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COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — President Barack Obama blamed Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan for blocking a farm bill that could help voters in Iowa and elsewhere cope with a crippling drought, as both candidates campaigned in the important Midwestern battleground.

"If you happen to see Congressman Ryan, tell him how important this farm bill is to Iowa and our rural communities," Obama said in excerpts released ahead of a speech Monday in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Ryan, campaigning alone for the first time since getting the vice presidential nod, planned to meet voters Monday at the Iowa State Fair. Romney was in Florida for a bus tour.

Romney's campaign, seeking to ratchet up support in Iowa, played up Ryan's upbringing in Wisconsin, which has a significant agricultural industry. Spokesman Ryan Williams said "no one will work harder to defend farmers and ranchers than the Romney-Ryan ticket."

Obama carried Iowa in 2008, but polls show a close race in the battleground state less than three months from Election Day.

Ryan's events in Iowa could help determine whether conservative excitement for the Wisconsin congressman — and his austere budget plans — will overshadow Romney's message and Republican attacks on Obama's economic performance.

Romney briefly defended his new running mate's budget proposals for Medicare, telling Florida voters that the Republican ticket wants to "make sure that we preserve and protect Medicare."

"He's come up with ideas that are very different than the president's," Romney said of Ryan. "The president's idea, for example, for Medicare, was to cut it by $700 billion. That's not the right answer."

At the same time, a pro-Romney super PAC is spending more than $10 million on a new television advertisement attacking Obama's handling of the economy as the nation's unemployment rate lingers above 8 percent.

"Another month. Even more Americans jobless," says the narrator in the ad from the group, Restore Our Future, which is led by people with close ties to Romney.

The spot will air for more than a week across 11 presidential battleground states, including Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin.

Democrats are banking on Ryan and his controversial budget proposals overshadowing Romney's message and Republican attacks on Obama's economic performance.

Since Romney formally named Ryan his running mate on Saturday, the Obama campaign has been attacking the Republican budget architect's plans to transform Medicare into a voucher system and re-shape the nation's tax system.

A top Obama political adviser, David Axelrod, said Monday that Romney's selection of Ryan is reminiscent of John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin four years ago. He told "CBS This Morning" he remembers the initial excitement surrounding Palin's selection, but says he doesn't believe the choice of Ryan "is going to be a plus for Mr. Romney."

Axelrod called Ryan "a genial fellow" who advocates harsh policy positions, particularly on Medicare.

Ryan figures to play prominently in Obama's message during his three-day bus tour across Iowa, which marks his longest visit to a single state during the 2012 campaign.

Obama's bus tour will begin in Council Bluffs, just across the Missouri River from Omaha, Neb., and head across the state before wrapping up in Davenport along the Mississippi River.

Obama will showcase the powers of incumbency as he tours a farm in Missouri Valley, Iowa, and discuss ways of addressing the devastating drought. White House officials said the president planned to direct his Agriculture Department to buy up to $170 million worth of meat and poultry to provide relief to farmers and ranchers.

The Defense Department, a large purchaser of beef, pork and lamb, was expected to look for ways to encourage its vendors to speed up purchases of meat.

Obama has urged Congress to pass a farm bill to provide a long-term solution for farmers. Democrats and Republicans are at odds over the program's farm subsidies and food stamps, with Ryan among the GOP lawmakers backing cuts in food stamp programs that are opposed by the president's party.

Ryan, a 42-year-old congressman, is best-known for his proposing to reshape Medicare, the long-standing entitlement, by setting up a voucher-like system to let future retirees shop for private health coverage or choose the traditional program — a plan that independent budget analysts say would probably mean higher out-of-pocket costs for seniors.

Looking to define the Republican ticket's views on Medicare, the Obama campaign released an online video Monday featuring seniors in Florida talking about how Ryan's proposed changes to the popular health care program could affect them.

"It doesn't make any sense to cut Medicare," says one woman. The video aims to portray the Romney-Ryan ticket as a threat to Medicare and Obama as its protector.

The commercial comes as Romney gently tries to distance himself from his running mate's budget plan, making clear that his ideas rule, not Ryan's.

"I have my budget plan," Romney said, "And that's the budget plan we're going to run on."

He walked a careful line as he campaigned with Ryan, a tea party favorite, by his side in North Carolina and Wisconsin, singling out his running mate's work "to make sure we can save Medicare." But the presidential candidate never said whether he embraced Ryan's austere plan himself.

The pair faced an estimated 10,000 supporters in Wisconsin as Ryan returned Sunday to his home state for the first time in his new role.

"Hi mom," Ryan said, voice crackling as he took the stage and looked out over a sprawling crowd.

An enthusiastic Romney seemed to feed off the energy.

"If you follow the campaign of Barack Obama, he's going to do everything in his power to make this the lowest, meanest, negative campaign in history. We're not going to let that happen. This is going to be a campaign about ideas, about the future of America," Romney said. "Mr. President, take your campaign out of the gutter. Let's talk about the real issues that America faces."

The Romney campaign, meanwhile, released a new ad accusing the Obama administration of "gutting welfare reform."

The new television advertisement released Monday accused the Obama White House of stripping the work requirement from the nation's welfare law. It's the same charge the Republican candidate levied in a separate ad last week.

Independent fact checkers have found the premise of the ad to be false.

Online: Obama video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4OACn0Kkbk

Ryan and Obama in Iowa seeking votes; Romney's on the bus in Florida

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Newly tapped Republican vice presidential contender Paul Ryan is facing off against President Barack Obama as the front lines in the battle for the White House shift to Iowa.

While Mitt Romney continues a Florida bus tour, Ryan will meet voters at the Iowa State Fair, campaigning alone for the first time in the same state where Obama launches a bus tour of his own. Monday's events may help determine whether conservative excitement for the Wisconsin congressman — and his controversial budget plans — will overshadow Romney's own economic message.

Democrats are banking on it.

Since Romney formally named Ryan his running mate on Saturday, the Obama campaign has been attacking the Republican budget architect's plans to transform Medicare into a voucher system and re-shape the nation's tax system. That effort will continue as Obama kicks off a three-day bus tour across Iowa, making his longest visit to a single state yet as he seeks to fire up supporters who put him on the path to the presidency in 2008.

Ryan figures to play prominently in Obama's message.

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As Romney names running mate, voters wonder if VP pick matters; lessons from Palin in '08?

GILBERT, Ariz. (AP) — When a little-known Alaska governor stepped onto the American political stage as John McCain's running mate four years ago, the choice was intended to be a game-changer.

While Sarah Palin gave a boost to the Republican Arizona senator's presidential campaign initially, her campaign overall had mixed results.

Now voters and election watchers are trying to determine if Republican Mitt Romney's choice of Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan as his running mate will be a game-changer in this year's elections.

Those who have studied elections and vice presidential choices say the VP choice doesn't do much, if anything, to affect the outcome most years.

But they say it can make a difference in a very close race.

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GOP's Paul Ryan has bold plans for Medicare and Medicaid costs, but they've proved divisive

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Paul Ryan's blueprint for Medicare could prove as polarizing in the campaign as President Barack Obama's health care overhaul has been. Even Mitt Romney may not want to go there.

Romney's new running mate has built a strong reputation on Capitol Hill for bold ideas to restrain health care costs and federal spending overall. His centerpiece idea is to steer future retirees into private insurance plans, with a fixed payment from the government that may or may not cover as much of a retiree's costs as does the current program.

Ryan, a conservative Wisconsin congressman and chairman of the House Budget Committee, calls his idea "premium support." Democrats call it a voucher plan. In theory, Ryan's plan could work, economists say. But the devil's in the details. Lots of them, and yet to be ironed out.

Ryan would also turn Medicaid over to the states, and sharply limit the growth of future spending on that safety net program. Between them, Medicare and Medicaid cover about 100 million people, touching nearly every American family in some way.

While expressing support broadly, Romney has yet to spell out where he stands on specifics of his running mate's proposals. And that could get tricky.

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Strict school junk food laws may help curb kids' obesity, but study results aren't a slam-dunk

CHICAGO (AP) — Laws strictly curbing school sales of junk food and sweetened drinks may play a role in slowing childhood obesity, according to a study that seems to offer the first evidence such efforts could pay off.

The results come from the first large national look at the effectiveness of the state laws over time. They are not a slam-dunk, and even obesity experts who praised the study acknowledge the measures are a political hot potato, smacking of a "nanny state" and opposed by industry and cash-strapped schools relying on food processors' money.

But if the laws have even a tiny effect, "what are the downsides of improving the food environment for children today?" asked Dr. David Ludwig, an obesity specialist at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children's Hospital. "You can't get much worse than it already is."

Children in the study gained less weight from fifth through eighth grades if they lived in states with strong, consistent laws versus no laws governing snacks available in schools. For example, kids who were 5 feet tall and 100 pounds gained on average 2.2 fewer pounds if they lived in states with strong laws in the three years studied.

Also, children who were overweight or obese in fifth grade were more likely to reach a healthy weight by eighth grade if they lived in states with the strongest laws.

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EYES ON LONDON: London Olympics close with pomp and pop, eyes turn to Rio

LONDON (AP) — Around the 2012 Olympics and its host city with journalists from The Associated Press bringing the flavor and details of the games to you

RIO PREPARES

As the London Olympics closed, the next host, Rio de Janeiro, was set to kick off four years of preparations for games that some see as Brazil's entrance onto the world stage.

Many are bracing for a rocky ride as Rio — a laid-back beach city not known for its efficiency or punctuality — rushes to build four main Olympic sites and undertake a massive infrastructure overhaul.

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Golden Games: US wins the most medals, and the most gold, at London Olympics

LONDON (AP) — Red, white and blue was everywhere in London.

For the Americans — and for the British, too.

The most medals, and the most gold medals. That's what the U.S. Olympic Team wanted, and it's what they delivered. As for the home team? Riding the wave of home-field advantage, the British put together their best Olympic showing in over a century.

The competition is over. The U.S. was best, but the success stories from London truly spanned the globe.

"I think these games were absolutely fabulous," International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge said.

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With pop, performance and pride, London extinguishes Olympic flame and passes the torch to Rio

LONDON (AP) — And now, on to Rio!

London brought the curtain down on a hugely entertaining Olympics with a sensational rock 'n roll nostalgia tour of a closing ceremony that thrilled the London night with top-of-the-chart classics, supermodels and psychedelic mayhem.

After a glorious two weeks of never-to-be-forgotten moments that left Britain exhausted, exhilarated and deeply proud, organizers handed the baton to 2016 host Brazil, which must now take up the Herculean task of matching them.

Judging by the swaying samba of Marisa Monte and the sexy baritone of Seu Jorge in Brazil's eight-minute musical and visual postcard for the 2016 games, they look to be off to a foot-stomping start.

But Sunday was all about Britain.

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Mud, sweat and tears: Grueling obstacles courses draw millions, from chiseled to chubby

LONG POND, Pa. (AP) — More than 10,000 people trekked to northeastern Pennsylvania to scale walls, leap fire and crawl commando-style through a mud pit topped with barbed wire.

Willingly. For kicks. And they paid money to do it.

That's obstacle course racing for you: grueling, mud-spattered and, to its legions of fans, addictive fun.

In only a few years, obstacle courses have become a favorite diversion of thrill-seekers and weekend warriors, with hundreds of events around the country that require participants to go up, over, under and through to the finish line.

Three of the top series — Tough Mudder, Warrior Dash and Spartan Race — expect to host nearly 2 million runners in 2012, from fitness buffs bored with straight-line running to pasty 9-to-5ers blowing off steam with friends, from adrenaline junkies pushing the limits of their own physical and mental endurance to couch potatoes for whom working the remote more typically qualifies as exercise.

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Bo Xilai's case much more tricky for China's communist leaders than his wife's murder trial

BEIJING (AP) — Trying disgraced politician Bo Xilai's wife for murder was the easy part in cleaning up the political mess the couple has created for China's communist party leaders. Now comes the tough part: punishing Bo for abuse of power without further tarnishing the party's reputation.

Disciplining him quietly will save the party the embarrassment of washing its dirty linen in public but reinforce public perception that it goes soft on one of its own. Analysts say the leadership is therefore more likely to bite the bullet and try Bo in public in a nod to rule of law.

The first indication of this came when four Chongqing police officers were tried Friday for allegedly trying to help Bo's wife Gu Kailai cover up the murder of a British business associate, Neil Heywood, said Cheng Li, a China politics expert at the Brookings Institution in Washington D.C..

Chinese politics has a history of attacking subordinates to get at their superiors, and as part of the chain of command, the four can be directly linked to Bo, once the supreme communist party boss of Chongqing, a mega-city in China's east.

Li said the trial of the officers was a firm indication Bo would definitely face a judge, possibly in relation to the killing. "That's a statement that Bo Xilai will be charged," Li said.

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Rep: Jennifer Aniston is engaged to Justin Theroux

NEW YORK (AP) — After years of breathless anticipation — at least on the part of the tabloids — Jennifer Aniston is finally ready to wed again.

Her representative, Stephen Huvane, confirmed Sunday night that the actress is engaged to her boyfriend of more than a year, Justin Theroux.

"Justin Theroux had an amazing birthday on Friday, receiving an extraordinary gift when his girlfriend, Jennifer Aniston, accepted his proposal of marriage," said Theroux's rep in a statement to People, which first reported the engagement.

Theroux, 41, and Aniston, 43, have known each other for years, but started dating more than a year ago after working on the comedy "Wanderlust." Though that film disappeared quickly from movie theaters after its release earlier this year, the relationship clearly proved to have more staying power. The two moved in together and tabloids soon began predicting everything from marriage to babies for the new couple.

Aniston had been a part of such speculation for years, ever since the demise of her marriage to Brad Pitt after a five-year union in 2005. While Pitt moved on to a long-term relationship with Angelina Jolie, Aniston had high-profile relationships with the likes of John Mayer and Vince Vaughn that didn't last, leading to the common narrative: When will Jen find someone or have a child?

NORTH CANTON, Ohio (AP) — Republican Mitt Romney's presidential campaign is staying on the offensive in the increasingly heated debate over the future of Medicare, the health care program relied upon by millions of seniors.

"The president was talking about Medicare yesterday. I'm excited about this," Romney's running mate, Paul Ryan, said Thursday. "This is a debate we want to have, this is a debate we need to have and this is a debate we're going to win."

The Wisconsin congressman's addition to the GOP ticket this past weekend drew immediate scrutiny to a budget proposal he drafted that proposes to transform Medicare into a voucher-like system for future retirees.

In turn, Romney and Ryan called attention to President Barack Obama's health care law, which is funded in part by future savings from Medicare, and accused him of "raiding" the program of billions of dollars.

"What he probably did not mention yesterday is that when he passed his signature health care achievement, Obamacare, he raided $716 billion from Medicare to pay for Obamacare," Ryan, chairman of the House Budget Committee, said. "This will lead to fewer services for seniors."

What Ryan doesn't mention is that his budget proposal includes the same savings, which are supposed to be realized through lower payments to hospitals and doctors, and by making the program more efficient.

Romney has said he would restore the Medicare cuts.

Obama says the Republicans' proposal "ends Medicare as we know it," arguing that changes he's made, including to help seniors pay less for drugs and reduce wasteful spending, will make the program stronger financially.

"I've strengthened Medicare," Obama declared Wednesday a two separate campaign appearances in Iowa.

The Medicare debate continues as Romney's campaign presses ahead with efforts to undermine Obama's personal likability, one of his greatest assets, by trying to portray the outwardly calm president as someone seething with animosity and a lust for power.

Ryan carried the theme in his only public appearance Thursday, his second consecutive day of campaigning in the politically important state of Ohio. He said Obama was running a campaign marked by "frustration" and "anger" because he's out of new ideas and has resorted to "fear and smear" to try to win a second term.

Romney had charged a day earlier that "division and attack and hatred" were fueling Obama's campaign.

To help make their case, Romney's campaign has been highlighting a recent remark by Vice President Joe Biden that prompted some critics to suggest he was using racial undertones to gain political advantage.

Responding to Republican criticism that the Obama administration had sought to regulate Wall Street too tightly, Biden told a Virginia campaign audience that included hundreds of black supporters that the GOP wanted to "unchain Wall Street." He added: "They're going to put y'all back in chains."

Obama defended Biden, telling People magazine Wednesday that the vice president's only meaning was that consumers won't be protected if Wall Street reforms are repealed.

"In no sense was he trying to connote something other than that," Obama said.

The president wrapped up a three-day bus tour through Iowa on Wednesday, devoting attention to the state that helped launch his bid for the White House in 2008. He was joined by first lady Michelle Obama for the first time in months.

Obama and Biden were spending Thursday at the White House. Romney was raising money in South Carolina.

Obama resumes campaigning Saturday with a pair of stops in New Hampshire.

DENVER (AP) — Paul Ryan likes exercise, budget charts and the Green Bay Packers. Joe Biden likes train rides, foreign policy and talking — a lot.

In some ways, these presidential ticket No. 2s could not be more different. They are separated in age by nearly three decades, were born to families in different regions of the country and have views on opposite ends of the political spectrum.

But in other ways, the 42-year-old Republican congressman and 69-year-old Democratic vice president are very much alike. Both were born to Catholic families in working-class neighborhoods and were young stars in their parties who became experts on the inner workings of Washington.

And perhaps above all, these men both do political things their respective No. 1s cannot.

Biden, with his back-slapping image, big smile and hardscrabble roots in Scranton, Pa., is seen as more effective than President Barack Obama at courting white working-class voters. Ryan, while less known outside his Janesville, Wis., hometown, is a favorite of the Republican Party's conservative base, a group that long has been skeptical of Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney's conservative credentials.

Over the next three months, Biden and Ryan will play key roles in the White House race, raising money, criticizing the opponent and helping lend credibility in complicated policy debates — Biden on foreign policy and Ryan on federal budgeting. They will also inevitably create headaches for their bosses, as Biden did this week when he told a Virginia crowd that included hundreds of black people that Romney's plans for Wall Street would put them "back in chains."

Mostly, their job: Sell the boss to Americans — and tear down the other guy.

Routinely, Biden says Obama has "a backbone like a ramrod" and says he considers himself Obama's older brother. He also unleashes scathing attacks against Romney and, now, Ryan, including his proposals to overhaul Medicare.

Ryan, just days into his new role, has said repeatedly of Romney that he's "the kind of man who you want to serve as your president. He's the kind of man who, when he gets involved, he fixes things." And he lambasts Obama, saying he's "spending our children into a diminished future."

When talking to voters, both often offer personal touches.

While visiting a firehouse in Hillsborough, N.C., to thank firemen for the work they do, Biden shared the story of his first wife's and daughter's deaths in a car accident. Then, at high school football practice in Danville, Va., he offered some of his father's favorite words: "When you get knocked down, get up!"

With a football in his hand, the silver-haired Biden told players that when he played high school football he weighed about 158 pounds but with pads he clocked in at 175. Asked if he was ready to suit up and play, the vice president declared, "I'm ready to go!"

It was a moment of connection for a man who has maintained his everyman appeal, despite having worked nearly 40 years in Washington. Elected to the Senate at 30, he commuted by train more than two hours most days to and from Delaware to see his family. An Amtrak station in Wilmington, Del., was named in his honor last year.

Biden's kids have long since grown up. Two of them are about the same age as Ryan. But he often refers to his grandchildren on the campaign trail, including one story that he uses to accuse Republicans of creating the country's economic mess: "As my youngest granddaughter, Natalie, says, 'Who do they think did that, Casper the ghost?'"

Ryan became a congressman at just 28 and is nearing the end of his seventh term. He's been sharing stories about camping, his exercise routine and demolition derby as he has crisscrossed six states — Virginia, Wisconsin, Iowa, Colorado, Nevada and Ohio — on Romney's behalf this week.

He chatted about cow milking during a brief tour of the Iowa State Fair on Monday. The next day, his young children — and love for the outdoors — figured prominently in a speech in Colorado, where he took his family camping last summer.

Ryan said he showed his kids — Liza, 10, and sons Charles, 8, and Sam, 7 — how to cook a meal on a campfire and make s'mores. Later, he and his wife, Janna, put the kids to bed in a tent.

"We stayed up late and we talked about our country," Ryan said. "There's nothing like the stars and the skies of the Colorado Rockies at night. We looked at our kids and we know they are our future. But today, we look at our kids and we know, without a shadow of a doubt, that we are mortgaging their future."

When he makes comments like these, Ryan exudes a certain cheery authenticity. He is a former personal trainer, a skier and hiker known for his devotion to the workout routine known as P90X. The Republican chairman of the House Budget Committee, Ryan is someone who draws budget graphs on napkins. He defends complicated Medicare plans with a boyish charm that prompted New York Times liberal columnist Maureen Dowd to call him "the cutest package that cruelty ever came in."

"Ryan strikes me as a policy wonk who's not a nerd," said Steve Duprey, a member of the Republican National Committee from New Hampshire.

Where Ryan's forte is the budget, Biden is an expert on foreign policy, having served as the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations committee. Neither Romney nor Ryan has significant foreign policy experience.

Biden has significant credibility in the foreign policy realm, despite a tendency to stray off message.

His use of profanity was betrayed when television cameras captured him mouthing a colorful congratulations to Obama after the passage of his health care law. And just this week, he told a Virginia crowd that Obama needed their help to win North Carolina and referred to the country being in the 20th century — when it's the 21st century.

Biden made a more significant misstep while criticizing Romney's plans to eliminate new Wall Street regulations. "Unchain Wall Street," Biden told a crowd that included hundreds of blacks. "They're going to put y'all back in chains." Romney seized on the comments as proof Obama's campaign is driven by "division and attack and hatred."

Former Rep. Tom Perriello, D-Va., who introduced Biden at a rally this week, said the vice presidential campaign was a study in contrasts. Biden may be a generation older than Ryan, he said, but the vice president "hasn't missed a step."

"He may not work out as aggressively as Paul Ryan, but both of them are plenty fit," Perriello said.

Introducing Ryan this week, former Colorado Rep. Bob Beauprez said that there's one important thing to remember about Ryan: "He ain't Joe Biden."

Daly reported from Blacksburg, Va.

For Mitt Romney, this is the last week to rally GOP troops before the Republican National Convention.

He began by fielding questions side-by-side with running mate Rep. Paul Ryan on Monday at an outdoor town-hall-style forum at St. Anselm College near Manchester, N.H.

Both criticized President Barack Obama's plan to trim payments to Medicare providers, even though part of that plan had previously been endorsed by Ryan as chairman of the House Budget Committee.

"We want this debate, we need this debate and we will win this debate about Medicare," Ryan said.

Romney, who has a vacation home in New Hampshire, asked members of the audience to find a friend or neighbor who voted for Obama in 2008 and try to persuade them to vote for him and Ryan this time.

"I know there are a lot of them out there that aren't quite sure what they're going to do," he said.

After Romney receives his party's nomination in Tampa, Fla., at the four-day convention, he'll have access to about $165 million in general election funds that his campaign will use for the home stretch, mostly on advertising in swing states.

While he clinched the nomination three months ago, Romney hasn't been able to touch that money since it was specifically donated for the general election.

He burned through a lot of cash in beating back Republican primary foes whereas Obama faced no Democratic challenger. However, Romney has out-raised Obama over the past three months.

New Hampshire is a traditionally Republican-leaning state but voted Democratic in both 2004 and 2008. Romney was heading later Monday to New Orleans.

Obama, who was doing White House interviews with local TV anchors from Florida, Virginia and California, hits the campaign trail again on Tuesday and Wednesday with stops in Ohio, Nevada and New York.

Follow Tom Raum on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tomraum. For more AP political coverage, look for the 2012 Presidential Race in AP Mobile's Big Stories section. Also follow https://twitter.com/APCampaign and AP journalists covering the campaign: https://twitter.com/AP/ap-campaign-2012

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Mitt Romney's Republican National Convention sputters to life Monday with the lonely banging of a gavel in a mostly empty hall, then hits full speed on Tuesday, just as forecasters say Tropical Storm Isaac could reach hurricane strength and make landfall somewhere between Mississippi and New Orleans.

"Our sons are already in Tampa and they say it's terrific there, a lot of great friends. And we're looking forward to a great convention," Romney said as he prepared to rehearse his convention speech at a New Hampshire high school auditorium. He suggested there were no thoughts of canceling the gathering.

Romney said he hopes those in the storm's path are "spared any major destruction." Looking ahead, the former Massachusetts governor signaled that he and his wife Ann are close to finalizing their speeches.

Tom Del Beccaro, a California delegate and chair of the state GOP, predicted the one-day delay would supercharge the rest of the convention.

"I think there's going to be a lot of bottled up energy, and I think that's going to show," he said.

But Sally Bradshaw, a Florida Republican and longtime senior aide to former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, was not so sanguine. "It's a mess all around and it's fraught with risk," she said. "It's not good for anybody — particularly the people impacted by the storm."

It was hardly the opening splash that convention planners had hoped for, and risked the juxtaposition of Republicans partying as the storm batters toward the gulf — almost exactly seven years after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans.

"Obviously we want to pray for anyone that's in the pathway of this storm," Party Chairman Reince Priebus said Monday on NBC's "Today" show, "but the message is still the same: that all Americans deserve a better future and that this president ... didn't keep the promises he made in 2008."

The party hastily rewrote the convention script to present the extravaganza's prime rituals and headline speakers later in the week, and further changes were possible. Convention planners said Monday's speakers would be worked into the schedule later in the week.

"We're going to continue with our Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday schedule," said Russ Schriefer, the chief convention planner.

As the threat of the storm to Tampa diminished, delegates focused on party message and the near-term task of making Romney the nominee and working to defeat Obama in November.

"There's a mission here," said Gary Harkins, a delegate from Brandon, Miss. "We have to nominate a candidate for president. Our mission is to save America from becoming a socialistic state."

Sen. Rob Portman delivered a message to the Ohio delegation that was echoed at meetings and news conferences all across Tampa — the Obama presidency has been a failure.

"It's time to stop blaming others and take responsibility," Portman said at a breakfast session. "There are families all over Ohio that are suffering as a result. He hasn't measured up to his own standards. "

The weather was a constant concern for some. Jeanne Luckey of Ocean Springs, Miss., whose family lost a beachside home to Hurricane Katrina, said friends were helping secure their inland home for Isaac.

"It's a very busy time, certainly, but we've got to take care of the business of the party and make sure we get Governor Romney nominated," Luckey said. "We have a lot of work to do between now and November."

Vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan decided to head to Florida on Tuesday, a day later than expected. He was in his hometown of Janesville, Wis., on Monday putting final touches on his convention speech and addressing students at his former high school. Signs at the school proclaimed him "The pride of Janesville."

The storm was a complication, at best, for a party determined to cast the close election as a referendum on Obama's economic stewardship and Romney as the best hope for jobs and prosperity.

The concern was two-fold: that Tampa, hosting thousands of GOP delegates, would get sideswiped by the storm; and that it would be unseemly to engage in days of political celebration if Isaac made a destructive landfall anywhere on U.S. soil.

"You can tone down the happy-days-are-here-again a bit," said Rich Galen, a veteran Republican consultant in Washington. "Maybe you don't have the biggest balloon drop in history."

In Washington, aides said Obama was being updated at the White House on the storm. He was still planning his two-day campaign trip to Iowa, Colorado and Virginia, beginning Tuesday morning.

In a boost to Obama's convention next week, Florida's former Republican Gov. Charlie Crist was added as a speaker. Crist had announced on Sunday that he was endorsing Obama, saying he was the correct choice and criticizing his former party for its move to the right.

For all the weather concerns, a mix of partly sunny skies, fast-moving clouds and occasional rain covered Tampa at midmorning Monday as the outer bands of the tropical storm delivered unsettled conditions.

Traffic was light as streets around the arena were blocked off and security patrolled the area.

Under the reworked convention schedule, organizers planned a pro forma opening Monday afternoon to last just 10 minutes. Priebus was to gavel the convention to order, then immediately recess. Few delegates were expected to attend. In the only bit of convention-hall theater, a debt clock was to be set in motion, to tally the nation's red ink during the convention.

Speakers who had been scheduled for Monday were to start making the case against Obama, under the day's theme, "we can do better." That theme now will be threaded through the following three days, Schriefer said. "Even though the days will be abbreviated, I absolutely believe we'll be able to get our message out."

The roll call of state delegations affirming Romney as the party's nominee now is to unfold Tuesday, an evening capped by speeches from Ann Romney and an assortment of GOP governors. Ryan gets the prime-time spotlight Wednesday, and Romney closes out the spectacle Thursday night, his springboard into the final leg of the contest. That's all if the storm brings no further complications.

So far, many taking the shakeup in stride. "People are pretty resilient, and people knew going in that there were some weather issues," said Pat Shortridge, the Minnesota state GOP chairman, from Lino Lakes, Minn. "I don't think it's dampened enthusiasm."

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, scheduled to speak on Wednesday, said he wouldn't leave Louisiana "as long as we're in harm's way."

Weather was recognized as potential trouble when Republicans chose to hold their convention in politically vital Florida during hurricane season, a decision made well before Romney locked up the nomination. And it's clear that memories of Hurricane Katrina, and the failure of a Republican administration to respond effectively to its Gulf Coast devastation in 2005, are hanging over Tampa now. Republicans have been so sensitive to the political risks from natural disasters that they delayed the start of their national convention by a day in 2008, when Hurricane Gustav bore down on the Gulf, far from their meeting in Minnesota.

Polls find a tight race, and it's one that is likely to be settled in a small number of battleground states.

An estimated $500 million has been spent on television commercials so far by the two candidates, their parties and supporting outside groups, nearly all of it in Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, New Hampshire, Ohio, Iowa, Colorado and Nevada. Those states account for 100 electoral votes out of the 270 needed to win the White House. Republicans hope to expand the electoral map to include Pennsylvania, Michigan, perhaps Ryan's Wisconsin and even Minnesota, states with 68 electoral votes combined.

All four are usually reliably Democratic in presidential campaigns. Yet Romney has a financial advantage over the president, according to the most recent fundraising reports, and a move by the Republicans into any of them could force Obama to dip into his own campaign treasury in regions he has considered relatively safe.

Republican office-holders past and present said the economy is the key if Romney is to expand his appeal to women and Hispanic voters.

"We have to point out that the unemployment rate among young women is now 16 percent, that the unemployment rate among Hispanics is very high, that jobs and the economy are more important, perhaps, than maybe other issues," said Arizona Sen. John McCain, who lost to Obama in 2008.

The Romney campaign released a Spanish-language radio ad with son Craig's testimonial to his father.

Woodward reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Steve Peoples in New Hampshire; Thomas Beaumont, Tamara Lush and Brendan Farrington in Florida; Philip Elliott in Wisconsin; and Alicia A. Caldwell in Washington contributed to this report.

WESTLAKE, Ohio (AP) — Paul Ryan says America isn't better off after nearly four years of President Barack Obama's leadership. And for a second straight day, the Republican vice presidential nominee linked the Democrat to former President Jimmy Carter.

Ryan campaigned in the Cleveland area Tuesday, the first day of the Democratic National Convention in North Carolina.

Ryan says Obama will say a lot of things when he speaks Thursday night in Charlotte, but that he won't be able to convince voters that they're better off now than they were four years ago. He says Obama's record is worse than Carter's when the Georgia Democrat was president.

The Wisconsin congressman also says Obama is more concerned about the next election than the next generation.

ADEL, Iowa (AP) — Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan heaped praise on Bill Clinton Wednesday, holding him up as a model of reform and Barack Obama as his opposite just hours before the former president's speech to the Democratic National Convention.

Campaigning in Iowa, Ryan lauded Clinton administration action on welfare reform and spending reductions — areas where the GOP ticket has aimed some of its sharpest critiques of Obama, the incumbent Democrat.

Clinton, once an Obama critic, has become one of his biggest assets as the president scraps with GOP nominee Mitt Romney for re-election. Clinton, whose two terms ended on an economic high note, appears in a television ad where he likens Obama's agenda to his own.

Void of a single reference to Clinton-era scandals, Ryan's praise was a way to paint Obama as a failure on the GOP ticket's terms.

"Under President Clinton we got welfare reform," Ryan told an audience outside a small-town courthouse west of Des Moines. "President Obama is rolling back welfare reform. President Clinton worked with Republicans in Congress to have a budget agreement to cut spending. President Obama, a gusher of new spending."

Ryan, a House member from Wisconsin, also said a Clinton administration commission to study the future of Medicare inspired the GOP ticket's proposal to offer seniors a choice of traditional Medicare or a fixed government payment that could be used to buy private coverage.

"It's an idea that came out of the Clinton commission to save Medicare," Ryan said.

Ryan reminded the audience of supporters that the national debt surpassed $16 trillion this week on the first day of the Democratic convention in Charlotte, N.C.

"That's a country in decline," Ryan said.

Among Ryan's criticisms was an indirect reference to the GOP ticket's debunked claim that Obama has waived the work requirement on Clinton-era welfare reform.

Ryan also neglected to mention that the Clinton action he praised came after Democrats lost control of the House and Senate in 1994, having raised taxes in 1993 and tried unsuccessfully to enact a national health care program the following year.

The balanced budget agreement Clinton made with then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a Georgia Republican, created the first new benefit program in years, a health insurance program for low-income children not eligible for Medicaid.

And Ryan made no mention of the scandals that marked the Clinton administration. Most notably the GOP-controlled House approved four articles of impeachment in 1998, though the Senate voted against removing Clinton from office.

Ryan was elected in 1998, but the impeachment votes took place before Ryan assumed his seat.

By treading lightly on the former president, Romney's team also is making a play for Clinton supporters who are disappointed by Obama.

Romney's campaign has stepped up its effort to appeal to working-class white voters in pivotal states such as Florida, Iowa, Ohio and Virginia.

White voters without college degrees preferred Clinton's wife, Hillary, over Obama in states such as Ohio during the 2008 Democratic presidential nominating campaign. They now prefer Romney over Obama by more than 20 percentage points, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll published last month.

Clinton's prime time speaking slot at the convention, like his central role in the Obama ad airing in key states, is seen as an effort to narrow Romney's advantage with these voters, who could tip the balance in a close election.

"Bill Clinton has very favorable approval numbers," said Katon Dawson, a national political consultant and former South Carolina Republican Party chairman. "He's a pretty tough adversary for us."

AP reporter David Espo contributed from Charlotte, N.C.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — The Democratic Party's platform makes no reference to God, drawing criticism from Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan.

Ryan tells Fox News' "Fox & Friends" the change is not in keeping with the country's founding documents and principles and suggests the Obama administration is behind the decision. The Republican platform mentions God 12 times.

The 2008 Democratic Party platform made a single reference to God, referring to the "God-given potential" of working people.

The new platform does contain a plank on faith, saying it "has always been a central part of the American story." The platform says the nation was founded on the principle of religious freedom and the ability of people to worship as they please. It also praises the work of faith-based organizations.