Paul Ryan in Connecticut: big bucks, low profile

Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan hit Connecticut campaign ATMs in West Hartford, Darien and Greenwich on Sunday. He had no public events, and press access was limited to pool coverage of the event in Darien, which was expected to generate $800,000 for the Romney-Ryan ticket.

Tickets were $1,000 for general reception, $5,000 for a photo, and $10,000 to attend a roundtable talk at the Woodway Country Club. The other events were at the homes of Arnold Chase in West Hartford and state Sen. L. Scott Frantz in Greenwich.

The Romney campaign gave no estimate on revenue expected from the three events, but a former Republican state senator, Jamie McLaughlin, gave a pool reporter the $800,000 estimate for the Darien party. He estimated attendance at about 400 contributors.

A handful of protesters greeted donors in West Hartford and in Darien, where they stood with signs at the entrance of the private golf course. They were kept in one spot, along Hoyt Street, and Ryan’s speech was given without any incidents.

Ryan was to end his Connecticut visit in Greenwich.

Ryan talked about the danger of the nation’s debt.

“Momentum and math are heading in a very dangerous direction. We know we cannot keep borrowing at the pace we are at because if we keep going on this path, we will end up just like Europe with a debt crisis. And having a debt crisis as the world’s reserve currency is really ugly,” he said.

Ryan said the “wrong medicine, the wrong policies were pursued” by President Obama as he tried to address the nation’s economic crisis.

“The president’s economic agenda has failed, not because it was stopped. His economic agenda failed because it was passed,” said Ryan, whose comments were greeted by applause.

“We have a debt crisis on our horizon, we know it’s coming, we know why it’s coming, we know approximately when it’s coming,” Ryan said. “And of all the times our nation needs leadership, we have anything but.”

The Connecticut fundraisers came on the last day of the third-quarter campaign finance reporting period.

This story is based on a pool report by Susan Haigh of the Associated Press.