Romney in Midwest, hits Obama on jobs

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WEST CHESTER, Ohio, Nov. 2 (UPI) -- Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney campaigned Friday in the Midwest, presenting himself as the candidate of change in next week's election.

Delivering a speech in titled "Real Change from Day One," Romney was greeted in West Allis, Wis., by thousands of supporters chanting "four more days," the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. While Wisconsin has not gone to a Republican presidential nominee since Ronald Reagan in 1984, Romney said the state might be the one to put him over the top, USA Today reported. The visit was his first to the state since he selected Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan as his running mate.

Romney dismissed a Bureau of Labor and Statistics report that said the economy added 171,000 jobs in October. "Unemployment is higher today than when Barack Obama took office," Romney said.

Later at a star-studded rally in West Chester, Ohio, Romney told supporters "we're going to take back the White House."

"It's good to be in Ohio and in [House Speaker] John Boehner's hometown," Romney said. "This is the state we have to win." No Republican has won the White House without winning Ohio since Abraham Lincoln.