(Continued from page 35)

from the campaign as he was trying to build momentum. It also forced the Republican challenger to temper some of his harshest critiques of the president to avoid looking insensitive as people coped with the impact of Superstorm Sandy.
• ___

• JANESVILLE, Wis. (AP) -- Professor Ryan? Lobbyist Ryan? Maybe back to plain-old Congressman Ryan or future President Ryan?
• If Paul Ryan loses his bid to become vice president, he is still a man with options. The wonky chairman of the House Budget Committee is one of the Republicans' best voices in explaining fiscal issues. Should Mitt Romney's presidential bid fail, Ryan will be a much-sought-after figure in political and business circles.
• Even in failure, the 42-year-old Wisconsin native's best days might be ahead of him.
• "I refer to Paul Ryan as the Paul Revere of the next generation," said Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who was chairman of the House Budget Committee when Ryan was an aide there.
• "I tell you, he's just getting started," Kasich said of Ryan before a recent rally in Ohio. "He's getting started in the process of helping America and building a much stronger America."
• ___

• ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- A sign taped to a wall in an Athens hospital appealed for civility from patients. "The doctors on duty have been unpaid since May," it read, "Please respect their work."
• Patients and their relatives glanced up briefly and moved on, hardened to such messages of gloom. In a country where about 1,000 people lose their jobs each day, legions more are still employed but haven't seen a paycheck in months. What used to be an anomaly has become commonplace, and those who have jobs that pay on time consider themselves the exception to the rule.
• To the casual observer, all might appear well in Athens. Traffic still hums by, restaurants and bars are open, people sip iced coffees at sunny sidewalk cafes. But scratch the surface and you find a society in free-fall, ripped apart by the most vi

(Continued on page 37)