Biden fires up Ohio supporters

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LORDSTOWN, Ohio, Aug. 31 (UPI) -- Vice President Joe Biden delivered a fiery address Friday to a crowd of mostly union workers, accusing Republican Mitt Romney of accepting a bailout in 1993.

Speaking before a crowd of 250, primarily autoworkers, at United Auto Workers Local 1714 in Lordstown, Ohio, Biden repeated claims in Rolling Stone magazine that Romney, the Republican presidential nominee, received a $10 million bailout for Bain Capital in 1993, before opposing federal help for General Motors and Chrysler, The Plain Dealer newspaper in Cleveland reported Friday.

"It was one thing when 1 million middle-class jobs were on the line," said Biden, referring to potential job losses without federal aid to the auto sector of the economy. "It was another when it was his financial interests and his partners' interests."

The magazine article, now online and in the magazine's next issue, claims Romney pressured creditors, including the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., to accept 30 cents on the dollar for Bain Capital debt acquired after it took over a bank, forgiving about $10 million in loans.

The enthusiastic crowd cheered loudly, the newspaper said.

People in northeastern Ohio can say they are better off now than in 2008, a question Romney raised Thursday in his convention acceptance speech, said Mitchell Hall, a 34-year veteran of General Motors' Lordstown plant.

"I like that (Biden) is bringing out the debt that President Obama walked into. He's done a lot to put us on the right track," Hall told The Plain Dealer.

Biden later attended a county fair in Canfield, Ohio, spending about an hour greeting supporters and hearing chants of "Four more years" as he approached the Mahoning County, Ohio, Democratic Party booth, the Web site Politico reported.