Biden, Ryan court automobile heart of Ohio

LANCASTER, Ohio -- With less than 48 hours until Election Day, presidential running mates Joe Biden and Paul Ryan campaigned in Ohio, keenly aware of how this toss-up state could be decided by their ability to turn out blue-collar workers.

Vice President Joe Biden continued to tout the automobile turnaround and slam Romney for airing ads that suggest the federal bailout of Detroit auto companies helped China more than it did the U.S. In Colorado on Saturday Biden portayed the GOP ticket as "getting crucified" and "killed" for airing the Jeep ad, which he described as a "cynical" Hail Mary tactic intended to "scare" workers in an automobile industry just getting back on its feet.

"I am the son of an automobile man -- 34 years my dad managed an automobile dealership, 34 years," the vice president said in Fremont Sunday. "Anybody in the automobile business whether they're on the line or in sales can tell you: if you're a child of an automobile man or woman, you're the first kid in the neighborhood to learn the definition of the word recession and then the last kid to understand what recovery means. We finally got some recovery going."

Mitt Romney, whose father George Romney was chairman and president of American Motor Company, says he has the business experience necessary to turn around the industrial heart of the country. With Democrats citing the Jeep ad to question Romney's character, Paul Ryan questioned the effectiveness of the federal auto bailout with a personal appeal of his own.

Campaigning in Mansfield, Ryan compared the shutdown of the General Motors stamping plant with the closing of a GM plant in Janesville.

"A lot of friends of mine from high school that I grew up with lost their jobs," Ryan said. "It's not going the right way in some places in America, and you know what it doesn't have to be like this. We don't have to settle for this. This may be the best that President Obama can do but it is not the best that America can do."