Romney, Ryan stump at Red Rocks to an energized crowd

MORRISON — Republican presidential candidate Gov. Mitt Romney, with running mate Congressman Paul Ryan, took the stage Tuesday night under the lights of iconic Red Rocks Amphitheatre.  

 

As the election enters the home stretch, Romney and Ryan capitalized on a standing room-only crowd of more than 10,000, just a night after President Barack Obama and Romney completed the third and final presidential debate. 

 

Romney and Ryan entered the stage to a huge ovation from the crowd whose spirits were not dampened by the gloomy weather. They wasted no time laying out the leadership they would bring to the White House and put America on the road to recovery. 

 

They took some time to speak to Obama’s campaign tactics and how they are increasing on personal attacks, which they both said reflects how Obama’s campaign is starting to lose hold of the race. 

 

“What you’re seeing from the Obama campaign is an incredibly shrinking campaign,” Romney said. “The president’s out of ideas, he’s out of excuses and in November you’re going to make sure he’s out of office.”

 

Added Ryan: “Four years ago he came here to Denver. He offered so much hope, so much change. Candidate Obama, then, said if you’re out of fresh ideas, you use stale tactics to scare voters. If you don’t have a record to run on, you paint your opponent to run from.”

 

Romney laid out his five-step plan to a prospering America through the means of energy, trade, education, balancing the budget and making small businesses prosper.

 

To make America an energy-independent country in eight years, Romney plans on utilizing the country’s coal, oil, natural gas and renewable energy.

 

In regard to trade, Romney said he wants to begin trading with Latin America and cutting ties with countries that cheat in the market.

 

Romney also said he wants to place an emphasis on students, parents and teachers first in our educational system.

 

A balanced budget is key to success, so Romney’s plan is to cut spending before going over budget. An aspect to achieving a balanced budget under Romney, according to Ryan, would be capitalizing on Romney’s business background. Romney also added he intends to balance the budget by capping spending by only using “20 percent of the economy.”

 

For small businesses, Romney pointed out how Obama highly taxes small businesses, opposite of his plan to lower taxes to make it easier for small businesses to survive. This would help the middle class since many small businesses are started and run by the middle class.

 

“We can do better,” Romney said. “We don’t have to settle for what we’ve seen the last four years. We are tired of being tired.” 

 

Among the speakers and performers on hand at the event were Colorado Congressman Bob Beauprez, country musician Trace Atkins, rock musician Kid Rock and Colorado Rockies first baseman Todd Helton. All spoke about their backing for the Romney/Ryan ticket. 

 

“I feel they have the strength, courage and the characteristics we need for the next four years,” Helton said. 

 

The final speaker before the nominees was Susana Martinez, Governor of New Mexico. The basis of Martinez’s speech was about Obama’s broken promises and the hope she had for him running the country. 

 

“We all hoped he’d deliver on his promises because we all want America to succeed,” Martinez said. 

 

Martinez was joined by Atkins to introduce Ryan to the stage first. Ryan complimented his running mate’s leadership qualities.

 

“We’re not just picking the next president for the next four years,” Ryan said. “We are picking the direction and the course of our country for generations.” 

 

Romney’s closing remarks stressed Colorado will be the difference and can help bring change to America.

 

“It matters for your kids and their kids,” Romney said. “It matters to 23 million Americans who are struggling to get a good job. It matters for the future of our planet to have a nation like ours, the leader of the world, strong and robust with a strong military and a strong economy and strong values and strong allies. It matters. We’re going to make it happen. Colorado, you need you to make it happen. We can do it together.”

 

Romney and Ryan were not the sole candidates campaigning in Colorado this month. Vice President Joe Biden was in Greeley Oct. 17, and Obama made a stop in Denver Wednesday.