Ryan to deliver speech on helping middle class

(AP) Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan is preparing to explain to low-income voters how he and Mitt Romney would do more to help them than President Barack Obama.

The Wisconsin congressman planned to outline the GOP presidential ticket's case during a speech Wednesday at Cleveland State University in political crucial Ohio. With two weeks to go until votes are counted, Ryan's trip to an urban campus suggests Romney's campaign is looking for any vote still available.

No Republican has won the White House without carrying Ohio.

Aides said Ryan's formal remarks would focus on upward mobility for millions of people looking for work and those struggling to get by on their current paychecks. For instance, that includes highlighting Romney's plan for more educational choices for parents and a strengthened safety net for people who need assistance.

To middle-class voters, Ryan was expected to argue that Washington is spending too much and that Obama's economic policies have not done enough to fix a struggling economy.

Ryan, a fiscal hawk and the top budget writer for House Republicans, planned to compare that record to Romney's proposal that he says would create 12 million jobs and help workers take home more of their paychecks.

Before the speech, Ryan planned to meet with civic leaders to promise that a Romney administration would work with them to fight poverty.