House Speaker Ryan rules out presidential bid

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Paul Ryan on Tuesday definitively ruled out a bid for president this year, insisting that the party's choice should emerge from the group of candidates who pursued the GOP nomination.

In a brief news conference at the Republican National Committee headquarters, the Wisconsin Republican sought to tamp down rampant speculation that he could end up as the party's standard-bearer if front-runner Donald Trump and the other candidates flame out at a contested convention.

[...] I should not be considered.

Yet party leaders fear neither the erratic Trump nor the polarizing Cruz could beat likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in November.

[...] if neither Trump nor Cruz can get the delegate votes necessary as balloting progresses at the convention, chaos could result — and along with it, the potential for some other Republican who's not currently running to emerge.

[...] a tea party revolt over Ryan's embrace of last year's bipartisan deal with President Barack Obama to increase spending by the Pentagon and domestic agencies has left him well short of the votes he needs.