Daily Political Wire

George Wenschhof

Budget Battle Engaged - Who Wins? - liberal Democrats are happy President Obama went big with his 3.6-4 Trillion deficit reduction plan which includes raising taxes on the very rich. A position favored by a majority of Americans in recent polling. Republican leaders counter with charges of class warfare and a promise they will not agree to new taxes.

Meanwhile, Americans are becoming confused as so many budget plans are floating around, it's hard to keep track without a scorecard.

The super twelve member bipartisan committee has been charged with presenting a plan by the end of November to reduce the national deficit by 1.2 to 1.5 Trillion.

President Obama has a 447 million jobs plan and now a 3.6-4 Trillion deficit reduction plan of his own. Taking us back to the "grand plan" attempt which failed between the President and House Speaker John Boehner just weeks ago.

To all of the above, federal spending approval runs out September 30, so some sort of extension or continuing resolution or Omnibus bill will need to be passed.

And, one wonders why Americans have such a low approval of Congress.

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Bachmann Drops To Fifth Place - in the latest USA Today/Gallup poll of Republican presidential contenders. Not a good sign for the Minnesota Representative who only received 5% in the poll. Rick Perry leads with 31%, Romney - 24%, with Paul and Palin at 13%. USA Today has more here.

Former campaign manager for Michelle Bachmann Ed Rollins says, she does not have the financial resources to compete past Iowa if she does not win the state caucuses. You can read more here.

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Gingrich To Unveil New "Contract With America" - or as some Democrats would say "Contract On America". Newt says this version will be deeper and more comprehensive than in 1994. He expects to give the details in a speech in Iowa next week. Gingrich is tied for fifth place with Michele Bachmann (5%) among Republican presidential contenders in the latest USA Today/Gallup Poll. You can read more here.

It is unlikely this speech will help out the fading Gingrich campaign.

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Department of Justice kicks Out Texas Redistricting - on the grounds it violated the Voting Rights Act. Texas received 4 additional congressional seats due to census reporting and Governor Perry signed into law redistricting which the Justice Department has said violates the Civil Rights Act. Stay tuned as this will be another main focus of the Perry-Obama competition. TPM.com has more here.

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DCCC Out Raises RCCC in August - the dueling congressional committees released fund raising totals for the month with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee reporting 3.6 million. The Republican Congressional Campaign Committee raised 3.0 million. However, in the all important cash on hand, the RCCC had 11.7 million to 7.8 million for the DCCC. RollCall.com has more here.

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