Paul Ryan courts Cuban-Americans on South Florida campaign swing

MIAMI?

? Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan made the obligatory pilgrimage Saturday for any Republican seeking high office in Florida: a visit to Versailles Restaurant in Little Havana.

Flanked by former Gov. Jeb Bush and U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Ryan started the visit with the all important photo op, drinking a tacita (a shot) of Cuban coffee.

Before he spoke to a capacity crowd of 450 inside the restaurant, presidential candidate Mitt Romney was praised, President Barack Obama was denounced, and Ryan was introduced ? in English and Spanish ? by Bush, Ros-Lehtinen, former U.S. Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, current U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart and Craig Romney, the youngest of the presidential nominee's five sons.

Ryan then continued with the de rigueur way to court Cuban-American voters: tough talk on Cuba. Enthusiastic Cuban-Americans are critical to any Republican who wants to win statewide, including Romney and Ryan who need Florida's 29 electoral votes ? more than one-tenth of the total needed to win the presidency.

Ryan said he learned from Ros-Lehtinen and the Diaz-Balarts "just how brutal" the Castro regime is, and pledged a hard line from a Romney-Ryan administration. "We will be tough on Castro, tough on [Venezuelan President Hugo] Chavez."

Ryan spoke for a little more than 10 minutes. After the obligatory remarks about Cuba, his speech was mostly familiar lines from the back and forth of the presidential campaign.

He mocked Obama's 2008 slogan of hope and change. "Hope is farther away," he said, after 43 months of unemployment greater than 8 percent.

He excoriated Obama for using $716 billion in reductions of payments to people and institutions that provide services to Medicare patients, which he said would damage the program. He didn't say anything about the plan he advanced as chairman of the House Budget Committee that would cut the same $716 billion.

"We can do this. We can turn it around. We can get this country back on track," he said.

The event was supposed to be a crowded, outdoor affair at the restaurant, but the campaign conceded defeat to heavy rainfall and moved it inside ? leaving a soaked Juntos con Romney banner and American and state of Florida flags.

Inside, almost everyone was a supporter. Chants from a couple of anti-Romney people in the audience were drowned out with chants of "USA, USA," before Ryan arrived.

"I think Romney's pick of Congressman Ryan was phenomenal. There's no better person out there to highlight fiscal conservatism than Pau Ryan," said Rudy Pages, 46, an investment banker from Miami Beach.

Pages acknowledged Romney's "had a couple of bad weeks" on the campaign trail" but said he thinks his candidate ultimately will prevail.

"I'm not being blindly optimistic, but I don't think the race is the way it's being represented in the media," he said.

Lincoln Diaz-Balart said in an interview that he's confident that the upcoming presidential debates will be a turning point for Romney. In a fiery introduction speech, he said "there is no more admirable, no more respected, no more studious member of Congress than the next vice president of the United States, Paul Ryan."

His brother, Mario, called him "a person of great intellect but also great humility. What a contrast that would be" ? an unvarnished shot at Obama.

During the introductions, just before Ryan took the mic, his mother Elizabeth "Betty" Ryan Douglas, a part-time resident of Lauderdale-by-the-Sea was brought in and he gave her a quick kiss. He later joked that the highlight of the day for her was meeting Bush.

Angela Buehler, 33, a stay at home mom from Fort Lauderdale, arrived at Versailles at about 7:30 a.m. with her husband and two young children to eat breakfast and get a front-table seat for an event that didn't start until just before 10.

She's never attended a political event before, and after hearing Ryan the independent/no party voter said she's even more determined to vote for Romney and Ryan in November.

George Acosta of Miami, a 60-year-old translator also in independent, termed Ryan "young and full of energy."

He said he isn't sure if he'll vote for Obama or Romney. He said he's waiting to watch the debates.

Giancarlo Sopo of Coral Gables, a Cuban-American who was among a small group of Obama supporters outside Versailles, said voters need to examine Ryan more closely before buying his supposed anti-Castro stands.

"To paraphrase President Clinton, it takes real brass to vote three times against economic sanctions on the Cuban regime and then come to Little Havana and ask Cuban-Americans for their vote," he said. "It's one thing to have a genuine disagreement with someone on a policy. It's something else to change your position from one day to the next just to pander in order to win votes."

He said the Diaz-Balarts and Ros-Lehtinen overlook that because of their loyalty to the party. "That doesn't change the fact that you have a voting record that's very clear."

aman@tribune.com, 954-356-4550

Source: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/fl-paul-ryan-florida-campaign-20120922,0,2964131.story?track=rss

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