LIMA, Ohio - In one of his harshest indictments to date of President Obama's handling of the economy, Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan told an audience on Monday that Americans "are beginning to give up hope" on the economic recovery.

During a town hall meeting, the first stop on a bus tour across Ohio, Ryan said, ""People are beginning to give up hope. People are beginning to think that the American dream's not for them because of this stagnant economy. And when you take a look at what your government's doing to you in every nook and cranny of America, it's not good."

Ryan also said that the Obama administration has threatened to veto a defense spending bill if Congress tries to reinstate funding for the nation's only tank-manufacturing plant, located in Lima. The Pentagon has said it has enough of the vehicles and is trying halt production of tanks for several years, but Ohio legislators like Sen. Rob Portman and Rep. Jim Jordan -- both of whom spoke before Ryan at the event -- have lobbied to keep the plant open.

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(CBS News) MIAMI - Seeking to bolster the Republican ticket with Latino voters, vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan pledged Saturday to be "tough on Castro, tough on Chavez," referring to Cuban and Venezuelan dictators Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez.

Though Ryan offered no details about how he and nominee Mitt Romney would change Cuba policy, the tough talk was enough to win him a hearty round of applause from supporters gathered at the Versailles Restaurant, a Miami staple on the presidential campaign trail.

A bevy of Spanish-speaking legislators from the state, including Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Mario Diaz-Balart and his brother, former Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, heaped praise on Ryan. Former Gov. Jeb Bush, and Craig Romney, the youngest of the five Romney boys and a fluent Spanish-speaker, were also on hand to warm up the crowd.

Ryan said his Cuban-American colleagues in Congress have taught him "just how brutal the Castro regime is, just how this president's policy of appeasement is not working."

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(CBS News) NEW ORLEANS - The audience reception for President Obama and Paul Ryan at Friday's AARP convention couldn't have differed more: Obama won cheers for discussing his signature health care law, while Ryan drew the most aggressively negative response he has faced as a GOP vice presidential candidate for vowing to repeal it.

Obama's and Ryan's back-to-back speeches before the nation's largest senior-citizens lobby also exposed just how wide the gulf is between their ideas on how to reform America's entitlement programs, as each man insinuated that the other's plan spelled certain destruction for the nation's seniors.

The audience of several thousand clearly came down on Obama's side. Despite Ryan's exhortations that the president had "turned Medicare into a piggy bank for 'Obamacare' " by cutting $716 billion in provider payments --a claim that fact-checking watchdogs have called misleading for a variety of reasons --he was met with a loud round of boos and cries of "no!" as he pledged to repeal the health care reform law, which AARP as an organization supports.

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(CBS News) BARTOW, Fla. - Despite hand-wringing from a high-profile Republican over the way Mitt Romney's campaign has used him, Paul Ryan said on Friday he's satisfied with his role in the Republican ticket's bid for the White House.

"We're talking to local people, going around the country, talking to local press -- I'm excited about my role and I feel very comfortable with it," Ryan told reporters during a stop at Walker's Produce here. He was responding to comments by Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who said that Romney's campaign wasn't making good enough use of Ryan.

"They not only need to use him out on the trail more effectively, they need to have more of him rub off on Mitt because I think Mitt thinks that way but he's gotta be able to articulate that," Walker said during an interview with radio host Charlie Sykes on Friday morning. "I think he has got a compelling message; he just has to get out and tell it, but I think too many people are restraining him from telling that."

Ryan chalked up Walker's comments to the fact that he's a "good backer" of the congressman. He said he "absolutely" felt like he has been properly utilized, and said he was excited to do events such as the Values Voters Summit in Washington, D.C. last week and a speech to the AARP convention earlier Friday.

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(CBS News) Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan, whose plans for Medicare are under attack by President Obama and other Democrats, will promise an honest conversation on entitlements in a speech at an AARP conference Friday in New Orleans, just after Obama addresses the group by satellite.

"You're right to worry that years of empty promises by both political parties are threatening the security of your golden years. And you're right to demand honest answers from those asking for your vote. Mitt Romney and I share your concerns," Ryan will tell the say, according to excerpts of his speech. "And we respect you enough to level with you. We respect all the people of this country enough to talk about the clear choices we face on Medicare, Social Security, the economy, and the kind of country our children will inherit."

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(CBS News) GOP nominee Mitt Romney found himself on the defensive at a Wednesday forum with Latino voters, fielding sharp questions about his comments at a closed-door fundraiser, immigration reform and Arizona's controversial immigration law before the event shifted to his preferred subject of the economy.

The very first question the former Massachusetts governor received during the forum, which was broadcast live online by the Spanish-language network Univision, put Romney in the position of again explaining comments from a secretly recorded video at a fundraiser that 47 percent of the country wouldn't vote for him because they depend on government assistance.

"My campaign is about the 100 percent of Americans," Romney said, arguing that his record of accomplishments in Massachusetts - raising the unemployment rate and helping improve schools - proves his commitment to the whole nation.

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(CBS News) ATLANTA - Rolling out a new, post-crisis theme on the campaign trail Wednesday, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney slammed President Obama as intent on using government to redistribute wealth in America and said his administration would create wealth by fostering free enterprise.

"He really believes in what I'll call a government-centered society. I know there are some who believe that if you simply take from some and give to others, then we'll all be better off. It's known as redistribution," Romney said. "It's never been a characteristic of America. ... I believe the way to lift people and help people have higher incomes is not to take from some and give to others, but to create wealth for all of us."

Romney: Poor economy fosters dependency

Fact-checking Romney's "47 percent" comment

Romney also said. "The question of this campaign is not who cares about the poor and the middle class. I do. He does. The question is who can help the poor and the middle class? I can! He can't!"

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(CBS News) DOVER, N.H. - Vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan told New Hampshire voters Tuesday that President Obama has created a safety net that encourages dependency and "drains people of their will and their incentive to make the most of their lives." He said that he and presidential nominee Mitt Romney would create a better social safety net that will "break the cycle of poverty," but he offered no details for achieving that goal.

Ryan's comments came a day after the liberal magazine Mother Jones published a video of Romney telling campaign donors at a private fundraising event that Mr. Obama's supporters are people who pay no income taxes and expect handouts from the government.

In a Monday evening press conference, Romney said his words were "not elegantly stated," but that he stood by the substance of the remarks. Along with Ryan, senior Romney adviser Kevin Madden was trying to tamp down reaction to the secretly recorded video, telling reporters traveling with Romney that the candidate remains "focused on the economy."

At a town hall meeting with about 430 people here, Ryan laid out a vision for the entitlement system that represented his most extensive discussion of the issue yet as the vice presidential candidate. It seemed to be aimed at softening the tone of Romney's secretly recorded remarks, which included his observation that the 47 percent of Americans are supporting Obama's reelection are people "who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it."

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CLEARWATER, Fla. Attorney Ted Olson, who was solicitor general for President George W. Bush, is playing the part of Vice President Joe Biden in Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan's debate preparation, the Romney campaign announced Saturday.

Olson has extensive experience both in and out of government. He served as the assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel for President Reagan, and acted as private counsel for both Reagan and George W. Bush. He has argued 58 cases before the Supreme Court, three quarters of which have been decided in his favor. His third wife, Barbara, was killed in the 9/11 attacks; she was a passenger on the plane that flew into the Pentagon.

Time Magazine named Olson one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2010. His high profile cases have included the Bush v. Gore recount in 2000 and the 2009 lawsuit against Proposition 8, California's constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. Olson represented Bush in 2000 then partnered with his opposing counsel in that case, David Boies, to challenge the marriage ban.

While his unexpected involvement in the California case alienated some conservatives, others still speak highly of him. Former attorney general John Ashcroft, in a quote circulated by the campaign, said Olson would be "a strategic asset in any endeavor." He said he and many other conservatives "welcome his increased participation in the Romney campaign."

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(CBS News) WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan on Friday offered a harsh indictment of President Obama's values and leadership, arguing in a speech to the Values Voter Summit that his opponent is bent on expanding the size of government to usurp the power of religious organizations in America.

Making an explicit appeal to Catholic opponents of abortion rights, Ryan cited the controversial executive order from the White House earlier this year that required religiously-affiliated organizations to provide employees with insurance plans that include birth control.

"In the president's telling, government is a big, benevolent presence - gently guiding our steps at every turn," Ryan said. "In reality, when government enters the picture, private institutions are so often brushed aside with suspicion or even contempt. This is what happened to the Catholic Church and Catholic Charities this past January, when the new mandates of Obamacare started coming. Never mind your own conscience, they were basically told, from now on you're going to do things the government's way."

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(CBS News) OWENSVILLE, Ohio - Vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan sharpened his attacks on the administration's handling of violence in the Middle East, bringing him into line with nominee Mitt Romney's more forceful response to the attacks.

"The administration sent mixed signals to those who attacked our embassy in Egypt, and mixed signals to the world," Ryan said to a crowd of roughly 3,000 people Wednesday evening. "I want to be clear. It is never too early for the United States to condemn attacks on Americans, on our properties, and to defend our values. That's what leadership is all about."

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(CBS News) DE PERE, Wis. - Vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan took a softer tone than Republican nominee Mitt Romney in response to protests and attacks on American diplomats in Libya and Egypt. He began a campaign event here Wednesday with a moment of silence rather than outright criticism for the administration's response to violence in the region.

"This is a time for healing. It is a time for resolve. And in the face of such a tragedy, we are reminded that the world needs American leadership. And the best guarantee of peace is American strength," Ryan said.

Romney has said a statement from the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, which condemned "those who abuse the universal right of free speech to hurt the religious beliefs of others," amounted to an administration apology for U.S. principles. While Ryan did not directly rebuke the president, he framed a Romney-Ryan foreign policy as better able to articulate American values abroad than Obama has done during his presidency.

"It is very important that a president speak with a singular voice representing our principles and our values. We don't want people around the world wondering what our values are. We believe in individual rights, and particularly in the Middle East, we believe in women's rights," Ryan said during a town hall with about 1,500 voters in his home state.

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(CBS News) OAK CREEK, Wis. - Vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan is about to run his first political ads of the season, not for the Republican ticket that he shares with Mitt Romney, but for his concurrent reelection bid to the House.

The congressman from Wisconsin's 1st congressional district plans to air ads in the Milwaukee and Madison television markets beginning on Wednesday, the same day he will be in the state campaigning, an aide said. Since he joined the GOP ticket as nominee Mitt Romney's running mate in mid-August, Ryan has chosen to legally remain on the ballot in the congressional race, which is allowed under Wisconsin law. If he and Romney are elected, his seat will be filled in a special election. If they lose the White House race, Ryan could still be elected for an eighth term in the House.

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(CBS News) Following in Mitt Romney's footsteps, Paul Ryan will spend Sunday preparing for the vice-presidential debates in Oregon, with a brief break to watch the Green Bay Packers game.

"You'd be hard pressed to find someone in American political life today with more experience at national political debates than Vice President Biden," said a Romney advisor traveling with the vice presidential nominee. The advisor spoke with reporters on condition of anonymity about Ryan's preparation process for a debate with the current vice president, who has extensive experience on the national stage and served for three and a half decades in the Senate.

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