Ryan: 'As Wisconsin goes, so goes America'

Republican vice presidential nominee Rep. Paul Ryan (Wis.) hit hard at President Obama during a rally in Ryan's home state Wednesday afternoon.

“As Racine County goes, so goes Wisconsin,” Ryan said. “And as Wisconsin goes, so goes America. So Racine, you ready to help us win this thing?” he asked to cheers.

Wisconsin is considered a swing state this year, and Ryan is doing his best to make sure that the state goes Republican for the first time in a presidential contest in nearly 30 years. The last Republican to win the state was former President Reagan, when he clinched it in his landslide victory over Walter Mondale in 1984.

Ryan appealed for prayers and donations for victims of Hurricane Sandy before slamming the president’s record in front of a crowd in Racine, estimated by the campaign at 650 people.

“We can do better than this. We don’t have to settle for the status quo,” Ryan said.

Ryan, speaking in his home congressional district, hammered the auto bailouts as failed policy, pointing to four factories that had closed and working in a shot at Vice President Biden.

“Today [Biden] was talking about the government bailouts, which they keep touting as an unqualified success story,” Ryan said. “I tell you what, ask those [laid-off Delphi] workers in Oak Creek if they feel like it was a success story.”

The GOP candidate also highlighted overseas trade during his obligatory recitation of the Romney-Ryan five-point plan, noting that four out of every 10 tractors made at a Case IH plant in Racine had to be sold overseas in order to keep the plant open.

With less than a week until Election Day, it appears that the campaign is content to let Ryan stay in an attack dog role while Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney takes a less confrontational tone. In two campaign stops in Florida on Wednesday, Romney did not use many of his customary attacks on Obama.

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