Paul Ryan Tells Iowa Crowd: ‘We Have the Momentum’ - East Idaho News
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Paul Ryan Tells Iowa Crowd: ‘We Have the Momentum’

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GETTY P 081212 PRYAN?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1352170757929SAUL LOEB/AFP/GettyImages(DES MOINES, Iowa) – Paul Ryan held the last Romney 2012 campaign event in Iowa Monday evening, flying in from Colorado for a brief airplane hangar rally to the place where the presidential choosing contest begins: the first caucus state of Iowa. He told several hundred people his ticket will be victorious Tuesday.

“That’s why we need your help,” Ryan said, standing in front of a huge “Victory in Iowa” banner.  “That’s why we have momentum. That’s why we are going to win. And that’s why we only have one more day before we get us on the right track.”

The GOP vice presidential candidate gave a nod to the state’s caucus pride, saying they really get to know the candidates in a way other states don’t have the opportunity.

“Look, in Iowa, you have every presidential candidate in your own kitchens,” Ryan said, before referring to Obama. “I mean you really get to know candidates, and what has he been doing? He spent the entire summer and fall just trying to discredit and destroy Mitt Romney. He spent the entire time to distract you, trying to distort, trying to win an election by default, because he could not run on his record.”

This stop was the candidate’s third event and third time zone of the whirlwind day before voters go to the polls. He’s already stopped in Nevada and Colorado and still has Ohio and his home state of Wisconsin to go.

He noted that his 12 events here since being chosen as Mitt Romney’s running mate means, “We’ve kind of gotten know each other these last few months.”

The most recent Des Moines Register poll shows the president with a five-point advantage with 47 percent support to 42 percent for Romney. It’s a critical state for both campaigns and while Romney stopped Sunday, the president holds his final campaign rally in Des Moines late Monday night. It was Obama’s success in the 2008 Iowa caucuses that gave his candidacy the initial push, leading many months later to victory.

Whether his ticket is successful or not Tuesday, if Paul Ryan may have presidential aspirations of his own – which considering his trajectory, youth, and the fact he seriously considered entering the 2012 field is quite likely, he’s expected to be back to Iowa often. From the state fair to the Pizza Ranches, and yes even in Iowans’ kitchens, this state gets to choose first, buoying struggling candidacies while at times ending others.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

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