Joe Raedle/Getty Images(LA-CROSSE, Wis.) -- On the day following the lone vice presidential debate of the presidential election cycle, Vice President Joe Biden took the campaign Friday afternoon to Wisconsin, the home state of his opponent, Rep. Paul Ryan, continuing the lines of attack he produced at Thursday night's Kentucky matchup, all while the Obama campaign labeled the vice president as the "happy warrior for the middle class."
"Anyone who watched that debate, I don't think there's any doubt that Congressman Ryan and I, and Gov. Romney and the president, we have a fundamentally different vision for America and, quite frankly, a fundamentally different value set," Biden added.
But while Biden zeroed in on many of the same points he made in Thursday night's debate, the Romney campaign viewed it as a repetition of "dishonest attacks and distortions."
"Tonight was about Joe Biden and Joe Biden was a happy warrior for the middle class," Jim Messina, Obama campaign manager, told reporters in the spin room after Thursday night's debate. "I think it was appropriate for him to show passion and have him be a happy warrior. When the other side is spending their time talking about facial gestures and laughing, you know they had a bad night."
Trying to take advantage of his performance and Ryan's stumbles Thursday night, Biden on Friday pointed to Ryan's statements on Afghanistan and abortion as examples of the stark differences between the Democratic and Republican platforms.
"I made it absolutely clear, on behalf of the president and I, that we are leaving Afghanistan in 2014, period. There is no ifs, ands or buts," Biden said. "We have trained over 315,000 Afghan military personnel. It's their responsibility to step up to their defense of their nation. We went for al Qaeda, we went for bin Laden, and we accomplished that goal. And now it's time. And they are willing. It's time for them to stand up as we draw down."
Biden noted that when Ryan was asked if a Romney-Ryan administration would guarantee it would leave Afghanistan by 2014, the congressman "said it depends. No, I'm serious. You heard it. It depends on the situation on the ground. It depends.
The vice president continued to rail against the Wisconsin representative and Republicans for being willing to "impose their private views" on the country on women's health issues including abortion, even arguing Romney and Ryan would appoint Supreme Court justices who would overturn Roe v. Wade.
En route to his event at the university, Biden jumped out of his SUV to greet children and teachers who were assembled to watch his motorcade drive by at Emerson Elementary with one woman telling him, "Great job last night, Mr. Vice President."
The vice president and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, will attend fundraisers for the campaign at private residences in Kent, Conn. and New York City, New York on Saturday.
Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio
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