DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — President Barack Obama is blaming Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan for blocking a farm bill that could help voters in Iowa and elsewhere cope with a crippling drought, as both candidates campaigned in the important Midwestern battleground.

"If you happen to see Congressman Ryan, tell him how important this farm bill is to Iowa and our rural communities," Obama says in excerpts released before he spoke Monday in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Ryan, campaigning alone for the first time since getting the vice presidential nod, planned to meet voters Monday at the Iowa State Fair. Romney was in Florida for a bus tour.