Huge Crowds turned out in the sweltering summer heat to listen to Mitt Romney and his new VP pick Paul Ryan in two events in North Carolina and Wisconsin.
The rally in Wisconsin took place at the Waukesha County Expo Center, and as you can see above, a huge crowd turned out to welcome Paul Ryan.
Ryan saluted three other Wisconsin Republicans who have achieved national prominence: Gov. Scott Walker, Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus and U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson.
"We're just guys from Tosa, Kenosha, Oshkosh and Janesville," Ryan said "What we learned in this state, just a little while ago, is that we want to elect men and women who run for office and tell us who they really are, what they really believe, what they're really going to do, and when they get elected, they do that.
"That's what we do here in Wisconsin."
Ryan framed the fall campaign between the Republicans and President Barack Obama as a stark choice.
"Do we want that opportunity society, a safety net, a land of upward mobility, where people can make the most of their lives, where people can get ahead?" Ryan said. "Or, do we want to go down the path of debt, doubt and despair. Do we want to copy Europe? No."
Ryan said, "We want to have the kind of an election where we earn your support, where we win an election because you said, 'Go fix the mess in Washington.' So when we win the election, we go fix this mess in Washington."
Romney lauded his new running mate "as someone who is a leader . . . who has real character, who loves America," before quickly stepping up the rhetoric against Obama.
"If you follow the campaign of Barack Obama, he's going to do everything in his power to make this the lowest, meanest negative campaign in history. We're not going to let that happen," Romney said.
He declared: "Mr. President, take your campaign out of the gutter and let's talk about the real issues that America faces."
Feisty and animated, Romney appeared to draw new energy from his new running mate. He easily brushed aside a heckler near the stage, telling him, "You ought to find yourself a different place to be disruptive because here we believe in listening to people with dignity and respect."
The North Carolina event, held at High Point, North Carolina, actually had turnaway crowds.
So did an earlier event at the NASCAR Technical Institute in Mooresville.
And the candidates delivered the goods:
Romney pointed to the legislation Ryan authored on Medicare as proof that he was trying to fix the system, adding it had two Democrat co-sponsors.
“He found ways to bring people together,” Romney said in High Point. “Rather than attack people, he would rather light a candle and bring light to the situation.”
At both events, Ryan got the the crowd excited with introductory remarks. At the second stop, which was oppressively hot and at which people had waited for hours to see the Republican ticket, the majority of the crowd sat down after Ryan was finished introducing Romney and remained seated during the nominee’s remarks.
“American is an idea and the idea of America was very clear, our founders made it really explicit,” Ryan said. “Our rights come from nature and god and not government.”
Ryan also used his introduction to bolster Romney’s record, a resume that the GOP nominee has been criticized for not doing enough to capitalize on.
“This is a man who when his country needed him to save the U.S. Olympics, it was a moment when the Olympics were in doubt. It [was] bloated, it was wasteful, it was corrupted. Does that sound familiar by the way?” Ryan said. “His country asked him to move to Salt Lake, to turn it around and save the Olympics. He did and we’re so proud of that moment.”
I think the tribe has spoken.
The pair also found time to interview on '60 Minutes' on which I'll have more later.
Governor Romney and Rep.Ryan are going their separate ways, with Ryan headed to Iowa and the Midwest while Romney heads for Florida.
If they can keep up this level of energy through November, I think we're in for quite a horse race.
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