BEREA - VP candidate Paul Ryan and Condoleezza Rice told a rally in Berea America is at a 'crossroads.'
Speaking to hundreds gathered at Baldwin Wallace University, the former Secretary of State declared, "We're at a crossroads about what kind of country we are going to be. Will we pass on liberty and opportunity to our children?"
It was the first official campaign appearance on behalf of the Romney Ryan ticket for Rice, who spoke at times to women, whom polls show have been gravitating toward voting for Mitt Romney.
"So many women in these hard economic times don't know if they will ever work again. Americans are feeling terrible economic pain."
Ryan echoed the same sentiments, telling the enthusiastic partisan crowd, "Twenty six million women are trapped in poverty. Half a million fewer women are working today than when President Obama took office."
He spoke to the many Baldwin Wallace students in the audience about the dangers of America going down the same economic path as Europe.
"Unemployment among young people in Europe is 20 percent. In Greece and Spain, it is 50 percent. Generations of politicians there made empty promises to get elected."
Among the students, members of the political science classes of Dr. Tom Sutton, chairman of BW's political science department. He requires students to be involved in direct political participation. Attending rallies like today's is included.
"It gives them a real feel for what a campaign is like at the national level," Sutton told WKYC. "We know from all the research the best way to do this is one-to-one campaigning. That's the way people win and that's what both campaigns have been doing."
Sophomore poli sci major Joe Kasper of Mentor got that message while inside the rally.
"This totally changes the campaign for me because I'm able to see how they relate to us more," Kasper reacted. "It humanizes them and that's beneficial beyond words to a campaign."
Fellow political science major Brooke Hradisky of Aurora confided that seeing the campaign in person may have actually changed her vote.
"I was actually leaning more Obama and I came here with my younger brother who's leaning more Romney," she explained, "but I was able to see a lot of what he (Ryan) was saying. I could hear him clearly. I understood. So I stepped back and said to myself, am I making the right choice?"
Senior Jake McConkey of Perry, Ohio, said, "I've seen Obama, I've seen Clinton and now Condoleezza Rice and Paul Ryan, and they're all very good speakers. You get a certain feeling in the air when you see them in person."
WKYC-TV