National Debt

The second Obama-Romney debate featured much more spirited exchanges than debate No. 1 two weeks ago. And Politics Now's video Debate of the Debate - pitting liberal Times Columnist Michael Hiltzik against conservative blogger Jon Fleischman - promises more of the same. We're not guaranteeing the “quien es mas macho”-style stare downs that President Obama and challenger Mitt Romney exchanged Tuesday night at Hofstra University in New York. But there will be plenty of energy at 10:30 a.m. PDT, 1:30 EDT, from Hiltzik, an authority on business and economic history, and Fleischman, a one-time California Republican Party official and editor of the conservative Flash Report blog.

A feisty, articulate and confident President Obama, who went missing two weeks ago, returned to the stage Tuesday in his second debate with Mitt Romney. It was a performance likely to halt the momentum the Republican has enjoyed since their last encounter and to set up an extremely close finish in the race for the White House. The challenger seemed a bit off his game, in part because he was fielding questions about social policies - such as gun control, women's rights and immigration - that put the president on his most comfortable ground.

DURHAM, N.H. -- If Paul D. Ryan had “brass,” then Mitt Romney has “gall.” That's the Clintonian take on Mitt Romney for seeming to dismiss 47% of Americans who don't pay income tax when the Republican hopeful has made use of tax shelters to minimize his own federal burden. “A guy with a tax account in the Cayman Islands is attacking other people for not wanting to pay income tax?” Bill Clinton asked Wednesday. “That's like Congressman Ryan attacking President Obama for having the same Medicare savings he did. When you really bust somebody for doing what you did, it takes a lot of gall.” The former president is shouldering the burden for Obama's reelection campaign on the day of the first head-to-head presidential debate, appearing on his Democratic successor's behalf at a college campus in New Hampshire.

DUBUQUE, Iowa -- It was Monday evening, near the end of a Republican rally at Loras College, a small Catholic institution on the banks of the Mississippi River in eastern Iowa. Paul D. Ryan, dressed casually in a blue Oxford shirt and khakis, stood on an ad hoc stage in the center of the college's field house. Ryan, the Republican vice presidential candidate, had been talking for about 25 minutes to an overflow crowd of nearly 1,000, with sound piped outside to another 500 or so supporters who couldn't get past the fire marshal.

Who's the most influential billionaire business figure in national politics? If you answered one of the Koch brothers (Charles or David) or George Soros, you're wearing your partisan blinders. The former are known for their devotion to conservative causes, the latter to liberal. In either case, you're wrong. The most influential billionaire in America is Peter G. Peterson. The son of Greek immigrants, Peterson, 86, served as Commerce secretary under President Nixon, then became chairman and chief executive of Lehman Bros.

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Joe Biden accused Republicans Saturday of hypocrisy over the budget, mocking “how they bleed over the national debt” despite a role in driving it up. Campaigning in a heavily Republican county in southwest Florida, the vice president specifically criticized Republican counterpart Paul Ryan for rejecting bipartisan proposals that would reduce the deficit, a possible preview of his strategy for their upcoming debate. DEBATE QUIZ: Who said it?  In his speech accepting the Republican nomination for vice president, Ryan had criticized President Obama for discarding the recommendations of his own deficit reduction panel, known as Simpson-Bowles.

WASHINGTON -- As the race for the White House enters its final phase, President Obama is making an extended appeal to voters' "economic patriotism" in a new two-minute television ad set to debut in swing states. Speaking directly to the camera, Obama tells voters that he believes the nation is "moving forward again," after reminding them of the dire economic situation he encountered upon taking office. He acknowledges that there is more to be done, but argues that the path offered by his Republican challenger is not the right one. "Governor Romney believes that with even bigger tax cuts for the wealthy, and fewer regulations on Wall Street, all of us will prosper.

WASHINGTON -- The House on Wednesday afternoon passed by voice vote the Republican version of the Buffett Rule. The bill, which probably won't be picked up by the Senate until after the November elections, would allow Americans to check a box on their tax forms and voluntarily donate money, in addition to their normal tax liabilities, to pay down the national debt. The original Buffett Rule, supported by President Obama, failed in the Senate in April. That bill would have required those making $1 million or more annually to pay at least 30% in taxes.

WASHINGTON -- The end is near. That is, the final days of the congressional session before the election. Reelection-minded lawmakers are scrambling to bring their pet causes up for votes before hitting the campaign trail. Among those causes: creating a check-off box on tax returns for voluntary contributions to pay down the national debt and recognizing the sites that developed the atomic bomb . Congress may have been labeled a do-nothing institution, racked by bitter partisanship, but it's nonetheless managed to pass legislation - even if that legislation has dealt with matters less consequential than the looming "fiscal cliff.