Republican Presidential and Vice Presidential Candidates Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan made a stop in Powell on their way to the Republican National Convention this weekend. Ohio Public Radio’s Jo Ingles reports.
Powell Ohio, just north of Columbus, is predictably Republican. The median household income there is more than 123 thousand dollars a year…and that’s almost 80 thousand dollars more than the median household income for the state. In other words, it was the perfect place for the Republican presidential and vice presidential candidates to stop off and talk about their plan to lower taxes and reduce regulations on businesses. And it was the first time Ohioans got to hear from Vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan.
Ryan – Being successful in business is a good thing. When people work hard, take risks, succeed, we should be proud of that. We don’t want to resent people’s success. We want to emulate people’s success.
Presidential candidate Mitt Romney said President Obama is taking the country down the wrong path.
Romney – The President’s vision is one of a larger government taking more and more from you. It takes us down the road to Europe or worse, California. Just kidding about that, sort of. Look, I don’t want to become Europe. I want America to remain America , a hope of the Earth, a shining city on the hill and we know how to do that. We’re going to bring it back.
Romney had a special message for the women in the crowd.
Romney – If we become president and vice president, we want to speak to you. We want to help you. Women in this country are more likely to start businesses than men. Women need our help.
Throughout much of Romney’s speech, the crowd could faintly hear chanting outside of the event. Romney noticed it too and started calling it the “greek chorus.”
Romney – Our Greek chorus out there is chanting four more years. Do you want four more years of high unemployment? (Crowd chants back “no’) Do you want four more years of declining wages? (Crowd chants back “no”) Do you want four more years of home values in the basement? (crowd chants back “no”) Do you want four more years of the big banks getting bigger and the small banks getting smaller? (Crowd chants back “no”) Do you want four more years of Barack Obama? (Crowd chants back “no”) Neither do I.
But outside the event, about four dozen protestors were gathered, holding signs and chanting.
Many of these protestors were union members. Anthony Caldwell was one of the leaders of this group and he said many of the Republicans who attended the event were confused…especially about Medicare.
Caldwell – You know I’ve talked to a lot of Romney Supporters out here today and a lot of them are just misled by what they are hearing. You know the president has a great plan to keep medicare solvent for years to come. And Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan have a plan to privatize medicare and turn it into a voucher system. They’ll end medicare as we know it.
The union protestors were not the only ones who were talking to reporters outside the event. Ed Helvey, the head of the Delaware County Democratic Party, said he knows Delaware county voters will likely choose Romney and Ryan in the end but he says he’s working hard to get as many voters as possible to cast ballots for the President.
Helvey – We will do as well or better than we did in 2008 and we look forward to Election night and the celebration we will have the next day.
Polls in Ohio show the race statewide is close right now.
