Counting Down to the Iowa Caucus
By: Hope Wilkos, Writer/Blogger
Photos: A/P, Getty Images
The campaigns are heating up as we count down to within three weeks of the caucuses.
As Herman Cain pulls out of the running, he paved the way for former House Speaker, Newt Gingrich to climb ahead in the polls. Iowa will be the first state to begin the contest in the primary and caucus calendar on January 3rd. Based on a research group, Gingrich has taken over the lead with 22% of the vote and former Massachusetts Governor, Mitt Romney and Rep. Ron Paul of Texas tying with 17% of the vote. The poll indicates that Gingrich’s support is more than double Romney’s among those who say they are backers of the Tea Party Movement.
Could the $10,000 bet by Mitt Romney to Texas Governor, Rick Perry in Saturday’s GOP Presidential Debate in Des Moines, Iowa work against him in the polls? Perhaps this is somewhat of a reminder that he may be out of touch with middle class Americans and a potential reminder of his true wealth.
However, Gingrich is extremely aggressive with his proposed tax plan. In addition to the current tax code, he wants to put an optional 15% flat tax on income in place, with a $12,000 per person deduction. He also wants to eliminate the estate and capital gains taxes. For businesses, the tax rate would go from 35% to 12.5%. This would mean that the federal government would take in much less money and government spending would be reduced by significant amounts.
The Democrats are now forging ahead in anticipation of the upcoming election. In response to the latest GOP plans, this past Sunday, President Obama gave an interview to CBS’ “60 Minutes” saying that if voters believed in the reduction of taxes as a reality and solution to the current economic situation, then he will lose. But he doesn’t think that Americans are going to go for that.
Obama is confident and instead of being judged against his performance to this point in his presidential position, he feels that he is being judged against the ideal itself. His accomplishments speak for themselves as to what he can do for this country. They include avoiding a Second Great Depression, bailing out the auto industry, passing a signature health care law, ending the Pentagon’s policy of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” for gay service members and the elimination of Osama Bin Laden and other top al Qaida leaders.
Obama acknowledges that the economy still has quite a ways to go and Americans are not quite satisfied as of yet but agenda items such as the payroll tax cut will hopefully put the country in the right direction on the long road to recovery.
The coming weeks will stir up some disputes within the GOP party to see who will make it to the finish line first. Will Obama make his way to the front line for his party and succeed for a second term?
Comments are closed.