MOORESVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA: White House hopeful Mitt Romney and running mate Paul Ryan stump yesterday in North Carolina and Wisconsin, before the newly minted Republican team part ways on the campaign trail.
Romney unveiled Ryan as his vice presidential pick Saturday in Virginia at the start of a four-day swing state bus tour, but the split means Ryan will not be on hand when Romney visits the biggest battlegrounds of all, Florida and Ohio.
The duo attends two events in North Carolina, including one in High Top where 7,000 people are expected, the campaign said. The candidates then divert to Wisconsin to attend a rally in Ryan's home state.
Romney then returns to the original schedule in Florida, while Ryan heads to Iowa.
“This has more to do with expanding our bandwith,” Romney aide Kevin Madden told reporters.
Madden dismissed suggestions that Ryan — architect of a budget plan that would overhaul entitlements like Medicare, the government health care program for seniors — was avoiding Florida because the campaign was concerned about how older voters in the state would react to him and his controversial plan.
Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, “is going to be talking about... all the issues that are important to Floridians,” Madden said.
“Congressman Ryan is going to be able to be down in Florida during this campaign and will be doing the same.”
Romney's pick of Ryan as his running mate caused a sensation Saturday, with conservatives praising his choice for electrifying the Republican base and assuring the election will be framed around major issues like the role and size of government.
But it's politically risky, as Ryan's plan remains unpopular with many voters and President Barack Obama has savaged it.
The plan would transform Medicare from a traditional fee-for-service health care system for seniors into a voucher system giving them money to purchase insurance on the private market.
Some experts say the Ryan plan would raise out-of-pocket costs for seniors by as much as $6,000 per year.
Iowa and the bus tour states all voted for Obama in 2008 and helped him win the presidency, and Romney's campaign has described the tour as a trip into the “lion's den in terms of blue voters.”
Ryan attends the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines today, and Madden said the congressman will help drive home “the Romney-Ryan message on fixing the economy.”
“It's going to be close there, I believe, all the way until election day,” Madden said.
