ROB PORTMAN

If you can't even acknowledge that you have to fix Social Security, that's not a very good starting point.

I saw the government really using the excuse of a weak economy and a financial crisis to create more government and to push onto the American entrepreneurial society more and more restraints and government activity.

If you start very far to the left, it's harder to get to the middle.

We have a paralysis in Washington that's not serving our country. We have to address these issues.

I'd like to think I'm a serious legislator and trying to get things done.

The way to an American economic comeback, the way to help those out of work today find a paycheck, is to unleash the forces of job creation in America. The source of new jobs isn't going to be the bureaucracies of Washington, but rather the creativity, ingenuity, and hard work of the American people.

I'm up here in Cleveland tonight and there are a lot of folks who are concerned about it. Twenty-five percent of the people up here get their health care through religious organizations and so that religious freedom issue is very important to them.

I served at a time when we had a strong economy, when we had deficits that we would die for today. I was able to propose a balanced budget, not over ten years, but over five years. I'm proud of that record.

People vote for the president, not the vice president. I think sometimes people that are in the veepstakes talk too much about this and certainly the media does. I don't think that it's that important.

This past year has been very turbulent for the Middle East, and my conversation with Prime Minister Netanyahu strengthened my belief that we need to remain vigilant in our support of our critical ally.

Folks, do you agree with me that we cannot afford four more years of Barack Obama?

I think what people are looking for right now is not the kind of pizzazz and pop that perhaps we thought we got in 2008. Certainly, President Obama offered that. What they want now is someone who can work closely with Congress and get things done.

You could have another downgrade. You could certainly have a stock market reaction that would be negative. And, I think nobody who looks at it objectively would want to happen.

Things are not getting better. They are getting worse. We need to elect Mitt Romney to turn things around.

We shouldn't be debating whether to deal with the current code by allowing it to be extended or not. We should have a president who shows leadership and comes to Congress and says: 'You know what? We need to reform this whole tax code.'

There has never been a campaign where there hasn't been sniping from the outside and second-guessing. I hear the same sometimes from the Democratic side in terms of President Obama's campaign, so that's to be expected.

Instead of focusing on growing jobs and reigniting our economy, President Obama focused on growing government and tried to remake the United States into the image of the debt-laden countries of Europe. His approach has been more spending, more regulation, and higher taxes.

This is his solution: He said all we need to do is take your tax dollars, send them to Washington, have Washington take out its cut, having Washington then send it back to the states, have the states then go out and hire public employees. Does that make sense to you? Is that how to get the economy moving?

My concern about Barack Obama is he ran a campaign in 2008 where he said we're going to bring people together and solve big problems. And he specifically talked about the need to reach across the aisle and deal with issues like the economy, which was obviously the top issue in 2008. It has not happened.

The TV ads have been coming hot and heavy in Ohio. I think the Obama campaign has outspent the Romney campaign by two-to-one or three-to-one, depending on the analysis you look at. People are tired of the attacks already, and here we are in July.

President Obama has been attacking relentlessly. In 2008 he said that if you're out of fresh ideas you use stale tactics against your opponent - you try and make your opponent unacceptable and that's what he is trying to do.

I told my staff that I'm so boring that I didn't even know I was boring.

There is so much uncertainty out there, and the government in Washington doesn't seem to get it. What's needed is a new business environment.

What we need is fundamental tax reform.

Do you agree with me that we can't afford four more years of Barack Obama?