Ryan wants Romney to beat Obama ‘by acclamation’

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan said at Tennessee fundraiser on Thursday that he wants the Republican campaign message to be so detailed and compelling that Mitt Romney will be elected “by acclamation.”

The Wisconsin congressman said at a $1,000-perplate fundraiser at a Knoxville hotel that the GOP message contrasts with what he called the divisive tactics of Democratic President Barack Obama in the closely contested race.

“Since he can’t run on hope and change and all these new promises — because the last ones have been mostly broken — he will have to divide this country. He will have to distort and distract and try to win by default,” Ryan said. “We want to win by acclamation.”

“We want to win by saying, here’s who we are, here’s what we believe, here’s what we’re going to do,” he said. “And if you elect us, hold us accountable and let’s get this done.”

Winning by acclamation is a political term perhaps best-known from when delegates forgo a formal roll-call in party nominating conventions for a voice vote.

“As Paul Ryan often says, we want to win a clear victory so we have a mandate to fix the problems facing the country,” campaign spokesman Michael Steel said in an email after the event.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam introduced Ryan at the luncheon and said the event had raised about $1 million for the ticket.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Get in line, Medicare and Social Security. Seniors, like just about everyone else, have money on their minds.

Who wins the trust of seniors, a group that votes at a higher rate than any other, will be a deciding factor in the presidential election. That should be good news for Mitt Romney, because those 65 and older have backed the Republican candidate in both of the last two presidential elections.

But President Barack Obama has been pounding Romney and his running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan, on their plan for Medicare. Those attacks are starting to bear fruit for Obama, who is gaining ground among seniors in two key battlegrounds: Florida and Ohio.

Still, Romney has the edge nationally among seniors — in no small part thanks to seniors’ concerns about Obama’s handling of the economy.

Nowhere will the senior vote be as powerful or as prominent as in Florida, where Romney and Obama are competing fiercely.

“It’s not just the cookie cutter that every senior here is totally dependent on Social Security and Medicare,” said Susan MacManus, a political scientist at the University of South Florida. “As the FDR generation has passed and generational replacement has occurred, you get a more divided senior electorate.”

More seniors say the economy is extremely important to their vote than Medicare, says a poll released Thursday by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. A recent Associated Press-GfK poll shows 7 in 10 seniors say taxes and the federal deficit are important to them.

Even for those well into retirement, a feeble economy affects older Americans in ways you might not realize. Many have had to bail out adult children who have lost their jobs and turned to their aging parents for help. And those who lived through the Great Depression as children relate intimately to the perils of an over-indebted nation.

Just ask Dominic Santoro, an 81-year-old retiree from Sunny Isles Beach, Fla., who said it’s different for seniors than it is for younger Americans, who have years to make up what was lost during the recession.

“That’s very nice, but what about the poor senior citizen that’s no longer working and can’t replace that money?” said Santoro, who plans to vote for Romney.