Beltway Confidential

Michigan -- Ann Romney got a warm welcome in Troy, Mich., -- so warm, that she joked about taking over her husband's speechmaking duties through the campaign, before also indicating that the Romney campaign doesn

"No more debates," Mrs. Romney told an Americans for Prosperity event audience today. "If we're doing a debate, he's going to sit in the audience and watch me and that'll be it," she said, laughing.

Mitt and Ann Romney both emphasized their biographical connection to Michigan. "Good to be back in the place that we called home for the first 19 years of my life, and about 19 years of her life," Mitt Romney said before explaining that he met Ann at a party in Michigan.

President Obama's campaign seems to blame the Koch brothers for high gas prices, as his campaign manager attacked the oil magnates for "jacking up prices at the pump" and faulted Mitt Romney for participating in an event sponsored by an organization that they fund.

"Those are the same Koch brothers whose business model is to make millions by jacking up prices at the pump," Obama campaign manager Jim Messina wrote to supporters, in order to explain an attack on Romney for speaking at an event hosted by "a front group founded and funded by the Koch brothers."

The Koch brothers have long been a focus of Democratic attacks, but this email seems to contradict at least one Democratic congressman's complaint about the Kochs.

During the Keystone pipeline debate before Christmas, Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., suggested that Republicans only wanted the Keystone pipeline built because it benefited the Kochs. "[T]here's a terminal owned by the Koch brothers, [by] one of their corporate subsidiaries, located at the beginning of this pipeline up in Alberta, Canada, and then along the proposed route of this pipleline are other Koch brother refineries that will process [oil]," Johnson said on the House floor in December. In theory, increasing oil imports from Canada would lower the price of gas by providing a new supply, insulated from shocks in the Middle East.

A representative of the Kochs explained to Messina how the oil markets work. "We own no gasoline stations and the part of our business you allude to, oil and gas refining, actually lowers the price of gasoline by increasing supply," Phillip Ellender, President of Government & Public Affairs for Koch Companies Public Sector, LLC, wrote in an open letter to Messina.

President Obama seems to think share Ellender's understanding of the oil markets, even if his campaign manager pushes a different idea in fundraising letters. "Over the last three years, my administration has approved dozens of new pipelines, including from Canada," the president said Thursday -- apparenty defending himself from criticisms stemming from his decision to block the Keystone pipeline -- during  a speech on his efforts to bring down the price of gas and increase American energy independence.

H/T Sooper Mexican

DETROIT -- Last September, Mitt Romney rolled out a detailed, long-in-the-works economic plan.  The 59-point, 160-page document called for cutting corporate tax rates, reducing capital gains rates for some taxpayers, eliminating the death tax, reducing regulation, reaching new free-trade agreements, imposing sanctions on China, and other measures.  What it did not call for was cutting individual income tax rates.  In fact, in Romney's list of "59 Policy Proposals That Will Get America Back To Work," the number-one proposal was to "maintain current tax rates on personal income."

But in Romney's speech here in Detroit Friday, Romney, in a tough race with Rick Santorum for the frontrunner's position in the Republican primary contest, called for "an across-the-board 20 percent reduction in marginal individual income tax rates."  Romney added: "By reducing the tax on the next dollar of income earned by all taxpayers, we will encourage hard work, risk-taking, and productivity by allowing Americans to keep more of what they earn."

What had changed between September and Friday?  Did changed economic conditions warrant a new approach?  Changed political conditions?  Something else?

The answer is, nothing changed, says key Romney economic adviser Lanhee Chen.  "There were two elements to his plan," Chen said after Romney's speech at Ford Field Friday.  "One was to retain the low Bush tax rates, the other was to engage in a Bowles-Simpson style fundamental tax reform…So this is the fundamental tax reform."

Last September, Romney was vague about future tax cuts.  On page 41 of his original plan, under the heading, "Long-Term Goal: Pursue a Fairer, Flatter, Simpler Tax Structure," the Romney proposal said, "In the long run, Mitt Romney will pursue a conservative overhaul of the tax system that includes lower and flatter rates on a broader tax base.  The approach taken by the Bowles-Simpson Commission is a good starting point for the discussion."

Romney's "in the long run" proviso provoked criticism in some conservative circles. The Wall Street Journal editorial page accused Romney of shrinking from a fight by not proposing individual tax cuts. "He says he favors tax reform with lower individual tax rates but only 'in the long run,'" the paper wrote last September.  "His advisers say that means in the first two years of his presidency, but then why not sketch out more details?"

Now Romney has.

Mitt Romney:

Mitt Romney front-runner again in Michigan, Arizona

Romney speech falls flat in Detroit

 

Photo: Romney "squeezes" Detroit event into deserted stadium.

Romney: My wife drives a couple of Cadillacs

Romney hopes his name doesn’t hurt Michigan restaurant

Romney courts the Tea Party

Romney ad ties Specter to Santorum

New York Times Columnist Charles Blow apologizes for comment on Mitt Romney's 'Magic Underwear'

Romney says he is "only chance" to defeat Obama

Rick Santorum:

Rick Santorum on Mitt Romney: ‘He’s resolutely Liberal’

Santorum regrets endorsing Romney

Specter: Santorum's 'bestiality comments' too extreme

Santorum gets on Indiana ballot

Glen Beck challenges Santorum on charitable giving

Rick Santorum speaks at super PAC fundraiser

Newt Gingrich:

Gingrich: Washington state did gay marriage 'the right way'

Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich botches name of Chattanooga landmark

Gingrich travel reimbursements draw scrutiny

Ron Paul:

Ron Paul’s Son, Ronnie Paul, Hits the Trail for Dad in Hawaii

Overstock.com president: Ron Paul ‘would be a better president’ than Romney

No conspiracy: Ron Paul just dislikes Santorum

The Washington Free Beacon picks up this video of a man falling asleep during a Vice President Joe Biden campaign rally. 

“Americans are tired of being tired,” Biden said during the rally, according to WXII. “It’s clear that the American people have decided it’s time to get up. They’re tired of being told that we’re in a long, slow drift.”

UPDATE: Apparently the video, titled "FINAL COLOR CORRECTED v2b" wasn't quite ready for the press. Although the video was public, it was immediately pulled after I wrote about it. I saved a copy of the video, which I have now posted above.

Remember those four Obama supporters who won a chance to meet and have lunch with President Obama after donating to the campaign? Not surprisingly, the entire event filmed for Obama's re-election campaign.

Today, the campaign releases a video of the event, highlighting the president taking time out of his day to meet with "real Americans."

Each of the four Obama donors who were chosen for the event was interviewed on camera by the campaign, as they excitedly talked about sharing lunch with the President of the United States, before he bounds in to meet them.

"I don't know about you guys, but I have a lot of fun doing this," Obama says during the lunch, "Because usually I'm having lunch, reading some briefing book or meeting with my staff, to actually have lunch outside with some real folks is a big treat for me."

During the meal, one of the supporters asks Obama if he imagined that Republicans would try to block everything he wanted to pass. "I gotta admit, I did not," replied Obama, "That was their strategy and it wasn't a good strategy for the American people."

Later on during the meal, Obama points to his plate and tells the group, "If you guys want some fries by the way, I'm not going to eat all these."