As Rick Santorum fights off efforts to label him extreme or "ultraconservative" for discussing faith and family on the campaign trail, the White House is taking a new tack against the Republican candidate and his presidential primary rival Mitt Romney -- accusing them both of driving up the deficit in their budget proposals.
In a memo on the "deficit-exploding budget
and tax plans" by Romney and Santorum, Obama campaign Policy Director
James Kvaal argues that while both candidates "champion spending cuts
deep enough to cut taxes and balance the budget," they have, in fact,
"proposed irresponsible and reckless tax plans that would drive up the
deficit by trillions of dollars."
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Saying their claims to balance the budget
through spending cuts "are completely unrealistic," Kvaal argues that
Romney's plan "would increase the deficit by at least $175 billion a
year." That's in contrast to the president's plan released last week
that doesn't see less than $600 billion in deficits for nine of the next
10 years.
"In total, Romney's tax plan would increase
the deficit by $188 billion in 2016. The tax cuts are worth $146,000 a
year to individuals earning more than $1 million a year. A typical
middle-class family with children would actually pay $34 more," Kvaal
wrote.
"Romney's budget would require cutting all non-defense spending by nearly 25 percent in 2016, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, and by 48 percent if Social Security and Medicare are spared. Santorum's claims are even less realistic," he continued.
The Obama team's
focus on both candidates suggests a shift in approach as Santorum gains
nationally on Romney in polls ahead of the Arizona and Michigan
primaries next Tuesday. The two candidates, as well as Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul, are expected to debate Wednesday night in Arizona. The votes in those two states are followed by Super Tuesday on March 6.
But the redirect toward economic issues come after days of sniping over Santorum's comments about Obama's energy policy, in which Santorum referenced the "phony theology" of radical environmentalists that he says Obama has embraced.
While the language used by Santorum is
similar to that long purveyed by conservatives to label believers of
global warming and other environmentalist movements as wing-nuts, the
president's campaign called it an attack on Obama's Christian faith and
said Santorum was "over the line."
On Monday, Santorum defended his remarks,
saying that he's being attacked because he has moral values, not because
he wants to impose them on anyone else.
"This makes it, you know, really a war on
people of faith, particularly the Catholic faith, which again, I mean,
it's very clear what the Obama administration is doing on that front,"
Santorum told Fox News. "For them to continually distort -- this is the
kind of stuff that I think is actually, I think, one of the reasons
we're doing well in the polls because people see it for what it is. They
see a national media trying to destroy conservatives."
A Real Clear Politics average of polling shows Santorum is up in the polls, with 33.8 percent on average compared to Romney's 28 percent.
University of Virginia Center for Politics
Director Larry Sabato said that Santorum winning three contests in early
February pushed the headlines toward him, but his success isn't based
just on buzz.
The way he speaks "is coming across as
authentic," Sabato told Fox News. "He's very blunt, he's very
forthright. He speaks as though he doesn't care about the political
consequences."
But Santorum is walking a fine line. While
he tries to focus on topics like Iran, budgets and energy policy, he has
also questioned the usefulness of public schools, criticized prenatal
testing and doubted whether women are physically able to keep up in
combat.
That contrasts sharply with Romney, who has
avoided social issues for the most part, and has been accused of not
being passionate enough or conveying a reason for his being in the race.
Instead, the former Massachusetts governor sells himself as the
efficient CEO who will fix the economy.
A Mormon, Romney speaks about ensuring
"religious liberty" and preventing a contraception mandate being imposed
by the Obama administration on insurers, including those morally
opposed to birth control, but his target audience is largely fiscal
hawks.
"One of the people I'm running against,
Senator Santorum, goes to Washington, calls himself a budget hawk then,
after he's been there a while, says he's no longer a budget hawk. Well, I
am a budget hawk," Romney said Monday.
"When Republicans go to Washington and spend
like Democrats, you're going to have a lot of spending, and that's what
we've seen over the last several years," Romney added.
With the primary race unlikely to wrap up soon, the two candidates offer a stark choice to represent the GOP in the November election
against Obama. Romney maintains a massive organizational and
fundraising advantage over all his rivals, while Santorum gets to the
social soul of the conservative wing of the party.
A pro-Santorum PAC, the Red, White &
Blue Fund, announced Tuesday it's all-in in Michigan, as Romney closes
the gap in his home state. The super PAC is pouring $600,000 into
Michigan for a statewide ad buy in the week ahead of the Republican
presidential primary, a sum that the Romney team could easily match and
best.
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