We know Paul Ryan is a budget hawk. But what about other issues?

“For those holding out hope that the VP selection would represent an indication that Romney and the Republicans are ready to start improving their immigration stance – and to start repairing their brand image among Latino voters in the process – today’s selection of Paul Ryan is a troubling reinforcement of the Republican immigration status quo,” Mr. Sharry said in a statement Saturday.

Another position likely to rankle many in a key part of the Latino community: Ryan opposes the trade embargo on Cuba.

Gay rights: Ryan has voted to prohibit job discrimination based on sexual orientation, and his general attitude here indicates compassion toward individuals. But he’s also voted against ending “don’t ask, don’t tell” in the US military and for the federal Defense of Marriage Act.

“I believe that marriage should remain between a man and a woman, and I have heard from many of the people I represent who are concerned about activist judges abusing their power and rewriting our society’s definition of marriage,” Ryan said. “I had hoped that this amendment wouldn’t be necessary, but increasingly it appears that laws such as the Defense of Marriage Act will not be sufficient to protect marriage from certain courts that distort state and federal constitutional law.”  

 “Marriage is not simply a legal arrangement between individuals,” he has said. “The institution of marriage is an integral part of our civil society and its significance goes well beyond eligibility for benefits and similar considerations. Its future should not be left to a few overreaching judges or local officials to decide. That’s why I support this effort to amend our Constitution to protect marriage.”    

Foreign policy and national security: Although he’s a veteran lawmaker, Ryan has little experience in this area. From what’s known so far – he’s strong on Israel, supports (although not enthusiastically) the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and has helped fatten the Pentagon’s budget at a time when he wants to trim most other programs – he appears to be what Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, calls “just a generic Republican on foreign policy.”

Romney has no foreign policy or national security experience either. (Nor, for that matter, did Barack Obama when he first ran for the presidency.) But Vice President Joe Biden – who Ryan will face in debate – has decades of experience in an area that made him a Senate expert.

"Ryan will have to be tutored in this subject prior to his debate with Biden,” Professor Sabato told Reuters. “Biden will be loaded for bear in his own area.”

Environment: Ryan received a meager 3 percent rating on the League of Conservation Voters scorecard for 2011 and a 20 percent rating for all years.

Over the years, he’s voted to speed up forest thinning, for deauthorizing critical habitat for endangered species, against AMTRAK improvements and the “cash for clunkers” program getting gas hogs and polluters off the road, and against protecting free-roaming horses and burros. He’s also voted to eliminate EPA limits on greenhouse gases and for the controversial Keystone XL pipeline.

Although Ryan’s weapon of choice for deer hunting in Wisconsin is a bow and arrow, he has earned an “A” rating from the National Rifle Association.

IN PICTURES: On the Campaign Trail with Mitt Romney

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