Maybe Mitt Romney Didn't Win Iowa (The Atlantic Wire)

A Iowa caucus goer claims the Republican Party's vote totals were off by 20 votes in favor of Mitt Romney, a error that if fixed would be enough to swing the final tally to Rick Santorum. Edward True says he helped to count the votes at the tiny 53-person caucus in Moulton, Iowa, and claims that Romney got just two votes. But when he checked the state party's website later, they credited Romney with 22 votes in Moulton. Since Romney was declared the winner by just 8 votes, that mistake would have been enough to the swing the state in his favor.

Related: Attention Must Be Paid! (To Rick Santorum)

GOP officials say True is not a precinct captain and has no business talking about results, which won't be fully certified for another week anyway. Meanwhile, Santorum claims that he was told by party officials that there was a different 21-vote discrepancy in his favor, meaning the final vote tally is only off by one. 

Related: The Polls That Got Iowa Right

In either case, it doesn't really matter  — unless maybe you had money riding on it — because winning or losing is not the point. The fact that Santorum could have beaten Romney is all any one cares about at the moment. Eight more votes won't change the outcome in New Hampshire or South Carolina and once the nomination is secure, one of them will be forced to drop out anyway. (Even at a brokered convention, which will never happen, Iowa would only send 25 delegates and it's not a winner-take-all state.) So it's not exactly a Bush v. Gore situation. However, True is also a Ron Paul supporter and everyone wants to see Romney brought down a peg, so if you're looking to indulge in some primary conspiracy theories, knock yourself out.

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GOP on Taxes: Boehner Says 'No;' Cantor Says 'Maybe' (ContributorNetwork)

COMMENTARY | As Republicans and Democrats go back to work on a debt compromise, there is less than a month before critical mass is reached. The debt ceiling for the United States needs to be raised by August 2 or the United States will default on its loans.

Members of the GOP are holding conferences with top Democrats and the White House to hammer out a proposal to reduce the national debt. Otherwise, the Republican-led House of Representatives may not raise the maximum amount of debt the United States can borrow.

Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) reiterated his stance by saying there will be no tax raises on working Americans or job creators. Yet his partner in House leaderships, Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said just a day earlier Republicans would be open to a tax increase , but only if they are cut somewhere else.

Which is it? Either there are more tax increases or their might be. It's just a small sliver of difference between what both men said during the negotiations, but it presents a wide difference in bargaining tactics. It also exposes a rift in the GOP.

Boehner must please the conservative base and the tea party when he says no new taxes. Cantor seems to be a little more pragmatic and deals with more centrist and mainstream Republicans who believe a more rounded approach is necessary to solve the budget crisis.

There are no easy answers. President Barack Obama even went so far as to say cuts in Social Security and Medicare may be an option when previously he hadn't. Both sides are supposedly still far apart on the issue. They are all agreeing to disagree even though they already agree. Leaders all come to the consensus that the national debt needs to be solved. Their dispute comes in how they should go about reducing the debt and creating jobs.

Obama's National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform warned the president and the House leadership that tough choices would have to be made. Cuts will have to come from everywhere, regardless if taxes are raised. The commission suggested raising excise and use taxes on things like gasoline to help bring in more revenue while making cuts at the same time.

Eventually both parties are going to have to realize the combination of more taxes and less spending will bring the United States into fiscal responsibility faster than severe cuts with no tax increases.

William Browning is a research librarian specializing in U.S. politics. Born in St. Louis, Browning is active in local politics and served as a campaign volunteer for President Barack Obama and Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill.

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