Iowa State Fair: Ryan faces hecklers and Obama (+video)

That is likely to change as Ryan campaigns across the country to build enthusiasm among grass-roots conservatives while Democrats attack his budget plan as one that would gut social safety net programs for the elderly and the poor.

Also visiting Iowa on Monday, Obama named Ryan as "one of the leaders of Congress standing in the way" of a farm bill that includes disaster aid to farmers hit by a drought.

"So if you happen to see Congressman Ryan, tell him how important this farm bill is to Iowa and our rural communities," Obama said at a political rally in Council Bluffs.

Later in the day the president visited the State Fair, too, but did not face hecklers the way Ryan did. Obama shook hands with cheering bystanders and turned down a smoothie and cinnamon rolls in favor of a beer and pork chops.

"Ice cold and tasty," he said of his beer, offering to buy some for others in the crowd except, he joked, a person holding a Romney sign.

During his Iowa tour Obama announced an emergency purchase of up to $170 million of meat and fish to help farmers who are watching crops wither in the fields under searing heat.

It was a timely announcement that took away some of the limelight in Iowa from Ryan, who has never before had to face an opponent like Obama's Chicago-based campaign team.

Elected to the House of Representative seven times mostly by margins of more than 20 percentage points, Ryan has not faced a particularly tough race in his congressional career.

He will go head-to-head with Vice President Joe Biden in October in a TV debate.

Biden criticized his Republican counterpart for targeting Medicare spending in his budget plan.

"What's gutsy about giving millionaires and billionaires tax breaks? What's gutsy about gutting Medicaid and Medicare?" Biden said in Durham, North Carolina.

Ryan argues that Medicare in its current form is headed for bankruptcy and his proposal would save the program by reducing spending by $205 billion in the next decade compared with Obama's budget plan.

Polls show that Medicare is very popular and Romney has distanced himself from Ryan's plan.

"The items that we agree on I think outweigh any differences there may be," Romney said on a visit to Florida. "We haven't gone through piece by piece and said, 'Oh, here's a place where there's a difference.' I can't imagine any two people, even in the same party, who have exactly the same positions on all issues."

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