Focus on Wisconsin as Paul Ryan rallies supporters in Racine

October 31, 2012 (RACINE, Wis.)

President Barack Obama will be there Thursday. Mitt Romney plans to campaign in Wisconsin on Friday.

Wednesday afternoon, Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan returned to his home state for a rally in Racine.

Congressman Ryan made stops early Wednesday in Eau Claire and Green Bay. His event Wednesday afternoon in Racine was on his way home Ryan's native Janesville, where he planned to spend the night.

During his third and final Wisconsin campaign rally, Republican Paul Ryan was greeted by several hundred supporters in his home district where he also is running for re-election to Congress.

Ryan doubled down on the Romney/Ryan charges that President Obama is not the great savior of the auto industry.

"The facts, they speak for themselves," said Ryan. "President Obama took GM and Chrysler into bankruptcy. Taxpayers still stand to lose $25 billion from the president's politically managed bankruptcy."

As Ryan spoke, a few blocks away in Racine, Obama campaign workers prepared mailers and made phone calls. The office, within Ryan's 1st Congressional District, is one of hundreds active in the president's statewide ground game to win Wisconsin's 10 electoral votes.

"It's very clear that we've got people mobilized and turning out in big numbers," said Obama/Biden campaign spokesman Cory Mason. "I think it's an open-ended question about whether or not Paul Ryan will be able to carry his own congressional district for the Romney/Ryan campaign."

Back at Memorial Hall, Ryan asked the audience to remember the victims of the East Coast storm.

The event was relatively subdued for a campaign rally only six days before Election Day as the candidate tried to stress the important of getting out the Republican vote.

"You know what they always say, as Racine county goes, so goes Wisconsin. And as Wisconsin goes, so goes America," Ryan said.

Ryan and wife Janna planned to return home to Janesville Wednesday night for one more campaign event and trick-or-treating with the kids.

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