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VP Candidate Paul Ryan Makes First Visit To Pittsburgh Area

CARNEGIE (KDKA) ---  Republican Candidate Paul Ryan hosted a campaign rally in front of a crowd of supporters at the Beaver Steel Services in Carnegie Tuesday.

Ryan said he and Mitt Romney want to restore the American Dream and bring back jobs to Americans. He characterized this election as one of clear choice.

"We can either stay in the path that we're on, we can stick with the path the President is on – our nation in debt, our nation in doubt, our nation continuing down the road in decline," Ryan said. "Or we can get ourselves back on the right track. We can reapply our principals and reignite the American idea by electing Mitt Romney the next president of the United States of America."

It was an enthusiastic crowd of perhaps 1,500 - many of whom said Ryan was an important addition to the Republican presidential ticket.

"I think he's great - he's a great candidate, he's someone we need and he's bringing life back to the Republican Party," Betty Roberson, of McMurray, said.

"He has strong convictions and beliefs that he's stuck to for many years now and I think he's gonna be a good addition to the Romney ticket," Russ Callenberg, of Saxonburg, said.

Ryan said that as President, Mitt Romney would turn the economy around.

"We're offering specific solutions that are designed to get people back to work – 12 million jobs in four years, grow the economy at four percent, 500,000 jobs in Pennsylvania alone if we get this country and this economy rolling again," he said.

Ryan, who has offered a plan to privatize Medicare for those under 55, said it was the Republican plan that actually preserves Medicare.

"President Obama treated Medicare like a piggy bank to fund Obamacare and his campaign calls that achievement," he said. "You think that's an achievement? No. Medicare should be there for Medicare – not Obamacare."

The fiscal conservative also told the cheering crowd that when it comes to helping the poor, capitalism worked the best.

"There is no other system that has done more to help the poor, that has done more to rise people out of poverty and on to lives of self-sufficiency than the American system of freedom and free enterprise and there is no rival for it anywhere in the world," Ryan added.

As expected, today's rally attracted protesters including members of the group, "One Pittsburgh." The group gathered before the rally and began protesting tax cuts for wealthy Americans.

The trip is part of an announcement tour that will take Mr. Ryan across the country. He has already made stops in Virginia, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Ohio, Nevada, Colorado and Florida.

This is Ryan's first visit to the Pittsburgh area since Mitt Romney announced him as a Vice Presidential running mate.  He will make his way from Carnegie to Philadelphia for a private fundraising event later Tuesday afternoon.

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