Shortly after Hawaii and Alaska joined the Union and I was still a semi-young wiseguy, smugly sure that a celebrity candidate whose prospective campaign had sparked public interest would become a serious White House challenger, a grizzled political reporter brought me up short with this practical advice: “If a candidate gets measurably louder applause from the crowd when he’s introduced to speak than he does when he’s finished speaking, that candidate is overrated and will not be a winner.” Retiring House Speaker Paul Ryan — who is getting much less praise on the way out than he did on the