Ryan unlikely to debate House opponent

Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan told a Wisconsin paper this week that he likely won't debate his Democratic opponent in the race for reelection to his southeast Wisconsin House seat.

"The tradition with other campaigns ... was only to do the vice presidential debate," he told the Journal Times, noting that Vice President Joe Biden did not debate his opponent in the Delaware Senate race, Republican Christine O'Donnell, when he was on the national ticket in 2008.

Ryan told the paper that he is focused on the Oct. 11 vice presidential debates with Biden, but said of the congressional debate, "I'll cross that bridge when I get to it." Ryan is spending the last three days of this week preparing for his faceoff with Biden.

His opponent in the 1st District House race, Democrat Rob Zerban, has been calling for a debate and is trying to gather 50,000 signatures from Ryan's constituents to demand a debate, the Journal Times reported. Ryan has run four television ads in the race so far. Wisconsin law allows him to remain on the ballot for reelection to Congress while also running for vice president on the national GOP ticket with nominee Mitt Romney.