How the Romney/Ryan collaboration began -- five years ago

Mr. Romney recruited several of Mr. Ryan’s top aides as campaign advisers, and the candidate’s staff members asked the congressman to review language in Mr. Romney’s planned speeches and opinion pieces, people close to both men said in interviews.

Mr. Ryan did not shy from offering pointed advice well before he was named running mate: for months, he had urged Mr. Romney to focus his campaign as much on a “a positive vision” as on the shortcomings of the Obama presidency, something Mr. Romney has since emphasized…

Mr. Ryan recalled that he had wanted specifics before he was willing to deliver his endorsement and the credibility it would carry in the right wing of the party. Mr. Romney delivered what Mr. Ryan was seeking in a series of phone calls and meetings, determined to win Mr. Ryan over. Their interactions became so commonplace that colleagues recalled spotting Mr. Ryan duck into a phone booth in the House to take a call from Mr. Romney…

In the course of those lengthy discussions, Mr. Ryan said, “I got a very good idea of the kind of reformer he wants to be.”