Gop Candidates

After years in which California Republican lawmakers took their marching orders from out-of-state anti-tax groups, some GOP candidates are now refusing to sign no-tax pledges. It's a welcome development. The candidates should be applauded for their independence. The difference between today and two years ago is stark, as Times staff writers Michael J. Mishak and Anthony York reported Saturday. Back then, candidates seeking the Republican nomination for the Assembly and state Senate weren't serious contenders unless they signed the so-called taxpayer protection pledge, which was enforced by Grover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform.

After years in which California Republican lawmakers took their marching orders from out-of-state anti-tax groups, some GOP candidates are now refusing to sign no-tax pledges. It's a welcome development. The candidates should be applauded for their independence. The difference between today and two years ago is stark, as Times staff writers Michael J. Mishak and Anthony York reported Saturday. Back then, candidates seeking the Republican nomination for the Assembly and state Senate weren't serious contenders unless they signed the so-called taxpayer protection pledge, which was enforced by Grover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform.

President Obama is roundly criticized by Republicans for running up the nation's debt. But if a Republican takes the White House, the debt will keep climbing - and perhaps even faster than under Obama's proposed policies, a budget watchdog group said. GOP presidential hopefuls Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum are touting policies that would push the debt beyond current projections - largely because their proposed tax cuts would outweigh spending cuts. Only Ron Paul's plans would begin to sharply decrease the debt, according to a report Thursday from the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

Handsome, youthful, Cuban American and Republican, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida has been mentioned repeatedly as a potential running mate for Mitt Romney - in part because of hopes that the presence of the first Latino on a major national ticket would draw that key voting group Romney's way. But outside of his enormously important home state, the prospect for that sort of boost seems less than likely. Some voters would probably be attracted by the idea of a Latino, any Latino, being that close to the White House.

The Republican presidential candidates were put in a difficult position tonight: debating Ronald Reagan. Debate moderator Charlie Rose introduced a video clip of the former president advocating a compromise plan that might raise taxes on those who had not paid their "fair share," in order to reduce the deficits. Rose asked the candidates how they would answer the most revered man in Republican politics. "I think we're certainly talking about different times," was Texas Gov. Rick Perry's initial response.

The latest GOP debate is off to a surprisingly mellow start. The questions have been softballs so far,  and no one's fighting yet. Candidates aren't even jumping in. Former Sen. Rick Santorum said he thought public employee unions should be outlawed. "I do not believe that state, federal or local workers ... should be involved in unions, and I would support a bill saying we should not have public employee unions," he said. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said he was opposed to unemployment insurance payments if they were not linked to job training programs.

Lost among Herman Cain's protests and Rick Perry's stumbles Wednesday night were some provocative responses from the eight GOP presidential candidates on how they would deal with the economy on a global scale - with Italy and China as flashpoints. The unfolding debt crisis in Italy was, in fact, the first question that came from the CNBC panel moderating the Michigan debate, and while the candidates' answers were quickly overshadowed by questions about the sexual misconduct allegations against Cain and Perry's deer-in-headlights moment, they were uniform in their approach to the European situation.

From Sacramento Democrat Jerry Brown has moved ahead of Republican Meg Whitman in the stretch run for governor, a new poll finds. And it's not surprising. Whitman is dragging the weight of her party. In California's other feature race, for the U.S. Senate, Democratic incumbent Barbara Boxer is hanging onto a slight lead over Republican Carly Fiorina. The Republican Party albatross for a statewide candidate in left-leaning California was on full display in a poll released Wednesday night by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California.

Listening to the Republican presidential candidates, one would believe there is no foreign policy challenge more threatening to the United States than a nuclear Iran. As the remaining candidates attempt to distance themselves from President Obama and one another, all but one (Ron Paul) has described the prospect of an Iranian nuclear weapons capability as "unacceptable" and endorsed the use of military force if that were necessary to prevent an Iranian bomb. The most troubling aspect of this default position held by most of the Republican candidates is the complete absence of any details on how the use of force could accomplish this ambitious objective.

Knocked off-course by Donald Trump and talk of President Obama's birth certificate, the 2012 Republican contenders are trying to refocus the campaign on voter worries that are dragging down the president's popularity: rising gas prices and a slow economic recovery. Mitt Romney made the point at a multi-candidate forum here this weekend, saying Obama's policies deepened a three-year slump that left 20 million people jobless or underemployed. Many Americans "don't know how they can make ends meet, because of the cost of gasoline and the higher cost of food.

SACRAMENTO - For years, running for office as a Republican in California boiled down to one core pledge, bound by a candidate's signature and enforced with a vengeance: no new taxes. Not anymore. The state's new political landscape, scrambled by freshly drawn voting districts and new election rules, has given rise to a handful of GOP hopefuls proudly bucking the anti-tax orthodoxy. Their candidacies have the potential to end years of partisan gridlock here. It would have been unimaginable in the last election, just two years ago: At least five viable Republican contenders for the Assembly are refusing to sign the no-tax pledge that helped ensure protracted budget negotiations and gimmick-laden spending plans as California limped from one fiscal crisis to another.

WASHINGTON — President Obama's top economic advisors pushed back hard Sunday against a charge by Republican presidential challenger Mitt Romney that American women have suffered the brunt of the weak economy over the last three years. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner called Romney's claim that women have accounted for 92% of the jobs lost since Obama took office "ridiculous and very misleading. " The broadside came after a week in which the two campaigns had traded barbs over which candidate was more supportive of working women.

This year's presidential campaign has had its share of arguments over issues long thought settled - contraception, for one. But another wrangle between Republicans and President Obama dates far earlier than that 1960s throwback and centers on the very origins of the nation. Republicans have argued that the president fails to understand that the country was divinely inspired, based on the Declaration of Independence's assertion that citizens were “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.” The "American exceptionalism" argument, as it is known, is meant to curry favor with tea party adherents who revere the founding documents, inspire a religiously tinged sense of optimism and -- not least -- portray the president as out of the American mainstream.

APPLETON, Wisc. — Mitt Romney opened his campaign Friday for Wisconsin's Republican presidential primary as though victory were a foregone conclusion. Ignoring his GOP rivals, Romney arrived here in the Fox Valley with his latest in a string of high-profile supporters announcing endorsements: Rep. Paul D. Ryan, one of Wisconsin's best-known if controversial Republicans. The message, delivered explicitly by Ryan on Fox News: It's time for the party to close ranks behind Romney and join the fight to oust President Obama.

It's not the Republican candidates Joe Biden is concerned about in November, though he is wary of their money. "I don't think we'll be beaten by those candidates," the vice president said of the Republican hopefuls at a Chicago fundraiser Thursday night. "I think we'll be beaten -- if we are -- by something happening in the Eurozone or something happening in the Gulf, which could be difficult for us, or this barrage of 'super PAC' money. But even with that I feel good. " The vice president, ending a two-day campaign swing that also included events in Iowa and Wisconsin, told Democratic donors that the GOP candidates had staked out positions beyond the mainstream, like wanting to reverse a Supreme Court ruling legalizing contraception.

You may think we're just electing a president in November. But to listen to the Republican candidates, it's far bigger than that. Here's Mitt Romney, fresh off his Florida primary win in January: "This campaign is about more than replacing a president; it is about saving the soul of America. " And here's Rick Santorum, talking about President Obama's healthcare reform law this month to a gathering of the GOP faithful in Bowling Green, Ohio: "The siren song of government taking care of us will finally have our ship crash on the rocks, and we will become dependent if 'Obamacare' is implemented.

Republican candidates across the nation are confident that opposition to President Obama 's healthcare law will deliver them electoral victories. But in California, the three GOP Senate candidates vying to take on Sen. Barbara Boxer face a much more daunting task: convincing a majority of Californians who support the bill that they are wrong. The issue is a stark reminder of the difficulties facing Republican candidates in this highly partisan state, even in a year when the political winds are at their backs.

President Obama's reaction to the Proposition 8 decision was much like the president's stance on gay marriage -- somewhat unclear. White House press secretary Jay Carney said the White House wouldn't be commenting on the court's rejection of California's same-sex marriage ban, saying that the administration doesn't weigh in on ongoing litigation. But the president's top spokesman also seemed to suggest an endorsement of the decision, without saying so. "He has long opposed divisive and discriminatory efforts to deny rights and benefits to same-sex couples," Carney added.

Newt Gingrich's floundering presidential campaign is laying off several staffers, cutting back his travel schedule and planning for an all-out brawl at the Republican convention in August. "We're going to be refocusing, redesigning the campaign based on what we need to do going forward, preparing for what we're calling a big-choice campaign in August," spokesman Joe DeSantis said in an interview Tuesday night. Among the changes, first reported by Politico: laying off one-third of the staff and reducing Gingrich's schedule.