Airport officials in Cleveland had a case of dueling campaign aircraft on their hands (and on their ramp) on Tuesday as three of the four candidates landed in the battleground state airport at about the same time. Only President Barack Obama sat this one out as he stayed home in Chicago. Obama’s opponent Mitt Romney landed first and was planning to wait for his running mate Paul Ryan so they could leave the airport together, but Vice President Joe Biden had other plans, according to Reuters.
Reuters said Biden made an “unannounced” stop in Cleveland and characterized it as “aimed at dampening the challenger’s [Romney’s] 11th-hour visit to the battleground state.” An Obama campaign spokesman said the trip had been planned long in advance. Biden, who was on his way to Chicago to join Obama, left the airport with his wife in a motorcade and they went for lunch at a Greek restaurant. Ryan arrived and he and Romney headed for campaign stops that included lunch at a Wendy’s.
