Ryan campaigns with retired mom to pitch Medicare fix

Congressman Paul Ryan brought his retired mother to a campaign event at the world's largest senior citizens community to make the pitch for Medicare reform, reports NBC News.

Mitt Romney's Vice Presidential pick spoke at The Villages retirement community in Central Florida. He appeared with his 78-year-old mother to make the case that a Romney-Ryan Presidency would not change the Medicare benefits for current seniors, according to the Washington Post.

“It’s a promise that was made, and it’s a promise that must be kept," Ryan said in his speech. "But in order to make sure we can guarantee that promise for my mom’s generation, for those baby boomers that are retiring every day, we must reform it for my generation.”

Hand in hand with his mother, Betty Douglas, Ryan made a personal appeal to the audience, saying “bureaucrats will not mess with my mom’s healthcare or your mom’s healthcare," reports NBC News.

The Washington Post reports that seniors made up nearly a quarter of all Florida voters in the 2008 general election. It's a key demographic that the Romney-Ryan ticket will have to win over if they are to grab Florida's 29 electoral votes.

Mitt Romney is also pushing their case for Medicare reform. The Hill reports that Romney released his first podcast of the campaign season attacking President Obama for making cuts to the healthcare program for seniors as part of the Affordable Care Act.

“President Obama’s health care law raided $716 billion from the Medicare trust fund,” Romney said on the pre-recorded message. “And he did that to finance his takeover of the health care system.”

President Obama's administration has denied the cuts reduced benefits for senior citizens, rather saying they came from cutting waste and fraud and lowering insurance subsidies, reports The Hill.