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Sound From The Trail: Ryan On His Running Mate

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

Speaking of political messages, we've been tuning in to speeches on the presidential campaign trail this week.

MITT ROMNEY: This is what an angry and desperate presidency looks like.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: I fundamentally disagree with their vision for America.

VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: It's a good thing for the country that we have this stark, stark choice.

BLOCK: We've heard excerpts of stump speeches from Vice President Joe Biden, President Obama and Mitt Romney. Now, the new kid on the trail: Paul Ryan. Here he is today in Glen Allen, Virginia, speaking about his running mate.

PAUL RYAN: What is so special and unique about Mitt Romney is that this is a leader who has proven he knows what it takes to create jobs. He has proven, through starting up small businesses, through turning around struggling businesses, through creating businesses we all know - Sports Authority, Bright Horizons, Staples - this is a person who is living proof in experience that knows that if you have a small business, you built that small business.

(APPLAUSE)

RYAN: That's the backbone of our economy. More than half our jobs come from these small businesses. And what is the president doing? More regulations, more uncertainty, more borrowing, more spending, more taxing...

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: More teleprompter.

RYAN: ...and more teleprompters. All right. He had to add that in there. You see, we're in global competition, like it or not. And overseas, which where I come from means Lake Superior, so...

(LAUGHTER)

RYAN: See, countries like Canada and all of our trade competitors, they're lowering their tax rates on their businesses.

Canada lowered their top tax rate on their businesses to 15 percent in January. And what is President Obama proposing? He is proposing the tax rate on our successful small businesses goes above 40 percent in January.

(SOUNDBITE OF BOOING)

RYAN: How on earth are we going to compete like that? You see, when we tax our job creators and our businesses at much higher tax rates than our foreign competitors tax theirs, they win, we lose.

That's what Obama-nomics is, and we're going to reject Obama-nomics, and we're going to clean up his tax system, get this thing reformed and help small businesses and families grow and create jobs.

BLOCK: An excerpt there of a stump speech from vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan speaking today in Glen Allen, Virginia. Congressman Ryan wraps up his first full week on the campaign trail tomorrow with a trip to The Villages, which calls itself Florida's friendliest retirement hometown. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.