LAKEWOOD, Colo. - Representative Paul D. Ryan's days on the campaign trail include public rallies like two on his schedule for Tuesday, one here in a Denver suburb and another in Las Vegas.
But Mr. Ryan's day planner is also packed with conference calls and meetings as the newly picked vice-presidential candidate syncs up with Mitt Romney's large, long-standing campaign operation.
Mr. Romney's Boston headquarters has provided Mr. Ryan with an entourage of some of its most senior people. Among them are Bob White, a co-founder of Bain Capital and one of Mr. Romney's closest confidants, and Dan Senor, Mr. Romney's top foreign policy adviser, who presumably is regularly briefing Mr. Ryan, who has little foreign policy or national security experience.
A campaign aide said that Mr. White was along only for the first few days to make sure everyone works together smoothly.
Before Mr. R yan's late-morning rally at a high school here, he spoke on a conference call with members of the policy and communications staff in Boston. On Monday, he held a video conference with the formidable Boston finance team. A central role for Mr. Ryan is as a financial rainmaker, a second member of the ticket to headline donor gatherings that will continue to replenish the Romney war chest.
Mr. Ryan has donor events on each leg of his tour of swing states this week, including one on Tuesday night in Las Vegas at the Venetian hotel owned by Sheldon Adelson, the casino mogul who has promised tens of millions of dollars to defeat President Obama.
The Romney campaign at midday on Tuesday said that journalists would not be allowed to attend Tuesday night's event, even though most fund-raising rallies are open to a pool of reporters. Calling the Venetian event a “finance meeting†rather than a “fund-raiser,†a Romney aide said it would be closed because no money wa s being raised.
Another focus of the recent meetings by Mr. Ryan's staff-in-progress is how to best use his time between now and the Republican convention less than two weeks away. En route to Denver on Monday by a campaign jet from Iowa, Mr. Ryan began conceptualizing his convention speech with senior advisers, including Mr. Senor and a speechwriter, John McConnell.
