Throughout his campaign, Mitt Romney has hammered President Obama for a lack of experience in the private sector, saying “he doesn’t understand how the free economy works. He’s never had a job in the free economy; neither has Vice President Biden.”

And so it’s surprising that Romney has picked Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), a man who, outside of a job at McDonald’s and a brief stint at a company owned by his family, has hardly any private sector record.

Ryan began his career in the public sector before he even graduated college — in 1991 as a senate intern — and then spent the mid-1990s as a senate aide to Sens. Bob Kasten (R-WI) and Sam Brownback (R-KS). After that, he worked for vice presidential candidate Jack Kemp, then settled in for 13 years as a member of the House of Representatives.