U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan’s new book is seen by some in Washington as a prelude to a presidential run in 2016. Credit: Associated Press

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In a new book out Tuesday, Republican congressman and 2012 vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan of Janesville says his party is doomed to future defeats unless it broadens its appeal beyond a traditional base of older white voters.

"Preaching to the choir isn't working, and by the way, the choir is shrinking," Ryan writes in "The Way Forward," a combination memoir and manifesto that is seen by some in Washington as a prelude to a presidential run in 2016. It comes with a national publicity campaign and book tour that stops in Philadelphia on Wednesday, Milwaukee and Chicago on Thursday, and Florida on Friday.

Ryan says his party needs to be more inclusive, spend far more time talking to black and Latino voters, and avoid playing into what he calls a caricature of the "cold-hearted Republican."

He even points to some of his own past rhetoric as part of the problem.

In the book, put out by Hachette Book Group, Ryan repudiates his use of the phrase "makers and takers" to describe the difference between Americans who pay more in taxes than they receive in benefits (makers) and those who receive more than they pay (takers).

The congressman says he began second-guessing his use of that language after a constituent approached him at the Rock County 4-H Fair in July 2012 and asked, "Who are the takers? Is it the person who lost their job and is on unemployment benefits? Is it the person who served in Iraq and gets their medical care through the VA?"

Ryan said he eventually stopped using the term when he realized that "it sounds like we're saying people who are struggling are deadbeats. ... The phrase gave insult where none was intended."

In this and other ways, the book seems intended as a counterweight to criticism of Ryan by Democrats as the architect of hardhearted GOP budgets that slash social programs.

It also tells Ryan's personal story, including one biographical detail he had never discussed publicly before: his father's struggles with alcohol.

"Before I lost him to a heart attack, whiskey had washed away some of the best parts of the man I knew," Ryan writes.

The book includes an account of the cloak-and-dagger secrecy preceding his vice-presidential selection in 2012, including Ryan hiding under a blanket as a car took him to a meeting in Massachusetts with GOP nominee Mitt Romney.

It describes Ryan's visits to cities around the country as he crafted the anti-poverty agenda he unveiled this summer, and bemoans the segregation of Americans by economic class into separate communities.

"As a white guy from Janesville, Wisconsin, ... I admit that I may not be the perfect spokesman" on poverty issues, says Ryan, arguing that poverty is a complicated and sensitive issue he will keep talking about, despite the political minefields.

Gentle critique of GOP

Politically, "The Way Forward" is a summation of long held, fervent conservative views and policy ideas, combined with calls for civility and a search for whatever bipartisan common ground may be out there.

For readers on the right, Ryan offers a broad attack on progressivism across the decades and a sharp denunciation of Barack Obama as a president whose "policies represent an ideological mission to re-order the human condition through state action, empowering bureaucrats to decide what's best for everyone rather than allowing citizens to govern themselves."

He also defends votes he took in Congress that drew conservative criticism, including supporting the new Medicare drug benefit under President George W. Bush and the auto bailout.

Ryan offers a more gentle critique of his own party.

He says Republicans have to define themselves by what they're for, not just what they're against. He suggests that by insisting on purity, some conservatives squander the chance to make small but real progress in Congress. He says his party must practice political "prudence" and must also be more inclusive.

"Instead of doing the hard work of persuading people, we've opted for the easy route, focusing our attention on communities where people already agree with us and trying to turn out the base," Ryan writes.

The 2012 election showed that "focusing heavily on simply turning out our traditional coalition is a losing strategy — it's only going to deliver even more lopsided losses."

Ryan, who is more pro-immigration than some in his party, argues for "thoughtful immigration reform" and says immigration helps the United States economically.

He suggests the first step toward making inroads among minority voters is to spend a lot more time with them, saying that's what he has tried to do in his own southern Wisconsin district.

"The simple fact is there are whole communities of Americans who don't think the Republican Party and its leaders care about them," Ryan writes. "How do you care? Same as in the rest of life — by being there, showing up, listening instead of just talking."

And he says Republicans can do a better job of explaining to voters outside their base how conservative policies might help them and matter to their struggles.

A clear choice

Not surprisingly, Ryan is optimistic about the party's potential to broaden its demographic base.

But the record of recent presidential elections has been sobering.

Ryan describes his own surprise when the Romney-Ryan ticket lost the 2012 election, explaining that it was his wife, Janna, who offered a dose of reality just before election day, reminding her husband that "none of the public polls look like the internal numbers you're getting from the campaign."

Ryan has long argued that if Americans are given a clear choice for president between the competing worldviews of the two parties, they would chose the conservative one.

He writes that he still believes that. Then why didn't the party win in 2012, when Republicans were running against an "incumbent with a bad economy and weak popularity?"

Ryan offers no criticism of the GOP nominee, Romney, of whom he writes with fondness and admiration. He points to the Democrats' sophisticated get-out-the-vote techniques as one possible factor.

But the book doesn't entirely answer the question of why Ryan thinks his ticket went down to defeat in 2012.

For that we may have to wait for the Ryan presidential campaign, if it's as imminent as some people think.