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Paul Ryan greets campaign volunteers in Henrico

Posted at 4:31 PM, Nov 06, 2012
and last updated 2012-11-06 20:39:52-05

HENRICO COUNTY, Va. (WTVR) - Republican Vice-Presidential candidate Rep. Paul Ryan landed at Richmond International Airport Tuesday afternoon.

On the ground, Ryan greeted campaign volunteers in Henrico County.

The following is a pool report from Ryan's appearance:

After deplaning from an aircraft with a Mitt Romney logo, the Republican vice presidential nominee’s caravan traveled to a GOP campaign office in Henrico County to pay a surprise visit to those toiling there.

Volunteers on site buzzed in anticipation as press, campaign staff and U.S. Secret Service flooded into the room – they knew something was about to happen but weren’t sure what.

Upon arrival, Ryan entered a room crowded with GOP faithful who loudly cheered him.

The congressman shook hands with many of those present; he greeted several by saying “Hi, I’m Paul.”

Among those he engaged was Paige Olson of Henrico and her 11-month old daughter Brylee.

Meeting Ryan was a treat, Olson, a campaign volunteer, said afterwards.

“Awesome” is how she described the encounter.

Noticing another volunteer wearing a Bill Bolling shirt – the lieutenant governor is a 2103 gubernatorial candidate – Ryan remarked that Bolling is “a good guy.”

After working his way around the room, Ryan addressed the room full of volunteers.

“I just wanted to come by and thank you for doing what you’re doing to save our country to get us back on the right track,” he said. “We’re going to run to the tape. We’ll leave it all on the field.”

“And what we are doing today is we are actually getting real change,” he added. “We are saying to the country: Here’s who we are, here’s what we believe in, here’s what we’re going to do. Therefore, by having this victory, we have the mandate to fix this country’s problems.

Observing that many in the room were young people, Ryan said “I’m so glad that you’re here because this is about your future.”

Moments later, he again expressed gratitude to volunteers on behalf of himself and Romney.

"Mitt and I want to thank you. We want to thank you for all your hard work. We want to thank you for making the calls, for knocking on doors, for turning this thing around, meaning getting our country on the right track,” Ryan said.

“This is great effort,” he added. “Keep it up . . . and let’s wake up tomorrow morning knowing we did everything we could.”

As Ryan concluded his brief comments, one volunteer shouted “help us get rid of Biden” from the back of the room.

Midlothian resident Daniel Clementson’s outburst about Democratic Vice President Joe Biden elicited laughter from people at the campaign office.

Earlier Tuesday, Ryan campaigned with his running mate, Romney, in Cleveland, Ohio, another state hotly-contested both by the Republican ticket and Democratic President Barack Obama.

The Republican candidates separated after that, with Romney heading to Pittsburgh, PA and Ryan off to Virginia, according to campaign staff.

They’re scheduled to meet up at Romney campaign headquarters in Boston, MA later Tuesday to await election results.

Ryan and Romney, as well as Obama and Biden, have criss-crossed Virginia in recent days to make closing arguments in a swing state whose voters figure prominently in the race for the White House.