DUBUQUE, IA – Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan kicked off another battleground state bus tour Monday night here and told voters it is all about family.

“Janna and I are kicking off a bus tour today in Iowa. I live two hours east of here in Janesville. We wanted to start here in Loras because this is where my grandfather went to college,” Ryan said, speaking inside the field house at Loras College.

“It is great to have family with us on the road. It is great to have family with us as we do this bus tour through Iowa,” he continued, noting that his wife’s family is from nearby Clinton, Iowa.

Ryan was joined by his three kids -- Liza, Charlie and Sam -- his wife Janna and her two sisters on the two-day bus trip and even reminisced about his connection with Dubuque.

“On the way over here, I had this song ringing in my mind. A song I grew up hearing all the time in southern Wisconsin: ‘Dubuque, Dubuque, da da da da da da da Dubuque, Dubuque. I know you have that thing in your mind,” the seven-term Wisconsin congressman sang to the roughly 1,000-person crowd inside as well as later to the several hundred people who were kept out of the event by the fire marshal.

Just a week ago, Ryan was in Lima, OH kicking off a three-day bus tour for the GOP ticket. Mitt Romney currently trails President Barack Obama in both key Midwest states.

The new Des Moines Register poll released late Saturday night found Obama leading Romney 49 percent to 45 percent in the battleground state.

During Monday night’s event in the Hawkeye State, Ryan explained to the crowd it’s a “difficult reelection” for Obama and that the president must “win Iowa to win this thing.”

Ryan’s rally on the northeast boarder of Iowa marks his fifth event in the state and is just two days before the first presidential debate.

“We are entering the debate phase, the choice phase of this campaign,” he told the enthusiastic crowd.

Tuesday, Ryan holds three events along the Mississippi River in Iowa to conclude the “Real Recovery” bus tour in the towns of Clinton, Muscatine, and Burlington.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – On the opening day of bow hunting season in Ohio, Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan addressed a large group of sportsmen in the battleground state proclaiming he is a hunting and fishing enthusiast.

“Our opening day (in Wisconsin) was two weeks ago. I’ve got some stands out in the woods, but they’re not going to see me this year. And you know why? Because we are going to give this country a choice,” Ryan told the crowd, speaking at the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance’s 16th Annual Save Our Heritage Banquet.

Later, he talked about taking his three children fishing.

“Teaching your kid how to take a night crawler and split it into about five pieces and put it on the hook ... make sure they don’t cut their hand when they push the gill down, take it off the hook. That’s a good life lesson. These are the things we teach our kids as hunting and fishing enthusiasts,” Ryan said about he and his wife, Janna.

The former chairman of the Congressional Sportsmen Caucus -- which Ryan described as the largest bipartisan caucus in Congress -- turned partisan midway through his speech expressing concern about another term for President Barack Obama.

“I shudder as a gun owner, seeing his [Obama’s] record when he was in the Illinois state Senate. What would he do if he never has to face the voters ever again? These are the kinds of questions we think about,” Ryan told the roughly 1,000-person crowd.

The attacks on the Obama-Biden ticket didn’t stop there as Ryan read word for word a response to Vice President Joe Biden’s comments Friday in Florida hitting the GOP ticket on Social Security and Medicare.

“Let me be very clear: There is only one person in this race threatening the health and retirement security programs of our seniors, and that is President Obama. There is only one person in this race insisting on raising taxes and that is President Obama,” the Wisconsin congressman said.

He went on to promise: “Mitt Romney and I will never waiver in our commitment to our seniors. Our plans actually save these programs, they make no changes for people in or near retirement, they strengthen Medicare and Social Security for a generation.”

Biden claimed in Boca Raton on Friday that a President Romney would not help the middle class.

“Well, if Governor Romney’s plan goes into effect, it could mean that everyone, everyone of you, would be paying more on taxes on your Social Security. The average senior would have to pay $460 a year more in taxes for their Social Security,” Biden said. “Ladies and gentlemen, that’s why these guys, while these guys are out there having hemorrhaging tax cuts for the super wealthy.”

The event Saturday evening marks Ryan’s 13th campaign appearance in the state since being chosen as Romney’s running mate. He was presented with a shotgun made in Ohio but because of congressional ethics rules asked to have the gift be made part of the event's silent auction. 

Ryan readies for 3-day debate camp

Before heading to the annual banquet, Ryan stopped at a popular sports bar just a few hundred yards away from Ohio State University to watch the Buckeyes play the Michigan State Spartans in East Lansing. He was joined by his wife plus his old college roommate from Miami University of Ohio, Tom Blackstone.

The surprise visit at The Varsity Club -- during which the VP nominee enjoyed a Miller Lite and shook hands with many patrons -- comes at a time when the Romney-Ryan ticket seems to be falling behind in the battleground state of Ohio.

According to a recent Washington Post poll of the state, Obama leads Romney there 52 percent to 41 percent.

Some have argued Ohio’s Republican Gov. John Kasich has not helped the GOP ticket enough as he likes to boast the state’s success in creating jobs. Saturday night, speaking before Ryan at the sportsmen banquet, he again gave his state rave reviews. 

“Folks as I walked around through the audience here, a lot of nice people saying, ‘You know, things are getting better.’ They are getting better. You know we are up 123,000 jobs in our state and that’s good news,” Kasich said. “I will say this to you: If at times I’ve got to take some heat, that’s OK because it is my job to build a stronger Ohio. Forget all the politics. Man to man, man to woman, this is all about making our state strong, and you know what, we’ve got what it takes.”

Ryan heads to Connecticut and New York for the next two days to raise money before heading to Iowa on a two-day bus tour of the Hawkeye State.

Ed Andrieski / AP

Republican vice presidential candidate, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis speaks at a campaign stop at Walker Manufacturing in Fort Collins, Colo., Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2012.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Congressman Paul Ryan had a simple message for those gathered to hear him speak at America the Beautiful Park: A Mitt Romney administration would support America’s military.

“Mitt Romney and I want to be very clear with you. We value and respect your mission here and we believe in and support missile defense, and missile defense is necessary to keep us safe and we will not allow that to go through,” the Republican vice presidential nominee said. “To the soldiers in Fort Carson to the airmen at Peterson and Schriever Air Force Base and to those cadets at the Air Force Academy: We respect you, we appreciate you and we will back you because we need you. We need your support. We need what you do.”

Slideshow: On the campaign trail

Ryan, speaking just down the street from the Air Force Academy, talked about the joy and hope it brings him to appoint students to the various military academies around the country as a seven-term congressman.

“It is one of the greatest experiences because every year I get to sit down and to see these young men and these women and it gives you so much hope that there is such a great future for us because we are still raising such quality people here. I have had such an honor to appoint young men and women to the Air Force Academy here; I still get postcards and pictures and Christmas cards. This is a gem. This is one of the greatest things we do in this country,” he said.

The Wisconsin congressman also hit President Barack Obama for his “devastating defense cuts” to the military, something Ryan has talked about numerous times on the trail but made this very personal appeal for the first time here in the Centennial State.

“Of all the things that Mitt Romney and I differ, disagree with President Obama -- we need a strong military. We believe in peace through strength. We believe that when America’s military is strong, America is safer. This is so critical to our way of life, to our peace, to our security, to our democracy, to our prosperity,” he said during the outdoor rally that drew nearly 1,500 people.

“And these defense cuts that he is promising, these devastating defense cuts that he is promising not only undermine our peace, not only undermine our security, they compromise jobs right here.”

While Ryan campaigned in the battleground state of Colorado, Romney wrapped up a three-day Ohio bus tour with just 41 days before voters head to the polls in November.

The month of October will include debates leading up to the Nov. 6^th election – the first one takes place on Oct. 3 in Denver.

Ryan was asked about Romney’s readiness to “take it to Obama.”

“Absolutely,” Ryan said. “But one little difference between then and now. President Obama has a record and President Obama has a record and a string of broken promises.”

The GOP vice presidential nominee is scheduled to spend the next several days focusing heavily on fundraising. Ryan heads to Tennessee, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York City to raise money through the weekend.

Joe Raedle / Getty Images

Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., the Republican vice presidential candidate, and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., share a laugh with waitress Lourdes Alcerro during a campaign stop Saturday at Versailles restaurant in the Little Havana neighborhood of Miami.

MIAMI -- Paul Ryan made a direct appeal to the large Hispanic population in south Florida on Saturday morning as he spoke inside the popular Versailles Restaurant with several prominent Florida politicians.

“I learned from these friends, from Mario, from Lincoln, from Ileana, just how brutal the Castro regime is, just how this president's policy of appeasement is not working,” Ryan said standing next to former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and the chairwoman of the House Foreign Relations Committee, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla.

Ryan vowed to the crowd, which sang “God Bless America” upon the congressman’s arrival: “In a Mitt Romney administration, we will not keep practicing this policy of appeasement; we will be tough on this brutal dictator; all it has done is rewarded more despotism … we will help those pro-democracy groups. We will be tough on Castro, tough on Chavez. And it’s because we know that's the right policy for our country."

These words mark Ryan’s first comments on how a President Romney would handle relations with Cuba.

Several dozen turned out to see the Republican vice presidential nominee on a rainy morning in Miami and Ryan was sure to give a shout-out to the popular Republican leaders from the area, including Sen. Marco Rubio, and two brothers who spoke to the crowd ahead of Ryan, Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart and former Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart.

Bush, introducing Ryan, helped the Wisconsin native learn a little Spanish.

"I need to teach Paul one word in Spanish,” the brother of former President George W. Bush and son of former President George H. W. Bush said. “Here we call this ‘una aguacera.’ This was just a little tropical rainstorm.”

Romney's youngest son, Craig, was also on hand and addressed the crowd in Spanish as many of the other politicians did as well.

Ryan began his visit to the famous Cuban establishment by enjoying a cup of Café Colatta with the former governor and Rep. Ros-Lehtinen but wasted no time attacking President Barack Obama during his speech to Floridians.

“Just a couple days ago on Univision, President Obama admitted that he can't change Washington from the inside. Why do we send presidents to the White House in the first place?” he asked. “I mean, we send presidents to change and fix the mess in Washington. And if this president has admitted that he can't change Washington, then you know what, we need to change presidents."

Ryan mingled his way thru the packed restaurant after his brief remarks and even insisted on giving the woman running against Democratic National Chairwoman Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz a hug.

Saturday’s appearance in the Sunshine State marked Ryan’s sixth public event as the Romney-Ryan ticket tries to win the state’s 29 electoral votes in November.

Bush made a bold prediction about his state as he spoke to reporters following the event: “Romney is going to carry Florida.”

LAKELAND, Fla. – Paul Ryan dismissed claims Friday afternoon that he is not being properly utilized on the campaign trail as Mitt Romney’s running mate.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a major advocate of Ryan being tapped as VP, told a Milwaukee radio host earlier in the day the Romney campaign needs “to use him [Ryan] out on the trail more effectively, they need to have more of him rub off on Mitt.”

Ryan said he disagrees with the claims made by his fellow Cheesehead, saying he is “absolutely” being utilized enough.

“Oh, he [Walker] is just a good backer of mine. I feel really good about it [his role]. Look, I am doing the things I want to do,” Ryan said inside “Walker’s Produce” -- a local fruit stand. “Look at what we are doing, we are talking to local people, going around the country talking to local press. I am excited about my role. I feel very comfortable with it.”

The quick stop outside of Tampa came just a couple hours after the GOP presidential nominee released his complete 2011 taxes – something Republicans and Democrats alike have been pressuring Romney to do for some time. Romney paid more than $1.9 million in taxes on income of about $13.7 million and donated about $4 million to charity, although he only claimed a deduction of about $2.25 million from those donations, according to the campaign.

Bill Haber / AP

Vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan, R-Wis., appears at an AARP convention Friday in New Orleans.

Ryan reacted to Romney’s “unique” tax situation.

"I think that what this shows is that the Romneys are extremely generous people,” he told reporters. “They gave away 30 percent of their income to charity so Mitt Romney has always believed to whom much is given, much is required and he is living proof of that and this just shows you how generous the Romneys are as people."

The seven-term Wisconsin congressman, who walked thru the outdoor market in the Sunshine State with his 78-year-old mom, Betty, who is a Florida resident, held his only public event earlier in the day when he addressed the AARP convention in New Orleans. Ryan received a very unfriendly welcome by the crowd but it was nothing he didn’t expect.

“Entitlement reform has unfortunately been made very partisan by partisans and so I have gotten that kind of reaction and unfortunately it's what we've come to expect because the politics of reforming entitlements has become very bitter,” he said before heading to attend private fundraiser in the area. “It's very unfortunate because if we let the politics get the best of us-- these problems are going to get out of our control. We've got to fix Medicare before it goes bankrupt."

According to the NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released Thursday, the Romney-Ryan ticket trails President Barack Obama in terms of how voters believe each ticket would deal with Medicare: 47 percent of voters surveyed believe Obama would better deal with the program compared to just 37 percent who believer Romney would handle it better.

OWENSVILLE, OH -- By Wednesday afternoon, Paul Ryan took a harsher tone against President Barack Obama and aligned himself with his running mate, Mitt Romney, regarding the attacks on Americans in the Middle East.

“The administration sent mixed signals to those who attacked our embassy in Egypt, and mixed signals to the world. 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,” Ryan told the crowd in the battleground state of Ohio. “That’s what leadership is all about.”

The GOP vice presidential nominee continued: “This administration’s policies project weakness abroad. Undercutting allies like Israel, outreach to enemies like Iran, national security leaks and devastating defense cuts. A weak America breeds insecurity and chaos around the world. The best guarantee of peace is American strength.” 

At Ryan’s first event of the day, in his home state of Wisconsin, the seven-term congressman focused less on policy and more on the tragedy itself.

“The attacks on our diplomatic missions in Egypt and Libya and the loss of four American lives including our Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens – this is outrageous,” Ryan said in De Pere, Wis. “Our hearts are heavy and our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families and I would just like to ask at this moment that we join together in a moment of silence in memory of them.”

While at both events, Ryan promised the crowd here that a Romney-Ryan foreign policy would follow the “peace thru strength” doctrine, the event seemed to coincide with rhetoric Mitt Romney used towards Obama Wednesday morning.

Speaking at a press conference in Jacksonville, Fla. early Wednesday, Romney said the president "demonstrated a lack of clarity as to foreign policy” regarding the attacks.

“It’s their administration that spoke,” Romney told reporters at a press conference in Florida. “The president takes responsibility not just for the words that come from his mouth but also for the words that come from his ambassadors, from his administration, from his embassies, from his State Department. They clearly sent mixed messages to the world.”

President Barack Obama fired back at the GOP ticket during an interview with CBS's 60 Minutes. 

"There's a broader lesson to be learned here, and, you know, Governor Romney seems to have a tendency to shoot first and aim later. As president, one of the things I've learned is you can't do that," Obama said. "It's important for you to make sure that the statements you make are backed up by the facts, and that you thought through the ramifications before you make them."

RENO, Nev. – With a little more than a month to go before the vice presidential debate, Congressman Paul Ryan will endure his first full day of debate preparations Sunday, but advisers are trying to keep expectations low for the only VP debate of the cycle. 

According to two campaign advisers who spoke on the condition of anonymity, Ryan will head to a remote part of Oregon Sunday -- the day before he holds two fundraisers in Portland -- with a small group of advisers and aides for the “first of many sessions” gearing up for the Oct. 11 debate with Vice President Joe Biden.

“I think what we will be doing is just working through some of the most likely topics, some likely questions and just working through answers, counterpoints to Vice President Biden’s arguments and answers,” one adviser said about the structure of Sunday, noting the VP nominee will get a short break to watch his beloved Green Bay Packers play in their season opener.

The campaign appears to be downplaying expectations of the upcoming debate for the House Budget chairman.

“Vice President Joe Biden served over 30 years in the United States Senate; he has run for president twice and has served as vice president for the past four years. He is one of the most experienced debaters in American political life and we definitely don’t take the challenge lightly,” an adviser said.

The advisers did point out, however, Ryan “knows a lot about a lot of things. It’s not so much a crash course on how to get smarter in a particular policy area as it is how to think about debating someone who is extremely experienced.”

'Running against Obama'
Debate strategy was not discussed with the press during the briefing in a Reno hotel or if there are any topics Ryan is spending more time studying than others. It was mentioned that they are focused on “running against the Obama record and we are running to advance the Romney-Ryan agenda.”

The Biden stand in –  the person who will “play” the current VP – has not yet been publically announced and will not be on hand in the Beaver State this week as no mock debate will take place. Ryan did say in an interview with Fox and Friends this week, this person will be announced “shortly.”

Mitt Romney spent several days this week doing debate prep of his own in Woodstock, Vt. Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, who was once considered a frontrunner to be the Republican VP, will play President Barack Obama. Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) will play Ryan in debate preps with Biden.

Campaign aides told the Ryan traveling press corps late Friday that Ryan will “do something similar” to Romney’s debate camp and this weekend’s events lend clues to what may occur in the future now that they’ve moved into a new phase: “to focus quite intensely on debate prep.”

“Look at what we are doing Sunday,” an adviser said. “We are doing it somewhere remote, we are doing it somewhere where there aren’t distractions and that obviously is the model. Where geographically the debate camp will be, I am working on that right now.”

Debate prep day
Sunday will not mark Ryan’s first day studying for the VP debate, which will take place in Danville, Ky. The seven-term Wisconsin congressman has been going thru large white binders – “organized by issue areas” -- of policy information, research, and news of the day since the Republican National Convention ended a week ago. Ryan himself has had a very hands-on roll thus far.

“By the time he had wrapped up the convention, he was able to start absorbing a lot of those briefing books and weighing in on them. Editing them, restructuring the format along the lines that works for him,” an advisor said, shedding the first real insight into what Ryan has been doing on his campaign plane and during down time on the road. 

The congressman’s debate prep day comes amidst a fundraising swing out West which precludes him from doing his typical Sunday routine of flying to his hometown of Janesville, WI, to spend time with his wife and three children. Last Sunday, when Ryan was home, advisors said he watched the 2008 vice presidential debate between Biden and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

Cathleen Allison / AP

Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan greets the crowd at Peterbilt Truck & Parts Equipment in Sparks, Nev., on Friday.

SPARKS, Nev. -- Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan continued his harsh words for President Barack Obama and the Democrats Friday while campaigning in the battleground state of Nevada on the day the most recent jobs numbers were released.

“President Obama is not a bad guy. He's good at giving great speeches, he's just really bad at creating jobs,” Ryan told the crowd outside Peterbilt Truck Parts & Equipment.

Friday morning, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced the US economy added just 96,000 jobs, which was below expectations and the unemployment rate dropped from 8.3 percent to 8.1 percent.

"We got some pretty disappointing news just today,” the House Budget Chairman said in front of roughly 1,400 people. “You know we learned today that for every person that got a job, nearly four people stopped looking for a job. They gave up. We can’t keep doing this.”

Ryan continued: “Our economy needs to create just 150,000 jobs every month just to keep up with the growth of our population. Friends, this is not an economic recovery, this is nowhere close to an economic recovery. We need a new president, and we need a real economic recovery.”

Friday’s event outside of Reno marked the seven-term Wisconsin congressman’s second public event in the Silver State since being tapped as Mitt Romney’s running mate in early August. Ryan reminded the crowd, surrounded by truck cabs, just how crucial their vote on Nov. 6 is.

“Nevadans you know this. You have a lot of power in your hands … you're a battleground state,” he said. “That means you have a very special responsibility. Lots of people around the country are depending on you. You also have a great opportunity. Because if we meet this moment for what it is, we can get ourselves back on the right track.”

Ryan will now turn his full attention to fundraising while on the West Coast. He holds a pair of private fundraisers Friday night in the San Francisco area and then will be in Fresno, Calif., Saturday before heading to Portland, Ore., and Seattle on Monday.