MUSCLE UP!
Bam’s power play: Leads Mitt in poll
PRESIDENT OBAMA’S show of strength involved more than just his arms and chest Monday — he led GOP rival Mitt Romney in the latest survey of critical “swing” voters.
Obama dropped and did a few pushups as part of the White House’s annual Easter Egg Roll, an exercise-friendly event.
But the President’s real prowess was shown in the latest poll that found him beating Romney, 44% to 38%, among independent voters in about a dozen swing states, according to a poll commissioned by the Democratic think tank Third Way. It was conducted in mid-march.
The irony, poll-watchers pointed out, was that many of these same independent voters who said they prefer Obama indicated they were ideologically more in sync with Romney. Perhaps mindful of those numbers, Team Obama came out swinging Monday, determined to paint Romney as a multimillionaire who is out of touch with the struggles of the middle and working class.
Obama campaign manager Jim Messina trumpeted the need to pass a Senate bill that would boost the tax rate to at least 30% for anyone making $1 million or more. Currently, the rate can be lower than 15% for those who make their money through investments, so secretaries can pay a higher tax rate than their millionaire bosses.
Romney has defended his own lower tax rate for investment income — less than 15% — and was called out by Messina by name.
“It all goes back to one simple question: Why should Mitt Romney pay a lower tax rate than average Americans?” Messina asked in a conference call with reporters.
“Romney’s a beneficiary of a broken tax system. He wants a system where firefighters, cops, teachers and middle-class Americans all pay a higher tax rate than he does.”
Romney, meanwhile, pulled an ad attacking Rick Santorum as it was set to run in Pennsylvania because his conservative rival is away from the campaign trail while his daughter is in the hospital.
Bella Santorum, 3, suffers from a rare genetic disorder, and has already beaten the prognosis for those with the condition.
Romney’s $2.9 million ad buy was intended to ask Pennsylvania voters why they would vote for their former senator for President when they voted him out of office in 2006 by nearly 20 percentage points.