In Dubuque stop, Obama says Romney would end Medicare 'as we know it'

UPDATE: President Barack Obama criticized Republican rival Mitt Romney and running mate, Wisconsin congressman Paul Ryan, telling hundreds of people here Wednesday that he's extended Medicare, but the Republican ticket would turn it into a voucher system and end the program “as we know it.”

The argument over Medicare could be crucial, particularly in Iowa, a swing state with a large number of elderly.

It's an issue both campaigns are eager to fight over.

Romney's campaign is running a new television advertisement criticizing the president for $716 billion in cuts to Medicare. The cuts over 10 years will go toward paying for the new health-care reform law and come from a variety of areas, including payments to hospitals and other health-care providers and to private insurers who run the Medicare Advantage program.

The president's campaign, meanwhile, has released a new video that seeks to tie Romney to Ryan's budget, which also assumes the same amount of Medicare cuts but assumes the health-care law's repeal.

A STORIFY LOOK AT OBAMA'S VISIT TO IOWA (text continues below embed):

[View the story "The President in Iowa" on Storify]

Embarking on the last day of a three-day bus trip through the state, Obama directly engaged the issue in front a crowd on this city's riverfront. He said that his health-care reform law provided seniors with savings on prescription drugs and that it would extend the solvency of the program.

“My plan's already extended Medicare by nearly a decade,” the president said. “Their plan would end Medicare as we know it.”

The Obama campaign today also pointed to Congressional Budget Office estimates that say the Ryan plan would push more of the cost of health insurance onto seniors.

Ryan has proposed a voucher-like system that would give future retirees a premium support payment with which they would buy health insurance coverage from private companies.

How much the president's criticism on Medicare will stick to Romney remains to be seen.

Romney's campaign Wednesday issued a statement by the candidate saying he is making a “commitment” to restore the $716 billion in Medicare cuts.

That would appear to distance Romney from a major part of Ryan's budget plan, a key reason for the young congressman's appeal among conservatives. However, it also could help to insulate him from the president's criticism.

After the president's remarks, the Romney campaign responded by saying that Obama is "the only person in the race who has actually cut Medicare."

The president also mounted a defense of his health-care plan in remarks that lasted about half an hour, embracing again the term “Obamacare,” which Republicans use as an epithet. As he's said before, Obama said it fits, because “I do care.”

He said that although Romney may be interested in repealing the health-care law, “the Supreme Court has spoken. It is the law of the land. We are moving forward.”

The president was joined by first lady Michelle Obama, who is taking the last leg of the Iowa trip.

The president and first lady will end the day in Davenport, with a rally in the Village of East Davenport. Only those with tickets can attend. Gates open at 3 p.m., and the event is scheduled to begin at 5:25 p.m.