Paul Ryan pledges to attend, but Donald Trump cancels West Allis rally



MILWAUKEE -- House Speaker Paul Ryan was planning to campaign for the first time with Donald Trump on Sunday in West Allis, but Trump canceled the rally one day after it was scheduled.

Ryan did campaign on Saturday with Trump's running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, during a rally for U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson in Mukwonago.

Trump's event had been scheduled for 3 p.m. Sunday, at the same time as the Green Bay Packers-Indianapolis Colts game at Lambeau Field. Trump's campaign blamed a "scheduling conflict" and later announced Trump would go to Minnesota and Michigan instead.

"I'm not going to armchair quarterback their campaign decisions," Ryan told FOX6, when asked about Trump's change of plans. "If our nominee came to West Allis and I was in Wisconsin, I was going to show up. Why? Because I think we need to unify as Republicans and get out the vote."

Four weeks earlier, Ryan said he would not defend Trump or campaign with him after leaked video showed Trump bragging about groping a woman. Ryan has been more supportive of Trump over the past week, and said that he has already voted absentee for Trump.

Pence -- who this week declared that Ryan should remain House speaker after the election -- heaped praise on Ryan in front of a friendly crowd in the speaker's home district.

"Paul Ryan is one of the great conservative leaders in the United States of America, and Wisconsin should be proud," Pence said.

A few hundred people attended the event held at Field Park on an unseasonably warm November morning.

During his turn on stage, Ryan blasted Hillary Clinton for having "scandal after scandal after scandal." Yet, when some in the crowd began chanting, "Lock her up," Ryan pivoted.

"I've got another idea," he said. "Let's make sure she never becomes president of the United States in the first place! How's that sound?"

Johnson continues to outperform Trump in Wisconsin. The first-term senator has tightened his race with Democratic challenger Russ Feingold, and the Marquette Law School Poll in the race shows Feingold leading by a single point, 45-44.

Ryan said Feingold, who led by double digits earlier this year, came into the race with more name recognition. The speaker said that Johnson had "all the momentum."

But Trump trails Clinton in the same poll, 46-40. He is running out of time to get the support of apprehensive Republican voters in the Milwaukee suburbs that are critical to his chances of winning Wisconsin's 10 electoral votes.

"That's what we were trying to do here with the Pence rally, try to get everybody to come home, get Republicans to unify and look at the consequences, the stakes of this election," Ryan said.

Pence's rally in Mukwonago likely marked the final time Wisconsin voters would hear directly from the GOP ticket before Tuesday's election.