In Ohio, Biden Plays Up Working-Class Roots

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Vice President Joe Biden is using his own working-class background to connect with Rust Belt voters. Speaking at M7 Technologies in Youngstown, Ohio, Wednesday, Biden spoke about his own family’s struggles and the manufacturing sector. He painted Republican Mitt Romney, by contrast, as a nice man who just doesn’t “get it.” 

Early on in his remarks, Biden told a story of how his dad explained to Biden as a child that he had lost his job and would have to go to another state to look for work. Romney, Biden said, is a nice guy with a beautiful family, but “he just doesn’t get what’s at the core of all this. It’s about people’s dignity,” he said.

Biden talked about the return of manufacturing in Ohio, and dinged Romney for his record at Bain Capital. 

“If you had to summarize what the president and I intend to do,” Biden said, “it’s to put people in a position, when they walk up that staircase and say, “honey it’s going to be OK,’ that they believe it.”

Biden was more passionate than he has been in recent speeches, even yelling at some points. 

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