Continuing the theme from last week’s Republican convention and other campaign stops, Congressman Ryan spent much of his speech in at the Westlake Recreation Center hammering Mr. Obama for the state of the economy. 

“President Obama inherited a difficult situation when he came into office, but here’s the problem, he’s made things worse, he’s run out of ideas. He can’t run on his record, he’s out of ideas, and that’s why his campaign is sadly now based on the politics of envy and division.”

Ryan compared Mr. Obama to former Democratic President Jimmy Carter who was ousted by Republican Ronald Regan in 1980 when economic sluggishness  was also an issue. But Ryan says the economy is worse now than when Carter was in the White House. Ryan repeated the five point jobs plan he and Mitt Romney say will strengthen the economy. It pushes tax cuts, domestic energy production, job training, stricter foreign trade policies, and something Ryan says he learned from Ohio’s governor.

“John Kasich of all people taught me this simple lesson: we’ve got to stop spending money we don’t have. This out of control deficit, this spiraling debt is not only a threat to our economy today, it’s bankrupting the next generation and that’s wrong.”

But Mr. Obama’s supporters say his economic plan…including stimulus money and auto industry bailout…prevented an even deeper economic downfall. And the president says if Republicans really wanted to cut he deficit, they wouldn’t want further tax cuts for the wealthy. They’ve also criticized Ryan for pushing large-scale spending cuts and his plan to replace most of Medicare with a voucher system. But those are all issues that drew loud applause from the Ryan crowd in Westlake. Democratic leaning Cuyahoga County usually yields few Republican victories. But county Republican Party Chairman Rob Frost says campaigning in Cuyahoga can make a difference in a close presidential race.

“We have more registered Republicans in Cuyahoga County than any other in the state, over 125,000 here. And we have more swing voters in Cuyahoga than any other place in Ohio. So if you want to find those Regan Democrats, which I believe will soon be called Romney-Ryan Democrats, if you want to communicate with those voters about jobs and getting the economy going you need to be here in Northeast Ohio.”