Ryan rallies huge Lakewood crowd, avoids Medicare

Posted on: 12:23 pm, August 14, 2012, by Eli Stokols, updated on: 06:33pm, August 14, 2012

LAKEWOOD, Colo. — Four days after being tapped as Mitt Romney’s running mate, Congressman Paul Ryan rallied around 2,000 supporters inside a packed gymnasium at Lakewood High School Tuesday morning.

Ryan, whose addition to the GOP ticket has added a jolt of energy to the conservative base and changed the dynamic of the campaign itself, looked to make a solid first impression on voters in the important metro suburbs and across this critical swing state.

“I’ve been climbing Fourteeners in this great state for 20 years,” Ryan said, leading off his remarks by mentioning that he and his family had planned to be vacationing in Colorado this week before he was asked to join the ticket.

From there, Ryan pivoted into his standard speech, given without the use of teleprompters in punchy, caffeinated prose.

“No doubt President Obama inherited a tough situation,” Ryan said. “Here’s the problem — he’s made it worse.

“We can create 12 million jobs in our first four years. We are offering solutions.”

Ryan’s speech, which lasted less than 20 minutes, was a looser version of the five-point plan Romney outlined in Jefferson County two weeks ago, hitting on the five key priorities of a Romney administration: energy independence, education reform, debt reduction, small business outreach and job growth.

“We won’t blame others. We will lead,” Ryan said. “It is not too late to turn our country around, to give our children a debt-free nation and to reignite the American Dream.”

Interestingly, Ryan never sought to frame the argument over his controversial House GOP budget that has, with his selection as Romney’s vice presidential candidate, suddenly become a central issue in the race for the White House.

The Obama campaign is already highlighting how Ryan’s package includes drastic spending cuts to entitlement programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, which could cost Romney in a state like Florida.

Following Ryan’s speech, the Romney campaign released a new TV ad that takes aim at Obama on the issue, arguing that the president is actually the one responsible for cutting $716 ,illion from the program in order to fund the Affordable Care Act.

In response, Obama’s national press secretary, Ben LaBolt, told FOX31 Denver that the ad aims to serve as a smokescreen to distract voters from the Ryan budget.

“What they’re referring to in this latest spot is $716 million worth of savings that the president identified that doesn’t cut benefits. It enhances benefits,” LaBolt said. “It ensures that we’re getting waste and fraud out of the system, eliminating unnecessary subsidies to insurance companies and directing those into benefits for seniors.

“Congressman Ryan actually agreed with the president on this and included that savings in his budget. So it’s certainly ironic that the Romney campaign would try to turn this against us when Congressman Ryan included the same savings in his budget.”

Increasing the pressure on Ryan in Colorado, the editorial board of the Denver Post, the only remaining metro daily and single-most influential newspaper in the state, published an editorial Monday night calling Ryan a “radical” choice who is “likely to alienate” moderate voters.

“Romney decided to fire up the GOP base at the expense of the political middle,” the Post editorialized. “He selected a running mate whose views not only fall outside the mainstream, but who lacks any foreign policy expertise as well.

“It’s a curious strategy.”

ProgressNow Action, a Colorado-based progressive group, also brought attention to something Ryan didn’t mention: his support for Personhood and his strong pro-life stance.

The group had two young girls register for the event as “Fertilized Eggs” and they even took pictures with Joe Coors, the Republican running for Congress in Lakewood who’s supported Personhood in years past.

A group taking a similar hardline stance against abortion was also in Colorado Tuesday, driving billboard trucks through Arvada with graphic, bloody images of aborted babies.

Ryan flew to Denver Monday night and attended two private fundraisers ahead of Tuesday morning’s rally. Following the speech, Ryan heads to Las Vegas.