presidential elections Archives

President Obama Talks About His Republican Challengers

In an interview with Univision, President Obama spoke briefly in response to the question of who he would rather go up against in the 2012 general election.

“I don’t really think about that,” Obama said in response to a question about who would be more of a threat in an interview with Univision conducted Wednesday night in Chandler, Ariz., and released Thursday morning. “What I can say is this: That whoever their nominee is, they represent ideas that I think are wrong for America.”

“On a whole range of issues I think that whether it’s Mr. Romney or Mr. Gingrich or Mr. Santorum or whoever else they might decide to select, they represent a fundamentally different vision of America. And it’s not the bold generous forward looking optimistic America that I think built this country,” he added.

The interview was Obama’s first since delivering his State of the Union address on Tuesday night, and comes as the Republican presidential candidates are stepping up their appeals to Hispanic voters ahead of next week’s Florida primary. Speaking to one of the top U.S. Spanish-language news outlets, Obama offered his own appeals, noting his efforts to make immigration laws more favorable to immigrants even without the comprehensive reform he’s repeatedly called for.

Mr.Romney, The Cayman Islands Is Calling…

Oh Mitty. The sad thing is, you really thought you could have kept this a secret. You apparently thought the American people were so slow, that they would just mosey on along, accepting your explanations that you are “one of us,” and that you’re often “worried about getting a pink slip.” You obviously thought Mr. Romney, that we really believed you when you said you were unemployed too.

Well the Cayman Islands called and we are now wiser to your game.

As one of the wealthiest candidates to run for president in recent times, Romney has used a variety of techniques to help minimize the taxes on his estimated $250 million fortune. In addition to paying the lower tax rate on his investment income, Romney has as much as $8 million invested in at least 12 funds listed on a Cayman Islands registry. Another investment, which Romney reports as being worth between $5 million and $25 million, shows up on securities records as having been domiciled in the Caymans.

Official documents reviewed by ABC News show that Bain Capital, the private equity partnership Romney once ran, has set up some 138 secretive offshore funds in the Caymans.

Romney campaign officials and those at Bain Capital tell ABC News that the purpose of setting up those accounts in the Cayman Islands is to help attract money from foreign investors, and that the accounts provide no tax advantage to American investors like Romney. Romney, the campaign said, has paid all U.S. taxes on income derived from those investments.