Vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan this weekend made the traditional pilgrimage to Little Havana's Versailles Restaurant where he drank Cuban coffee and condemned Fidel Castro before an audience of partisan Republican Cubans.
If the crowd seemed smaller than usual, but much more committed, it may have been because the weather had weeded out the faint-hearted. Like dozens around him, Roberto Carrasco huddled under an umbrella in a pre-dawn Miami thunderstorm.
The weather was so bad that the outdoor event planned for Ryan was called off and moved inside, where people were eating breakfast. They were about to witness an armada of Miami Republicans.
Former Governor Jeb Bush. Present and former members of Congress Mario Diaz-Balart, Lincoln Diaz-Balart, and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.
Apparently well briefed on Versailles protocol, Ryan reeled off some phonetic Spanish, drank Cuban coffee, condemned Fidel Castro and praised his South Florida House colleagues for keeping him aware of Cuba.
“They’ve given me a great education, all of us in congress, about how we need to clamp down on the Castro regime, and let me tell you this: in a mitt Romney administration we will not keep practicing this policy of appeasement we will be tough on this cruel dictator”, said Ryan.
But he also promised Florida an improving economy and more jobs under Mitt Romney - as long as Florida did its part and voted for him.
“This is not, who's gonna be the president for the next four years”, said Ryan. “This is what kind a government are we gonna have and what kind of country are we going to be for a generation. A free country! A free country, that's exactly right.”
Ryan left Miami as the sun was coming out, and headed for another campaign stop in Orlando.