Paul Ryan Says 'Florida is Everything,' Adopts Romney Habit of Age Guessing
PANAMA CITY, Fla.-Paul Ryan wrapped up a marathon four-stop, five-state day at an outdoor rally at the Panama City marina acknowledging to the crowd that "Florida is everything."
"Mitt Romney and I can handle whatever they are going to throw at us for the next three days, but this country cannot handle another four more years of this administration. We are asking for your help, we are asking for your support," Ryan said to a crowd of about 2,000 people. "Florida is key, you know that. Florida is everything."
As the hours tick down to Tuesday, Ryan even adopted a habit of his running mate's: guessing supporters' ages on the trail. This evening as a gorgeous sun set on St. Andrews Bay, it was a small child who got the attention as Ryan was talking about the "moral obligation" of getting the national debt down for a younger generation.
"Janna and I, our kids are seven, nine and ten," Ryan said, before pointing to a younger member of the audience. "This guy is five."
Ryan started laughing and said, "Hey it was a guess!"
Two new polls out from the Sunshine State show quite different results for the two tickets. A Miami Herald/Mason-Dixon poll out Friday shows Romney up here by six percentage points, 51 percent to 45 percent support for the president. However, an NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll from today shows Obama up by two percentage points, within the poll's margin of error with Obama at 49 percent and Romney with 47 percent.
Ryan's final stop of the day is a trip to his home state of Wisconsin ahead of an event there tomorrow. The whirlwind sprint for Ryan to give his closing pitch continues Sunday with another five state day including Wisconsin, must-win Ohio, expanding-the-map Minnesota, as well as Colorado, before he ends in Nevada.