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- iHaveNet.com: Politics
by Jules Witcover
During the Republican presidential candidates' debate at
But he clearly acted as though he were. A frequent target of the other hopefuls, the previously benign Romney dealt with them this time like the knowing adult in the roomful snappish school kids.
At one point when his allegedly chief rival, Gov. Rick Perry of Texas, attempted to break into a Romney answer, he looked at Perry across the table, firmly reminding him three times that "I'm still speaking," then continued with what he was saying. Perry, whose strategy supposedly dictated cutting Romney down to size, simply shut up.
As most of the other debaters spent time sniping at him and repeating the
He contrasted himself with the others by expressing concern for the plight middle-class Americans hit hardest by the sluggish economy, who also are Obama's best hope to right his own political fortunes in next year's election.
When the first debate question was what each contender would do to break the paralysis of partisanship in Washington, Perry called for greater energy independence, the expected response from the Texas champion of increased oil drilling. Part of Romney's answer was: "(W)e can't demand more from tax revenue from people because that kills jobs and hurts working families. We have to help the middle class in this country."
Later, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich asked Romney why he would favor capital gains tax cuts for the middle class. The former governor shot back that "middle-income Americans have been the people who have been most hurt by the Obama economy." He added: "I'm not worried about rich people. They're doing just fine. The very poor have a safety net; they're taken care of. But the people in the middle, the hard-working Americans, are the people who need a break."
This answer was not likely to warm the hearts of the Republican congressional leaders, who firmly oppose Obama's efforts to end the Bush tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires and tack a 5.6 percent surcharge on them. But as the core
At the same time, his gesture toward middle-class relief at the expense of the nation's fat cats who traditionally have declared the
In a climate of increasing public discussion of the tax-burden inequality between the rich and the middle class, the latest
The fact that Romney would even express concern about the middle class in a Republican debate is a measure of his campaign's growing confidence that he is surviving Perry's best efforts to challenge his frontrunner status. And recent polls showing longshot Herman Cain overtaking him have resulted in greater scrutiny of the former pizza executive's 9-9-9 plan for individual, corporate and sales taxes, which would raise the middle-class tax burden.
The major barrier to Romney's nomination now may be the
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