ticket, and as president, Romney will be putting forth his own budget," Mr. Gillespie said.

Like all those vetted as VP possibles by the Romney campaign, Ryan had to submit his tax returns for at least several years – very likely more than the two years Romney himself has made public. This gave Democrats another chance to needle Romney – whose net worth is about $250 million, much of it in foreign investment accounts, and who has been dogged by charges that any taxes he paid were at a rate much lower than the average American.

"Why does an American businessman need a Swiss bank account, or investments in known tax havens, if not to be hiding something?" Wasserman Schultz said on Fox News. "Mitt Romney needs to show American voters at least the same number of tax returns that he asked Paul Ryan to show him when he was vetting him for vice president."

Sunday, Romney and Ryan were appearing at a series of rallies in North Carolina – a competitive state in the race – as part of a multistate bus tour before ending the day in Waukesha, Wis., in a homecoming-themed event for Ryan. Romney and Ryan are scheduled to give their first joint interview Sunday evening on CBS’s “60 Minutes.”

Romney then planned to head to Florida and Ohio as the week begins, while Ryan was scheduled to travel to Iowa on Monday as the ticket looked to cover as much ground as possible.

Another theory about the split in travel plans is that Ryan may not be that helpful in Florida – because of the controversy over Medicare in a state with many retirees, and because Ryan has opposed the trade embargo on Cuba, which rankles many Cuban-Americans there.

Obama, for his part, was starting a three-day bus tour of Iowa on Monday, signifying the importance of the toss-up Midwestern state. And he was dispatching Vice President Joe Biden to North Carolina on Monday followed by a two-day swing through Virginia starting Tuesday.

This report includes material from the Associated Press.

IN PICTURES: On the Campaign Trail with Mitt Romney

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