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Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan is popular with conservatives and brings enthusiasm to the ticket. He won his House seat at 28, which means that now, at 42, he's a seasoned legislator.

Andrea Seabrook

Andrea Seabrook covers Capitol Hill as NPR's Congressional Correspondent.

In each report, Seabrook explains the daily complexities of legislation and the longer trends in American politics. She delivers critical, insightful reporting – from the last Republican Majority, through the speakership of Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats' control of the House, to the GOP landslide of 2010. She and NPR's Peter Overby won the prestigious Joan S. Barone award for their Dollar Politics series, which exposed the intense lobbying effort around President Obama's Health Care legislation. Seabrook and Overby's most recent collaboration, this time on the flow of money during the 2010 midterm elections, was widely lauded and drew a huge audience spike on NPR.org.

An authority on the comings and goings of daily life on Capitol Hill, Seabrook has covered Congress for NPR since January 2003 She took a year-and-a-half break, in 2006 and 2007, to host the weekend edition of NPR's newsmagazine, All Things Considered. In that role, Seabrook covered a wide range of topics, from the uptick in violence in the Iraq war, to the history of video game music.

A frequent guest host of NPR programs, including Weekend Edition and Talk of the Nation, Seabrook has also anchored NPR's live coverage of national party conventions and election night in 2006 and 2008.

Seabrook joined NPR in 1998 as an editorial assistant for the music program, Anthem. After serving in a variety of editorial and production positions, she moved to NPR's Mexico Bureau to work as a producer and translator, providing fill-in coverage of Mexico and Central America. She returned to NPR headquarters in Washington, D.C. in the fall of 1999 and worked on NPR's Science Desk and the NPR/National Geographic series, "Radio Expeditions." Later she moved to NPR's Morning Edition,starting as an editorial assistant and then moving up to Assistant Editor. She then began her on-air career as a weekend general assignment reporter for all NPR programs.

Before coming to NPR, Seabrook lived, studied and worked in Mexico City, Mexico. She ran audio for movies and television, and even had a bit part in a Mexican soap opera.

Seabrook earned her bachelor's degree in biology from Earlham College and studied Latin American literature at UNAM - La Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico. While in college she worked at WECI, the student-run public radio station at Earlham College.

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  • Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan brings the kind of enthusiasm Mitt Romney could use — he's a darling of the conservative base that Romney has had a harder time winning over. But the ideas that have made him a star — particularly his plans for Medicare — may give Democrats an opening against him.
  • Among those on Mitt Romney's list of potential running mates, Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin has youth and experience. He's a conservative from a swing state, and he has big ideas and the policy chops to back them up. But the House Budget Committee chairman's fiscal ideas might cost Romney with independents.
  • Congressional Republicans reacted to the Supreme Court's validation of President Obama's health care law with a promise to repeal the law.
  • Congressional leaders say they are close to a deal on two issues with looming deadlines. But if Congress fails to lock down agreements this week, the federal highway program would come to a halt, and student loan interest rates would double.
  • The presumptive GOP nominee took knocks from congressional Republicans during the party's presidential primaries. But Mitt Romney and his supporters are hoping Republicans will rally behind him ahead of what looks likely to be a hard-fought and close election against President Obama.
  • Some donors willing to write seven-figure checks to superPACs have gotten something they weren't counting on: attention from the political opposition and the media. One donor says he feels like he has a "target strapped on my back."
  • Scott Walker vastly out-raised and outspent his Democratic challenger in the state's recall election, largely on the strength of big donations from out of state. He was helped by a quirk in Wisconsin law, which lets a governor facing a recall vote bypass political donation limits.
  • Politicians routinely use Twitter, but harder to find are those whose tweets actually, really, identifiably come from them. The ones who tweet interesting facts, interact with constituents, and even — gasp— crack jokes on occasion. Let me recommend a few who walk the walk and tweet the tweet.
  • In the past week, President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner have begun a new round of sparring over the U.S. debt ceiling. It's part of a number of problems involving debt, taxes and spending that are all slated to come to a head in early 2013. And solutions aren't likely before Election Day.