Tim Ryan Makes Kent State 'Heartland' Stop

Congressman Tim Ryan encouraged students at Kent State University Tuesday to take an active role in the presidential election this fall.

The Democrat from Niles, OH, made stops at Youngstown State University, Kent and the University of Akron as part of the President Barack Obama's Obama-Biden Heartland Tour 2012.

During the Kent stop, Ryan talked about a range of issues from higher education affordability to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's budget plan.

He also told the students, most of whom were members of the Kent State College Democrats, they could be voting in the most important election of their lifetime.

Ryan encouraged the students to spend one hour a week in the next five weeks leading up to the election campaigning door-to-door.

"If each of you do a street in Kent, if each of you do a street in Portage, over five weeks that’s going to add up to thousands of thousands of people," Ryan said. "And that’s going to possibly make the difference in the election.

"We’re either going to solidify the Tea Party philosophy, or we’re going to solidify the Clinton, Obama, Democrat philosophy as we move forward," he said. "What we do with the student body here at Kent State matters."