Obama and Romney campaign in Ohio

On Monday, I got another email from Rachel over at Demotix asking if I could take some campaign photos in Ohio. I obliged, especially since it turned out that, not only would I take pictures of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan in Dayton, but I'd also go to Toledo and Bowling Green to take photos at both a Romney rally AND a Barack Obama rally. Score.

Speaking of which, here's a scorecard of each event:

Romney and Ryan at Dayton International Airport | Start at photo 1 (on Demotix)

• "If [Obama] can't change Washington, then we need to change presidents."
  -Ryan
• "We know the [economic] course the President has laid out. ... 'We're gonna go forward,' he said, more of the same. I think 'forewarned' is a better term."
  -Romney
• In a Romney presidency, "when we have an ambassador assassinated, when we have 20,000 people killed in Syria, when we have a Muslim Brotherhood leader become the new president of Egypt, when we have Iran moving closer and closer to a nuclear weapon, we don't have a president calling these things 'bumps in the road.' We have a president who takes this serious and gets America on track to shape world affairs."
  -Romney
• Security check and press clearance: about an hour
• Press food: YES

Obama at Bowling Green State University | Start at photo 6 (on Demotix)

• "My opponent and his running mate are big believers in top-down economics. They basically think that if we just spend another $5 trillion on tax cuts that favor the very wealthiest..." boos "Don't boo, vote." cheers
• "One of the things I learned is that we can't change Washington from the inside. You gotta change it from the outside. Change it with the help of ordinary Americans who are willing to make their voices heard. My opponent got really excited when he heard me say this. He changed his speech. He said, 'I'm gonna get the job done from the inside.' That's what he said. ... And I'm thinking to myself, 'What kind of inside job are you talking about?'"
• Security check and press clearance: about three hours
• Press food: NO
  (None that I saw, anyway. Maybe I missed it.)

Romney in Toledo | Start at photo 15 (on Demotix)

• "I know that they're out there chanting at his events, 'Four more years.' But let me ask you this: Do you want four more years with 23 million people struggling to find a job? Nooooooo. Do you want four more years where half our kids coming out of college can't find a college-level job? NOOOOO. Do you want four more years of trillion-dollar deficits? NOOOOO. I don't want four more years any more than you do, but I can tell you this: If President Obama were to be reelected, what you'd see is four more years like the last four years, and we can't afford another four years like the last four years!" cheers
• "Obamacare is really exhibit number one of the President's political philosophy. And that is that government knows better than people how to run their lives. ... I believe in free people pursuing their dreams. I believe in freedom!"
• Security check and press clearance: three minutes
• Press food: YES (Tony Packo's, no less!)

Bonus: I've seen one group of people at three campaign events now: once at Ryan's rally in Owensville, once at Obama's rally yesterday (photo 10), and a third time later that same evening in Toledo. They were holding Tea Party leaflets in Owensville, which would jive with their signs' messages that there is too much money involved in political campaigns. Their first sign was just a blanket statement advocating the idea, "Take the Money Out," but on this day their message was aimed directly at Romney. And this time (starting at photo 20), there was more of a scuffle as they were taken down. Arms weren't flying, but they were going pretty fast, and... Well, I'm not sure exactly what happened, who did worse, or whether the protesters were just there to raise trouble. (One guy certainly did his best to make sure we media people knew what had happened.) Either way, they were escorted out of the Romney event (and the earlier Ryan event), while I didn't see anything happen to them at Obama's event.

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