Taxes raised with no fiscal responsibility

(PNI) Three-fourths of households will see their taxes go up on the promise that spending will be looked at in the near future. Huh?

Ronald Reagan raised taxes on the promise that for every dollar of tax increase there would be $3 of future spending decreases. George H.W. Bush raised taxes on the promise that for every dollar of tax increase there would be $2 of future spending decreases. In both instances, the taxes were immediately raised, but the Democrats reneged and spending cuts never came about.

President Barack Obama and the Democratic Party have never shown the slightest interest or the required courage necessary to begin genuine debt reduction. They skirted the law by not passing a budget in three years. The president ignored his own committee's report on how to reduce the deficit.

Instead, Democrats continue to divide Americans by playing class warfare and promoting the crass emotion of jealousy. Individual initiative and responsibility no longer apply.

-- Lowell Ziemann, Scottsdale

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Obama, DNC raised $53M in March for campaign

WASHINGTON – President Obama's fundraising gained strength in March, as he raised a combined $53 million for his campaign and the Democratic National Committee in preparation for the next phase of the campaign: the general election battle with Republican Mitt Romney.

By Pablo Martinez Monsivais, AP

President Obama greets supporters after speaking at a fundraiser in Burlington, Vt., on March 30.

By Pablo Martinez Monsivais, AP

President Obama greets supporters after speaking at a fundraiser in Burlington, Vt., on March 30.

Obama's March haul is nearly twice the $29.1 million he collected for himself and the party in January. In all, he has raised more than $350 million in this election cycle for his campaign and various party accounts.

Obama's camp outlined the fundraising in an Internet video Monday that featured donors who had given as little as $5. More than 567,000 people contributed to the campaign last month. Obama's campaign, however, has urged supporters to do more, noting that Republican super PACs and other GOP-affiliated outside groups are prepared to spend heavily to oust him.

"We're all going to have to dig even deeper," campaign manager Jim Messina said in the video. "It's going to take all of us working together."

The campaign did not disclose the size of Obama's cash reserves at month's end. Those totals and other details of Obama fundraising will become public later this week when presidential candidates file reports with the Federal Election Commission.

Romney has not yet released March fundraising totals, but he had collected a little more than $75 million through the end of February. This month, he began raising funds jointly with the Republican National Committee, which will run ads and conduct voter-outreach efforts in the months ahead.

The Republican National Committee (RNC), which started the election cycle mired in debt, is showing renewed strength. It raised $13.7 million in March, its best fundraising month of the election and ended the month with nearly $33 million in available cash.

Kirsten Kukowski, the RNC's spokeswoman, noted that Obama still lags behind his fundraising pace in March 2008, when he raised $42.8 million in his primary fight with Hillary Rodham Clinton without the benefit of the Democratic Party.

Obama's team counters they are using their cash stockpile to build a national campaign infrastructure.

Republican donors are more energized than they have been in a while, said Fred Malek, a top fundraiser in Arizona Sen. John McCain's 2008 presidential bid who now is raising money for Romney. "It's going to be a record amount of fundraising on our side this year," he said.

In Romney, "we finally have a proven and experienced private-sector executive who knows how to create jobs," Malek said. "That's combined with an abject fear of four more years of President Obama and his policies."

Republican outside groups, including super PACs that can raise unlimited corporate money, have consistently outraised their Democratic counterparts.

For instance, the Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC supported by House Republican leaders, raised nearly $5.1 million during the first three months of the year, boosted by $5 million from casino magnate Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Miriam. Adelson and his family have donated $16.5 million to help Republican Newt Gingrich's presidential campaign, and the donation demonstrates he also is willing to finance the party's establishment.

By contrast, the House Majority PAC, working to elect Democrats to the House, raised $1.5 million during the first three months of the year, new filings show.

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Barack Obama campaign announces $68 million raised with DNC (The Ticket)

Jim Messina, campaign manager for President Barack Obama's re-election effort, announced in an online video early Thursday morning that the campaign has raised some $68 million in conjunction with the Democratic National Committee over the past three-month cycle of fundraising. But while Messina touted the Obama operation's big-money gains, he also put in an appeal for additional financial support from Obama backers.

"Too many Obama supporters think we don't need their money, or [that] they don't need to give it now," Messina said. You can watch the video below:

Messina highlighted the large number of first-time donors--200,000 in the fourth quarter of 2011-- and noted that the support from Americans who've never before contributed to the campaign signals enthusiasm on the Democratic side.

Overall, the fourth-quarter total was still less than the Obama Victory Fund and the Democratic National Committee reported raising together in the third quarter ($70 million) or in the second quarter ($86 million).

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Want more of our best political stories? Visit The Ticket or connect with us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, or add us on Tumblr.

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