GOP to keep focus on health-care law for 2014 races

WASHINGTON — one handed to them by the administration itself.

While Congress was arguing, Obama's plan to expand coverage for the uninsured suffered a self-inflicted wound. A computer system with design flaws gummed up the first open enrollment season. After nearly three weeks, it's still not fixed.

Republicans hope to ride that and other defects they see in the law into the 2014 congressional elections.

Four Democratic senators are facing re-election for the first time since they voted for the Affordable Care Act, and their defeat is critical to GOP aspirations for a Senate majority. Democrats say that's just more wishful thinking, if not obsession.

Although Obama's law remains divisive, only 29percent of the public favors its complete repeal, according to a recent Gallup poll.

The business-oriented wing of the Republican Party wants to move on to other issues. And Americans may be weary from the health-care fight.

'Stop the arguing'

"This is the law of the land at this point," said Michael Weaver, a self-employed photographer from rural southern Illinois who's been uninsured for about a year. "We need to stop the arguing and move forward to make it work."

It took him about a week and half, but Weaver kept going back to the healthcare.gov website until he was able to open an account and apply for a tax credit that will reduce his premiums. He's not completely finished because he hasn't selected an insurance plan, but he's been able to browse options.

It beats providing page after page of personal health information to insurance companies, Weaver said.

Under the new law, insurers have to accept people with health problems. Weaver is in his mid-50s, with high blood pressure and high cholesterol, but otherwise in good health. He says those common conditions made it hard for him to get coverage before.

Although Weaver seems to have gotten past the major website obstacles, he's still finding shortcomings.

There's no place to type in his medications and find out what plans cover them. "I wish there was more detail, so you could really figure it out," he said.

Congressional Republicans are favoring a less nuanced critique.

Criticism continues

"TrainWreck: Skyrocketing Prices, Blank Screens, & Error Messages," screamed the headline on a press release Friday from House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. A House hearing on the ACA rollout is scheduled for this week. GOP lawmakers want Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to resign.

Administration officials, in their most detailed accounting yet of the early rollout, said Saturday that about 476,000 health-insurance applications have been filed through federal and state exchanges. But the officials continue to refuse to say how many people have enrolled in the insurance markets.

Without enrollment figures, it's unclear whether the program is on track to reach the 7million people projected by the Congressional Budget Office to gain coverage during the six-month sign-up period.

The president was expected to address the problems today during a health-care event at the White House. The administration has yet to fully explain what has gone wrong with the online sign-up system.

Democratic pollster Celinda Lake says she doesn't see how going after the health-law rollout will help Republicans by the time of next year's election.

Fixing the website

"Americans are technology optimists," Lake said.

"You tell them the website has problems today, and they'll assume it will be better tomorrow. I mean, we're Americans. We can fix a website."

Republicans are intent on making the health law an uncomfortable anchor around the neck of four Democratic senators seeking re-election in GOP-leaning states, weighing them down as they try to unseat them. Republicans need to gain six seats to seize the majority in the Senate, and any formula for control includes flipping the four seats.

Sens. Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Mark Begich of Alaska and Kay Hagan of North Carolina will face voters for the first time since they were among the 60 Democrats who voted for the health law in 2009.

More than a year before the election, Republican Rep. Tom Cotton is airing an ad that criticizes Pryor for his vote, telling Arkansans that Pryor "cast the deciding vote to make you live under Obamacare." The commercial's final image shows Pryor with Obama, who took a drubbing in Arkansas last year.

"The bottom line is these candidates will have to answer for why they voted for this bill," said Rob Engstrom, senior vice president and national political director for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

If the website gets fixed, other problems may emerge. Republicans can still try linking 'Obamacare' to rising premiums, anemic job growth and broader economic worries.

Will criticism work?

The chamber spent millions on ads in 2012 criticizing Senate incumbents such as Jon Tester of Montana and Bill Nelson of Florida for their health-care votes, yet many of those candidates overcame the criticism and won re-election.

The economy, not health care, remains the top concern of voters. By putting opposition to the health-care law ahead of all other priorities, economist Douglas Holtz-Eakin says "tea party" conservatives may have overdone it.

"Obamacare was an effective campaign weapon," said Holtz-Eakin, an adviser to Republicans. "The question is, have they damaged it beyond its political viability?"

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.

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At Republican Forum, McDonald Promises to Make the Economy His Focus

Michael Appleton for The New York Times George McDonald

George T. McDonald, a Republican candidate for mayor, can be an uneven performer in public. He likes to explain his economic plan by arguing that the Bronx should produce more applesauce, and he sometimes jokes about commuting by skateboard.

But at a forum in Midtown Manhattan on Tuesday night, Mr. McDonald, 68, sought to use his quirky manner to his advantage as he portrayed his two Republican opponents as out-of-touch plutocrats.

Calling himself the “poorest guy sitting here,” Mr. McDonald, who lives in a $1.6 million apartment on the Upper East Side, said he would make reviving the economy a centerpiece of his administration.

“The recession didn’t pass over New York City,” said Mr. McDonald, who runs the Doe Fund, a nonprofit job-training program for the homeless. “It may have passed over your friends.”

Mr. McDonald then turned to a Republican rival, John A. Catsimatidis, the billionaire owner of the Gristedes grocery chain. “If you think that money alone is going to win an election,” he said, “go to Connecticut.”

Mr. Catsimatidis grinned, reaching for the microphone. “I’m a man of all the people,” he said. “I’ve been to the South Bronx. I never saw you there.”

It was a striking back-and-forth at a forum largely free of disagreement. Nearly 100 people attended the event, which was sponsored by the New York Young Republican Club.

The other Republican contender, Joseph J. Lhota, former chief of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, largely stayed out of the fray. While he praised Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s handling of city affairs, he sought to distance himself from some of the mayor’s policies, saying he did not support the emphasis on standardized testing.

Near the end of the forum, in fielding a question on how to reduce poverty in New York, Mr. Catsimatidis said he would put Mr. McDonald in charge of homeless programs.

He looked to Mr. McDonald, who was staring into the distance, seemingly unaware of what had been said.

“George, I complimented you,” Mr. Catsimatidis said. “You’re very capable.”

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Carmona's focus: Jobs, immigration

Richard Carmona's television campaign ads paint a rugged portrait of the Democratic Senate candidate: a decorated Green Beret, a trauma surgeon, a SWAT team leader and a U.S. surgeon general who battled "political interference" from higher-ups in President George W. Bush's administration.

Richard Carmona

Age: 62.

Education: Bronx Community College of the City, University of New York, associate degree, 1973; University of California-San Francisco, bachelor's degree in biology and chemistry, 1977; University of California-San Francisco, medical degree, 1979; University of Arizona, master's degree in public health, 1998.

Family: Wife Diane. Four children.

Work experience: Vice chairman, Canyon Ranch, 2006-present; president, Canyon Ranch Institute, 2006-present; and distinguished professor of public health, Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, University of Arizona, 2006-present. Past: Department surgeon, SWAT-team leader and deputy, Pima County Sheriff's Department, 1986-2002.

Previous public office: U.S. surgeon general, 2002-06.

Top issues:

Job creation.

Immigration reform.

Balanced budget.

Social Security and Medicare preservation.

National security and veterans issues.

Women's health care.

Source: Carmona's campaign website, carmonaforarizona.com/priorities

During the Vietnam War, Carmona was awarded two Bronze Stars, two Purple Hearts and a combat medical badge. His law-enforcement experience with the Pima County Sheriff's Department includes action-packed episodes such as a risky 1992 mountainside rescue of a helicopter-crash survivor and a 1999 gunbattle in which he killed a man who was menacing a woman. Carmona was wounded in the leg during a 1988 SWAT standoff in which an armed man was killed.

"He's a local hero and a national hero," said veteran Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, a Democrat. "I have nothing but admiration and respect for this guy. He's a brilliant doctor and an extremely talented individual."

But Carmona, 62, also has long been dogged by questions about his leadership style, which critics characterize as contentious.

The acting Health and Human Services Department deputy who supervised him as surgeon general told a congressional investigatory committee in 2007 that she felt threatened by him.

And his career in southern Arizona's health-care industry has been at times controversial, with him leaving two high-profile positions amid criticism.

Those episodes are providing fodder for Carmona's opponent, Republican Rep. Jeff Flake. Polls indicate the race is neck and neck.

But Carmona's experience working with members of both parties is complicating Flake's efforts to portray him as a "rubber stamp" for President Barack Obama, who with other senior Democrats encouraged him to seek the seat of retiring GOP Sen. Jon Kyl as a Democrat.

A lifelong registered independent, Carmona was nominated as the nation's 17th surgeon general by Bush, a Republican, in 2002 and strongly endorsed for that position by Arizona's two Republican senators.

Carmona, who lists on his campaign website priorities that include job creation, comprehensive immigration reform, women's issues and preserving Social Security, boasts that Republicans had previously tried to recruit him to run for governor and Congress.

"When I read his resume, I have to tell you that it seems it's like a resume from 10 different people," actress Lynda Carter, best known for her role as 1970s television superhero "Wonder Woman," said at a recent "Women for Carmona" event in Scottsdale. "I have played the role. He is the role."

A long resume

While his ads highlight his achievements, there is more to Carmona's resume than battlefield and law-enforcement heroics.

He helped establish Tucson Medical Center's trauma unit but was let go in 1993, according to contemporary media reports. He sued and secured a public apology and a confidential settlement that the Arizona Daily Star reported at $3.9million.

Later, he took over the financially troubled Kino Community Hospital in Tucson and ran Pima County's health-care system. Under pressure over financial issues, Carmona stepped down in 1999.

Some of those issues came up a decade ago, when Bush tapped Carmona as surgeon general. Only now are they becoming election-season fodder because, unlike Flake, a six-term congressman who won the Republican Senate nomination after a no-holds-barred primary fight, Carmona ran unopposed in the Democratic primary.

Now, Flake has started making an issue of Carmona's past in campaign mailers and ads.

For his part, Carmona pointed out that the issues in his health-care-management career were known to the senators who considered his nomination as surgeon general. He said he made tough leadership decisions at the time "with compassion for the people."

"But here's the important point: Every one of those allegations was investigated by the U.S. Senate when I went up for confirmation," Carmona said after the Scottsdale event. "And I received a unanimous confirmation from the United States Senate, so that should answer any questions as to the veracity of any of those allegations."

An exhaustive 2002 Los Angeles Times report on Carmona raised questions about his temperament and management skills, spotlighting allegations that he bullied a nurse in 1991, drove off Kino Community Hospital's veteran chief of surgery in 1996 and berated a member of the Pima County Health Care Commission in 1999.

The late Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., asked about his "confrontational" style at Carmona's July9, 2002, Senate confirmation hearing and specifically cited his publicized clash with Sylvia Campoy, the health commissioner.

Carmona said some personal friction was inevitable as an "agent of change," charged with introducing "contemporary management techniques to a dying system that is struggling to care for indigent patients."

"At times, that is upsetting to people who live in the status quo for a long time," Carmona said at the hearing. "And because of that, sometimes those of us who do step out might be characterized as confrontational. … But I would say emphatically that I always treated my patients, my staff and co-workers with the greatest respect."

However, questions about the way Carmona has treated colleagues did not end when he became surgeon general.

In May, Politico reported allegations against Carmona made in secret 2007 testimony before the Oversight and Government Reform Committee by Cristina Beato, who oversaw the surgeon general in her role as acting assistant secretary of health. According to the transcript of her testimony, Beato said Carmona "has problems with women" and "had a very difficult time having a female Hispanic supervisor."

Beato, a single mother, also alleged that twice Carmona pounded on her door after midnight in an effort to resume ongoing arguments and that she felt threatened by his behavior. Beato and Carmona both resided on the National Institutes of Health campus in Maryland.

The Carmona campaign has dismissed Beato's claims as fiction.

"This was a lady that was very politically motivated, who was aspiring to a higher position and then lied on her resume and got caught, and we held her accountable, so she lashed out," Carmona said. "But the fact is that Congress investigated those allegations, and they were all found to be false."

In a telephone interview, Beato said that her testimony was delivered under oath and was truthful and that Congress did not investigate her claims. She acknowledged making mistakes on her resume but said that Bush continued to stand by her nomination.

"No, I do not make this stuff up," Beato told The Republic. "And I did fear for my life, and I am not a little withering flower, either. It was personally very frightening."

Political leanings

In ads, the Flake campaign has tried to portray Carmona as a "rubber stamp" for Obama, arguing that a vote for Carmona equals a vote for the president's agenda.

Carmona counters that even as a presidential appointee, he was hardly a mouthpiece for Bush.

In fact, his battle with the Bush administration and his claim that officials tried to muzzle him on health issues such as stem-cell research and the dangers of secondhand smoke are part of his campaign narrative that he is not beholden to either political party.

Carmona, who is of Puerto Rican descent, has courted moderate voters and presented himself as an independent-minded problem solver who could forge solutions to lingering issues such as the broken immigration system and help restore the public's trust in government.

"I was an independent when I was surgeon general ? and always saw my job as really being nonpartisan in dealing with health and safety and security issues of the nation," Carmona said earlier this year in a Fox News Latino interview.

"But as I moved forward to be considering running for the U.S. Senate and I looked at where the Republican Party was on certain issues in my state, like on women's health, on immigration, some of the educational issues, I really couldn't align with them there. The fact is that the Democratic Party was more closely aligned with where my values were on key issues in our state."

'Take-charge guy'

Former Sen. Dennis DeConcini, D-Ariz., a Carmona supporter, described Carmona as "a take-charge guy" and speculated that might rub some the wrong way.

"When you are a leader, sometimes the people you lead don't always agree with you," said DeConcini, who held the Senate seat Carmona is seeking from 1977 to 1995. "That's what I chalk it up to. He may have a temper. Hell, I don't know who hasn't ever gotten mad. I have never seen that."

Rep. Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz., another Carmona ally, was a Pima County supervisor when Carmona headed Kino Community Hospital and the county health system. Although Carmona's tenure was turbulent, Grijalva credited him with stabilizing the hospital and laying the groundwork for its eventual transformation.

Any personality clashes stemmed from Carmona's effort to move the hospital in a different direction and "was part of making the omelet," Grijalva said. "In the heat of the battle, I didn't always agree with him, but I'll give him his due. He was very persuasive and talked about the fact that if we are going to turn this hospital around, we're going to have to take some risks. … I'm glad we took some of those risks."

Carmona also has taken risks during his long association with the Pima County Sheriff's Department. Dupnik, the Pima County sheriff, praised Carmona as "a tremendously courageous individual" who saved lives when he returned fire and killed a violent, mentally disturbed man in a Sept.18, 1999, off-duty gunbattle in Tucson. The celebrated 1992 rescue, in which Carmona dangled from a helicopter, was so dangerous that Dupnik said he would never have allowed it had he been aware of what Carmona was planning to do.

"We have a joke around the department: When we see on TV some disaster or emergency happening on a national level, we always look to see if Carmona is there," Dupnik said. "He just has a knack for being in the right place at the right time."

Copyright 2012 The Arizona Republic|azcentral.com. All rights reserved.For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.

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Groups benefit from campaigns' focus on women's issues

Women's groups on both sides of the political spectrum are reaping the benefit of the campaign-season focus on women's issues, and say they have the opposing side to thank for the windfall.

By Jim Cole,, AP

Lilly Ledbetter, whose lawsuit led to the federal pay equity law that bears her name, speaks at a "Women for Obama" house party in Concord, N.H., on April 30.

By Jim Cole,, AP

Lilly Ledbetter, whose lawsuit led to the federal pay equity law that bears her name, speaks at a "Women for Obama" house party in Concord, N.H., on April 30.

Debates this year over contraception, federal funding for abortion services and Tuesday's Senate vote on equal pay for women have invigorated women's groups on the right and the left to try to sway the female vote.

Planned Parenthood has seen a steady increase in donations since Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation announced it would cut funding to the group for breast exams. Planned Parenthood raised $400,000 in the first 24 hours after the decision was announced. It was later reversed.

Last week, the group endorsed President Obama and launched a $1.4 million ad buy in swing states attacking Republican Mitt Romney.

Planned Parenthood Action Fund, has spent $1.6 million in independent expenditures this election cycle.

"Women's issues have not been the political football that they have during this cycle," said Dawn Laguens, Planned Parenthood's executive vice president for policy, advocacy and communications. Obama's administration "is the last line of defense" for women's basic health care, she said.

Laguens said Planned Parenthood is on pace to raise much more than it did in 2008 and plans to keep women's issues front and center throughout the summer and fall.

EMILY's List, a fundraising group for female candidates who support abortion rights, has doubled it's membership since January 2011.

Stephanie Schriock, president of EMILY's List, said the Republican takeover of the House of Representatives spurred the group's growth.

"Our membership has gone from 400,000 when John Boehner became speaker to 1.5 million," she said. "These debates over birth control, equal pay — even the violence against women act — the Republican Party has really been driving this and trying to move the clock backwards."

The group's super PAC, Women Vote!, has spent $443,755 since the beginning of the cycle on independent expenditures, according to the Federal Election Commission.

Terry O'Neill, president of the National Organization for Women, said the group is partnering with the American Association of University Women for a voter-mobilization project in 15 states. She said NOW saw an increase in fundraising and members after the Virginia Legislature passed a bill that would have required women to get a trans-vaginal ultrasound before having an abortion.

"What followed on the heels of the (Virginia bill) was the effort in the Senate to restrict birth control, and that's when the men started getting involved," O'Neill said.

Obama leads Romney among women 49% to 43%, according to the most recent Gallup polling. But Romney has been narrowing the gap. In late March, Obama's lead with women was 52% to 40% over Romney.

Conservative groups such as the Susan B. Anthony List, Concerned Women for America and the National Federation of Republican Women said they have seen increases in their membership and fundraising coffers as well.

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, a group that supports candidates opposing abortion rights, said, "What has been going on in the public conversation has attracted a lot of new women into the political arena, and none more than in the pro-life and the conservative moment because of the role Obama has taken on himself in speaking for women."

She added the group's fundraising is up one third from where they were at this point in the 2010 election cycle. The group has pledged to spend between $10 million and $12 million on Senate and presidential campaigns in important states.

Prior to endorsing Romney in April, Susan B. Anthony List spent $512,403 on independent expenditures in support of former senator Rick Santorum's campaign during the GOP primary.

In the 2008 election cycle, the group's independent expenditures totaled around $114,000.

On June 1, Concerned Women for America launched a voter-registration program called "She Votes" and plans to spend $1 million on get-out-the-vote and voter-registration efforts.

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GOP rivals focus on flat taxes, smaller government (AP)

WASHINGTON – On jobs and taxes, the top Republican presidential rivals are locked in a fierce game of one-upmanship. They're all trying to outdo each other in offering the boldest economic plan for the campaign to unseat President Barack Obama next November.

Despite some notable differences in the blueprints, they all are built around the central theme that Obama's stimulus programs haven't worked and his job creation record is dismal. Example No. 1: Unemployment is holding at a painfully high 9.1 percent.

"We knew ultimately that the 2012 election was going to be a big referendum on the president," said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, former director of the Congressional Budget Office who was the chief economic adviser to Arizona Sen. John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign. "But Republicans also have to say what they would do. It's not enough to say we don't like what's going on."

Texas Gov. Rick Perry teased rival Herman Cain — "I'll bump plans with you, brother" — when both rolled out ambitious proposals for a single-rate flat tax. That's a concept hailed by numerous Republicans and some Democrats for its simplicity, yet it never has managed to attract much congressional support. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is the lone major GOP contender not calling for a flat or flatter tax.

The 2012 contenders also are serving up a platter of familiar conservative fare: calls for deep spending cuts, reduced government regulation and an emphasis on private enterprise as the true engine of job growth and prosperity.

The plans underscore the party's attempt to respond to the biggest voter concerns of the day and capitalize on what they see it as Obama's chief vulnerability, the still shaky recovery. The candidates claim their various plans would help create millions of private sector jobs; just how is not always clear.

With polls showing that most people support increasing taxes on the wealthiest households, as Obama and Democrats are proposing, the GOP flat-tax plans would largely end up as a boon to the wealthiest, independent analyses suggest.

The tax debate coincides with spreading protests, inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement, against economic inequality. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office recently reported the top 1 percent of American earners doubled their share of national income over the past 30 years, to 20 percent.

Some of the GOP plans show depth, complexity and sophistication, Holtz-Eakin said. Not every economist is as charitable or sees the GOP offerings as workable.

"I don't think any of the plans can be taken too seriously as actual policy," said Bruce Bartlett, who held top economic posts in the Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations but now considers himself a political independent.

"The Republican goal is to nominate the person who is the most committed, most articulate in terms of the Republican philosophy. What they're competing for is who best represents that core philosophy and articulate it in a way that the base finds satisfying," Bartlett said.

No matter that some GOP dogma, such as an insistence that cuts in business taxes and government regulation will spur private-sector job growth, "is economic nonsense," Bartlett said.

All the GOP rivals would pare federal regulations.

Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., would kill the Environmental Protection Agency and repeal the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial industry regulation law. Romney is proposing a 10 percent cut in the federal workforce. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum wants to repeal all regulations put in place by Obama. "The federal government kills jobs. We don't need more programs and bureaucrats telling business how to operate," he says.

Economists generally agree the shortage of jobs isn't caused by government overregulation but by a lack of consumer demand. A recent Labor Department survey showed that less than 1 percent of all layoffs in the past four years have been attributed by employers to government regulation.

With consumer spending driving two-thirds of the U.S. economy, those without jobs have little money to spend. Many with jobs fear losing them, or their houses are worth less than their mortgages, so they have little spare cash or borrowing ability.

Killing off Obama's health care overhaul is a common feature of the GOP plans. So, too, is a proposal to offer American companies a chance to bring money generated overseas back into the U.S. without being taxed. But studies have shown that a similar repatriation "holiday" in 2004-2005 had little effect on job growth.

Some Republicans go further than others. For instance, Bachmann says she would consider allowing oil and gas exploration in the Florida Everglades. None of her rivals has been that bold, perhaps given Florida's importance in presidential calculus.

Hoping to coax more U.S. export jobs, Romney threatens to trade penalties against China if it does not boost the value of its currency. "If you're not willing to stand up to China, you'll get rolled over by China," he says. But former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, who recently served as U.S. ambassador to China, argues that such penalties probably would lead to a trade war that would hurt both economies.

On taxes, Romney would make incremental changes and move later to a simpler system. For now, he would extend Bush-era tax cuts, lower the 35 percent corporate tax rate to 25 percent and exempt investment income for those earning less than $200,000. He would extract more U.S. oil, coal and natural gas, expand trade pacts and cut federal spending.

Rep. Ron Paul's plan is the most radical. The Texas Republican, a libertarian, would scrap the income tax entirely. He contends the government didn't have the authority to impose it in the first place. He would make ends meet through excise taxes, tariffs, and a smaller government. In the process, he would abolish the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Reserve.

Cain, the former Godfather's Pizza CEO who has replaced Romney as the GOP front-runner in some recent polls, repeatedly pushes his "9-9-9" tax plan that would cut personal and corporate tax rates to 9 percent each and impose a new 9 percent federal sales tax.

Perry's plan would give taxpayers the choice of paying at a flat rate of 20 percent or adhering to the current tax structure. He would preserve deductions for mortgage interest, charitable donations and state and local tax taxes for households earning less than $500,000 a year and offer a $12,500 exemption for individuals and dependents.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has proposed a 15 percent optional flat tax. Huntsman would set up a three-tiered system with a top rate of 23 percent. Bachmann would replace the tax code with a yet-to-be specified flat tax. Santorum proposes a "simpler, flatter and fairer" tax without offering specifics. He would cut the corporate tax in half and eliminate it for manufacturers who keep jobs in the U.S.

In the past, flat tax schemes — pushed by Democrat Jerry Brown in 1992 and Republican publisher Steve Forbes in 1990 and 2000 — failed to generate much political traction, in part because most plans would put a disproportionate burden on lower-income families.

Quick studies of the current major GOP proposals by independent research groups have made similar findings.

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Follow Tom Raum on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tomraum

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