Ryan rules out bid for president

House Speaker Paul Ryan on Tuesday definitively ruled out a bid for president this year, insisting that the party’s choice should emerge from the group of candidates who pursued the GOP nomination. “Count me out,” he said.

In a brief news conference at the Republican National Committee headquarters, the Wisconsin Republican sought to tamp down rampant speculation that he could end up as the party’s standard-bearer if front-runner Donald Trump and the other candidates flame out at a contested convention.

“We have too much work to do in the House to allow this speculation to swirl or have my motivations questioned,” said Ryan, who was the 2012 vice presidential nominee. “Let me be clear: I do not want, nor will I accept, the Republican nomination.”

Ryan’s comments come as a contested convention looks likelier by the day. Ryan and his aides have continually denied the speaker has presidential ambitions this year, but their statements have not put the issue to rest. That’s partly because Ryan also denied he wanted to be speaker last fall after then-Speaker John Boehner resigned, but he ended up with the job anyway.

LATEST POLLS

Women and Trump: Donald Trump is viewed negatively by almost three-quarters of married women in a potential general election and trails Hillary Clinton by double digits among those voters, highlighting his weakness in a key segment of the Republican base. Seventy percent of married women who are likely generalelection voters have an unfavorable opinion of the Republican front-runner, according to the Purple Slice online poll conducted by Purple Strategies for Bloomberg Politics.

Pox on all your houses: Most American voters are unenthused about the 2016 field of presidential candidates in both parties. That’s according to a new Associated Press-GfK poll, which shows that a majority of Americans believe none of the remaining candidates for president represents their opinions at least somewhat well.

Bruce Bertsch, a libertarian and retired human resources director from San Diego, says the public’s lukewarm reaction to the major-party hopefuls doesn’t come from disinterest or apathy — quite the opposite. Here’s how his friends and family see the candidates:

“Hillary Clinton is a liar. Donald Trump is an idiot. And Bernie (Sanders)? He’s an old fool,” Bertsch, 78, said in a telephone interview. To Bertsch, the Republican and Democratic competitors look like this: “The Democrats want to spend my money. The Republicans want to tell me how to live my life — and then spend my money.”