Campaigning together in the swing state of Ohio, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney and his pick for VP, Paul Ryan laid out their plan for economic recovery. WYSO’s Jerry Kenney reports that part of their plan includes developing domestic energy sources, improving education, and balancing international trade.Taking the stage with senators Rand Paul of Kentucky and Rob Portman of Ohio, Paul Ryan also zeroed in the growing national debt.
“But there’s one thing that we, that the four of us have talked about, we’ve worked on, we have fought for; it’s a really simple idea; we can’t keep spending money we don’t have. We have got to balance this budget; we have got to get this debt under control. It is our duty to save the American dream for our children and our grand children, and to save it for our economy today.”
President Obama has said bringing down the debt calls for a balanced approach, using tax increases in conjunction with spending cuts, but Mitt Romney said the President’s policies would hurt small businesses.
“For a million small businesses in this country he wants to take the federal income tax rate from 35% to 40 % and what that will do is kill jobs. This is a president who is bent on growing government, I am bent on growing jobs and raising take home pay, and we’ll do it!”
Kenny spoke with Romney and Ryan supporters after the campaign bus stopped in Dayton on Tuesday.
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Brenden Rooney of Spring Valley liked Romney’s focus on both foreign policy and his knowledge of local issues. And he said the candidate did have the connection to the crowd that some say’s he’s missing. “He actually seemed pretty passionate today, I don't always hear that on the radio or you know some of these programs you listen to. We were actually close enough and you could see the passion in his face even though he's been out all day too.”
Sonya Aikin of Sidney, Ohio believes that Romney offers the real hope in the election. “I have a lot of faith in what they are able to do. Paul Ryan is great with economy and with fiscal areas so is Mitt Romney, I mean he is a business man and at this point it'd be great to get someone who is able to build businesses and jobs.”
Pam McChord from Centerville, Ohio thinks Romney’s experience in the private sector is what the country needs right now. “I think he is a business man, he knows how to get the economy turned around and, you know, just the complete opposite from Obama. We need people from outside of Washington to go in there and straighten the mess out, if it can be done, otherwise our country is doomed.”
For Cathy Kerns of Piqua, Ohio supporting Romney is the only alternative in light of issues like President Obama’s healthcare mandate, which she believes is an over-reach of power. “That I, as a Catholic, have to pay for abortions, for contraceptions [sic], the stepping on of our religious freedoms by him I just can't abide, I just cant.”
The battle for Ohio continues with President Obama campaigning in the college towns of Bowling Green and Kent later Wednesday.
