LAS VEGAS - At a private gathering with Representative Paul D. Ryan, Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire casino owner and Republican super-donor, offered no public remarks and, somewhat surprisingly, his pet cause of Israel was not part of the conversation, according to an attendee.
Mr. Adelson, who has pledged up to $100 million to defeat President Obama, invited about three dozen wealthy potential donors to a meeting with Mr. Ryan in a luxury suite with a guarded elevator at his Venetian hotel here on Tuesday evening. Outside, several hundred members of the A.F.L.-C.I.O. chanted and waved signs reading “Paul Ryan: Hustling for the 1 percent.â€
Mr. Adelson is a longtime contributor to Republicans, especially those who are staunch supporters of Israel, though he appears not to have contributed before to Mr. Ryan's Congressional races or political action committee. He kept any personal advocacy on behalf of Mr. Ryan very quiet on Wednesday.
“I saw no dialogue between the two of them,'' said the attendee, who spoke on condition of anonymity because guests were told not to discuss details of the meeting.
The gathering was hastily arranged by phone rather than written invitations, and guests were not asked for contributions. One Republican strategist in Las Vegas described it as a “donor maintenance†event to introduce Mr. Ryan to potential backers.
The meeting was in the Paiza Club, a private casino and dining room on the hotel's 36th floor, built primarily for Asian high-rollers with six- and seven-figure credit lines.
The 30 to 40 guests spoke with Mr. Ryan individually and in groups, cocktail-party style. The chief focus was his budget blueprint that the House has passed and that would effectively shift Medicare toward an entitlement program, lower tax rates and deeply cut many social programs, in an effort to balance the federal checkbook.
“He's full of energy, he's very smart, he is a wizard on the budget,'' said the attendee. “Most of us care very deeply about the position America is in right now as far as economic health, and he is very good at having specific answers.''
Although Mr. Ryan may be willing to discuss budget specifics behind closed doors, since being named the vice-presidential nominee he has avoided any public mention of his budget plan â€" an aggressive road map that was the reason many commentators called Mr. Romney's selection of him as his running mate bold and potentially risky. Mr. Obama is seeking to use the Ryan budget plan against the Republican ticket in the battle for independent voters.
Mr. Romney, who has endorsed the Ryan budget, seemed to back away Wednesday from one provision - a cut of about $700 billion from the future growth of Medicare, which is similar to cuts in the health care law Mr. Obama signed in 2010.
“The president's cuts of $716 billion to Medicare, those cuts are going to be restored if I become president and Paul Ryan becomes vice president,†Mr. Romney told CBS News.
Asked if he was running on Mr. Ryan's budget or his own, Mr. Romney said: “My budget, of course. I'm the one running for president.â€
