J. Scott Applewhite / AP

Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, finishes a prepared statement to reporters about the elections and the unfinished business of Congress, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2012.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, emerged in the aftermath of Tuesday’s presidential election to strike a conciliatory note, offering to work with President Barack Obama on a grand bargain to avert the impact of the coming fiscal cliff.

The top House Republican argued for new negotiations with Democrats and the newly re-elected Obama administration on an overarching fiscal deal linking together reforms to entitlements and the tax code.

Boehner said that Republicans would be “willing to accept new revenue, under the right conditions,” though those very conditions could be as beguiling as ever.

The speaker offered no clue as to whether Republicans would relent from their insistence (made during fiscal negotiations last year) that any sort of tax reform package not constitute anything even remotely resembling a tax hike.

Obama has spoken favorably about tax reform – including during his victory speech last night in Chicago – but in such a way that wealthier Americans would face the increased tax burden.

Resolving that very open question could prove the key to resolving – or exacerbating – the fiscal impasse that has plagued Washington for the better part of the last two years.

Romney never overcame bailout opposition

“Shoring up entitlements and reforming the tax code – closing special interest loopholes and deductions, and moving to a fairer, simpler system – will bring jobs home and result in a stronger, healthier economy,” Boehner said during a Wednesday afternoon statement on Capitol Hill.

By the same token, the speaker suggested that a deal was untenable during the coming lame-duck Congress, calling for a “down payment” on fiscal reform that would give both parties ample space to negotiate in early 2013.

Full national election results

Boehner’s words reflected the immediacy of the challenge before lawmakers in the coming weeks if they are to successfully avoid the “fiscal cliff,” the nickname for the automatic tax hikes and spending cuts set to spring into place at the beginning of next year.

Economists have warned that this combination, the byproduct of legislative gridlock on issues of tax and spending during the last two years, would imperil the economic recovery in the U.S.

The election on Tuesday maintained Republican control of the House, Democratic control of the Senate and, Obama’s control of the White House – the same basic makeup of government that produced gridlock on fiscal issues for the past two years.

The White House said Wednesday that Obama, just hours after securing re-election, phoned leaders of both parties in the House and the Senate. During those call, the president “reiterated his commitment to finding bipartisan solutions to: reduce our deficit in a balanced way, cut taxes for middle class families and small businesses and create jobs.”

But as Boehner called for more time to address the looming fiscal crisis, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid suggested he was disinclined to extend the timeline for reaching a deal.

“I’m not for kicking the can down the road. I think we’ve done that far too much,” he said at a press conference on Capitol Hill. “Waiting for a month, six weeks, six months – that’s not going to solve the problem. We know what needs to be done, so I think we should just roll up our sleeves and get it done.”

First Thoughts: Obama's demographic edge

The dueling statements, though, set the parameters for fiscal talks that are set to dominate political discourse in the coming months.

The fight plays out amid election results that, as Vice President Joe Biden asserted on Wednesday, provided the administration with a “clear sort of mandate about people coming much closer to our view about how to deal with tax policy.”

Almost two-thirds of voters, according to national exit polls, said “no” when asked whether taxes should be raised to help cut the budget deficit. But 47 percent of voters, a plurality, said that taxes should increase only on those earning more than $250,000 – a centerpiece of Obama’s re-election campaign on which Obama stumped this fall.

Barring any action by Congress, tax rates would spring upward for all income brackets as the 2001 Bush-era tax cuts, which were extended for two years in 2009, expired.

The spending “sequester,” established by Congress during the 2011 debt ceiling deal as an incentive for lawmakers to reach a compromise budgetary solution, is also set to take effect at the beginning of next year absent an agreement by Congress. Republicans have grown especially worrisome about the sequester because of the heavy cuts it would make to the defense budget.

As the business of legislating resumes, a key actor in the process could be Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, the former Republican vice presidential nominee who lost Tuesday as Mitt Romney’s running mate. Ryan simultaneously won re-election to Congress, and said Wednesday in a statement that he intends to resume his post as chairman of the House Budget Committee.

ABOARD AIR FORCE TWO - Vice President Joe Biden said Tuesday's election results showed "a clear sort of mandate" in favor of Democratic tax policies advocated by President Barack Obama throughout the campaign this year.

Following a decisive Electoral College victory, Biden suggested Republicans would take some time to engage in "soul searching" on issues like immigration and fiscal policy.

Matt Rourke / AP

Vice President Joe Biden, accompanied by his son Beau Biden, his wife, Hallie and their daughter Natalie, stands in line to cast his ballot at Alexis I. duPont High School, Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2012, in Greenville, Del.

"Barack's re-elected, so this sort of cause to keep a second term from happening is done," Biden told reporters aboard Air Force Two. "He's there for four years. So ... I hope there's going to be some real soul-searching about, on Republican Party, about what they're willing to cooperate on."

Biden said there is "all kinds of potential to be able to compromise" on the looming fiscal cliff but argued that the election results showed "a clear sort of Mandate about people coming much closer to our view about how to deal with tax policy." 

Saying that the GOP ticket's defeat among minority groups should serve as "a wake up call" to Republicans on immigration reform, Biden said the time is ripe for compromise.

"I feel very optimistic about, in my view, immigration reform," he added. "Because as we talked about with most of the Hispanic communities I spoke with over the last month, it played a major role [in Romney's defeat.]"

Biden, who predicted the strong electoral victory for Democrats, conceded that he did not expect the race to be called as quickly as it was last night.

"It was much earlier than at least I thought we'd know what the outcome was," he said. "It felt good."

CLINTON, Iowa -- Republican vice presidential hopeful Paul Ryan sought to add some specifics to Mitt Romney's proposals on Tuesday amid criticism that the GOP ticket hadn't fully detailed its plans.

Responding to a woman's question about why Ryan wouldn't answer a question this past Sunday on Fox News about the Romney-Ryan tax plan's math, Ryan argued the television format didn't give him enough time.

Kevin Schmidt / AP

Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan speaks to a crowd in Clinton, Iowa Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2012.

“When you get into math conversation, it can take a little while. Let me give you some specific answers right now,” the Wisconsin congressman said early Tuesday morning standing outside the Clinton County Courthouse. He continued to tick through their 5-point plan for a strong middle class including about energy, education, trade.

“The problem is, it just took me about 5 minutes to go into all of this with you and when you are on a 30-second TV show, you can’t do it as much. But the point is, go to our website, you can see all this,” Ryan said after a several minute riff about their policies. “Mitt Romney has put more specifics, more details about how to grow the economy, about how to save Medicare, Social Security, about how to prevent the debt crisis than the incumbent President of the United States has.”

President Obama’s re-election campaign shot back at these claims in a statement.

"Congressman Ryan can't attend his own campaign rallies without being called out for failing to provide specifics about what Mitt Romney would do if elected. That's because just one day before the first debate, Mitt Romney has refused to say which deductions he'd cut for the middle class in order to pay for his $250,000 tax cuts for multi-millionaires,” spokesman Danny Kanner wrote. “And he's refused to say how he'd replace Obamacare or Wall Street reform to protect middle class families or prevent the big banks from writing their own rules again. They won't share those details with the country because they know that the details are bad for middle class Americans.”

Ryan’s stop here along the Mississippi River was a homecoming for his wife, Janna, and her two sisters and father, who joined at the event in Eastern Iowa. Prudence Petersen Little, Janna’s mother, moved to a house in Clinton when she was very young and Janna’s grandmother remained in the home until 2004.

The Ryans stopped by the red-painted home following the town hall here to meet with the new owners and the three Little girls reminisced on memories of visiting when they were growing up.

The congressman finishes off Tuesday in the Hawkeye State with two more events in Muscatine and Burlington.

Mitt Romney argued Sunday that voters should have enough of a sense of his principles to have confidence in how he'd handle the nitty-gritty details of taxes, spending and health care as president.

The Republican presidential nominee, appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press," argued his plan to cut taxes squares with his vow to achieve a balanced budget by the end of a second hypothetical term, even though achieving those two goals would seem difficult, if not incongruent.

"My tax policy is designed to find a way to encourage more hiring in this country. I'm very concerned that we have 23 million people that are out of work or stopped looking for work or under-employed," Romney told moderator David Gregory. "So everything I want to do with regards to taxation follows simple principles, which is bring our rates down to encourage growth, keep revenue up by limiting deductions and exemptions and make sure we don't put any bigger burden on middle income people. In fact, I want to lower the burden on middle income people."

But Romney has been dogged by criticism that his plan lacks specifics, thereby making it difficult to conceive of how he would be able to reasonably achieve his agenda. 

Romney's tax plan calls for making a 20 percent, across-the-board cut to marginal tax rates while keeping most existing taxes on investment the same (and cutting investment taxes altogether for households earning less than $200,000.) The former Massachusetts governor has argued that if "we limit or eliminate some of the loopholes and deductions at the high end," he could maintain current levels of tax revenue while also stimulating growth.

Related: Romney: President & GOP leaders made 'big mistake' on defense cuts

But, pressed for specifics, Romney resisted, and said his "principles" make up the details of his policy.

"The specifics are these, which is those principles I described are the heart of my policy," he said. "And I've indicated as well that — contrary to what the Democrats are saying — I'm not going to increase the tax burden on middle income families.  It would absolutely be wrong to do that."

The opacity of some of Romney's proposals has invited plenty of scrutiny from Democrats, including President Barack Obama, who seized upon Romney's tax proposals in his convention speech on Thursday.

"When Gov. Romney and his friends in Congress tell us we can somehow lower our deficits by spending trillions more on new tax breaks for the wealthy, well — what'd Bill Clinton call it? You do the arithmetic. You do the math," the president said in Charlotte.

Brian Snyder / Reuters

Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney talks briefly with reporters after stopping to buy two pizzas at Lui-Lui restaurant in West Lebanon, New Hampshire September 5, 2012.

Romney shot back Sunday: "I want to make sure people understand, despite what the Democrats said at their convention, I am not reducing taxes on high income taxpayers."

Speaking of those conventions, Romney said he has emerged in a "better spot" for his campaign by spending a week better familiarizing voters with his personality and record. And the GOP nominee pounced on Friday's anemic jobs report as further evidence as to why voters should back him. 

"It is a jobless recovery, if it's a recovery at all," Romney said of the pace of the recovery. "If President Obama is re-elected you're not going to see our unemployment picture change dramatically. You're not going to see us create the jobs we need to create or the rising incomes people need."

The economy joins the issues of taxes and spending as top problems a President Romney would be forced to confront almost immediately upon taking office. Current tax rates will automatically spring upward at the beginning of 2013 absent another extension of the so-called "Bush tax cuts," or some other kind of substitute comprehensive tax reform. And a series of automatic spending cuts stipulated by the 2011 debt ceiling deal will take place in January unless Congress makes steps to undo them.

Those looming issues are linked in large part to partisan discord in Congress, a phenomenon that might not be broken with this year's elections. Internal divisions within the GOP, pitting conservatives who have pushed for deeper cuts against their party's leadership, have additionally complicated dealmaking on Capitol Hill.

As president, Romney said he would seek out compromise, but not in such a way that it would contravene his principles.

"There's nothing wrong with the term compromise, but there is something very wrong with the term abandoning one's principles," he said. "And I'm going to stand by my principles. And those are I am not going to raise taxes on the American people."

Those governing principles extend to health care, a hot-button issue this election which Romney has vowed to tackle if elected.

The GOP nominee has vowed, for instance, to repeal Obama's signature health care law and replace it with his own series of reforms. But that doesn't mean that some of the more popular elements of "Obamacare" would necessarily go away, Romney said.

"I'm not getting rid of all of health care reform. Of course there are a number of things that I like in healthcare reform that I'm going to put in place," said Romney. "One is to make sure that those with pre-existing conditions can get coverage. Two is to assure that the marketplace allows for individuals to have policies that cover their family up to whatever age they might like. I also want individuals to be able to buy insurance, health insurance, on their own as opposed to only being able to get it on a tax advantage basis through their company."

Romney also spoke to the issue of foreign policy, a topic on which he scarcely touched at his convention speech in Tampa. Romney said that Obama has "had some successes and he's had some failure," an example of the latter being the president's handling of Iran.

"President Obama had a policy of engagement with Ahmadinejad.  That policy has not worked and we're closer to a nuclear weapon as a result of that," he said.

Romney said he would handle it differently by more aggressively pursuing diplomacy and sanctions, while also maintaining a military option.

"We need to use every resource we have to dissuade them from their nuclear path. But that doesn't mean that we would take off the table our military option. That's something which certainly every American would hope we would never have to use," Romney said. "But we have to maintain it on the table or Iran will, undoubtedly, continue their treacherous course."

President Barack Obama on Wednesday became the first commander in chief to appear on the website that bills itself as "the front page of the Internet," drowning it in traffic and offering responses to 10 of over 10,000 comments and questions submitted.

Click here for the Reddit chat

Becoming the first president to use the popular Internet meme-engine and news hub Reddit Wednesday, Barack Obama's "Ask Me Anything" appearance caused the site to crash repeatedly.

See related: Obama does first presidential 'ask me anything' chat on Reddit

He took questions ranging from one about money in politics (he proposed a constitutional amendment to overturn the Citizens United case that green-lighted super PACs) to one on small-business measures (he plugged his tax and jobs plans) to the beer being brewed in the White House ("It is tasty!")

But, while some of those questions were among the most "upvoted" or highly rated by Reddit users, many of the forum's more provocative and popular questions went unanswered; for example, questions about the administration's failure to close Guantanamo Bay, its embrace of drones for national security operations, and the war on drugs did not receive a response

Obama opened the Internet Q&A session with condolences for the victims of the ongoing storm in the gulf region. "I do want to say that our thoughts and prayers are with folks who are dealing with Hurricane Isaac in the Gulf," he typed. "And to let them know that we are going to be coordinating with state and local officials to make sure that we give families everything they need to recover."

President Barack Obama deflected Republican criticism of his campaign's negativity, challenging general election opponent Mitt Romney: "You can't just make stuff up."

In an impromptu press conference at the White House, the president said his own campaign's television and radio advertisements against the presumptive Republican presidential nominee never crossed the line.

Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP

President Barack Obama speaks in the White House briefing room in Washington Aug. 20.

"If you look at the overall trajectory of the campaign and the ads that I have approved and that are produced by my campaign, you'll see that we point out sharp differences between the candidates, but we don't go out of bounds," Obama said.

Some of the sharpest instances of negativity during the 2012 campaign -- Vice President Joe Biden's comment before a mixed-race audience that Republicans and Wall Street would "put y'all back in chains" -- prompted Romney to condemn Obama for running a "campaign of division and anger and hate."

Campaigning with running mate Paul Ryan on Monday in New Hampshire, Romney accused the Obama campaign of lying by saying his tax plan would result in higher taxes.

"It seems that the first victim of an Obama campaign is the truth, and it has been sad and disappointing," Romney said.

The Obama campaign's assertion was based on a nonpartisan tax group's analysis that middle class families would effectively face a higher tax burden if Romney eliminated many popular deductions as part of his comprehensive tax reform.

The former Massachusetts governor's grievances don't end there, either. The Romney campaign was particularly incensed by an ad produced by Priorities USA, a pro-Obama super PAC, which suggests a man's wife died from cancer because he lost his insurance after was laid off from his job at a company owned by Bain Capital, the private equity firm founded by Romney.

"I don't think that Gov. Romney is somehow responsible for the death of the woman that was portrayed in that ad. But keep in mind: this is an ad that I didn't approve, I did not produce, and, as far as I can tell, has barely run -- I think it ran once," Obama said.

But the president also challenged Romney's own advertising on welfare, which assert that Obama had "gutted" the centerpiece of the 1995 welfare reform law, which tied benefits to seeking work.

"You've got Gov. Romney creating as a centerpiece of his campaign this notion that we're taking [the] work requirement out of welfare, which every single person here who's looked at it says is patently false," Obama said. "They can run the campaign that they want, but the truth of the matter is, you can't just make stuff up."

The president's comments Monday come as POLITICO published a new e-book describing internal tension in the Obama campaign regarding the trajectory of the re-election campaign, and how the sharper edges of Obama's 2012 effort square with the more optimistic banner of "hope and change" in 2008.

Republicans have sought to make an issue of disillusionment with Obama's shift; the Republican National Committee produced an ad last week accusing the president of running a campaign of "anger and division."

But the president said he was satisfied with the manner of his campaign.

"I feel very comfortable with the fact that, when you look at the campaign we're running, we are focused on the issues and differences that matter to middle class families all across America," Obama said. "And that's exactly the kind of debate the American people deserve."

Updated 12:41 p.m. - GREER, S.C. -- Mitt Romney said Thursday that he had never paid less than a 13 percent effective tax rate after reviewing his returns from the past decade.

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee did not pledge to release any additional returns beyond what he had previously pledged, but essentially quashed rumors that he paid no taxes at some point.

Evan Vucci / AP

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney arrives at Birmingham International Airport, Ala., before boarding a plane for fundraising events Aug. 16.

"Given the challenges that America faces -- 23 million people out of work, Iran about to become nuclear, one out of six Americans in poverty, -- the fascination with the taxes I paid I find to be very small-minded compared to the broad issues we face," Romney told reporters gathered for a press conference at the Greer airport in South Carolina, where Romney had just arrived to attend a fundraiser.

"I did go back and look at my taxes, and, over the past 10 years, I never paid less than 13 percent," he said, later adding: "Every year, I paid at least 13 percent, and if you add in, in addition, the amount that goes to charity, the number gets well above 20 percent."

But the former Bain Capital executive has been dogged by accusations -- principally from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) -- that he had skirted paying taxes.

"Harry Reid's charge is totally false. I'm sure waiting for Harry to put up who it was who told him what he says they told him. I don't believe him for a minute, by the way," Romney said.

Romney has released his tax returns from 2010, which reflected that he paid a 14 percent effective tax rate. This was because most of his income came from investments, which are taxed at a lower rate than employment income.

Democrats have highlighted the discrepancy between investment and employment income in making their case for comprehensive tax reform in which the wealthiest Americans would face a higher tax burden.

The former Massachusetts governor has vowed to make public his 2011 tax returns before Election Day, but Romney has strenuously resisted making any of his other returns public.

“In the end, Mitt Romney did what many experienced politicos believed he would not do. He went bold,” the Boston Globe’s Johnson writes, adding that Romney “tempted comparisons to the ill-fated 2008 selection of Sarah Palin by nominating a candidate largely untested on the national stage.”

More: “But most importantly, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee signaled to the Democrats that if they want a base war for control of the Oval Office, one that will pit President Obama and liberal Democrats against Mitt Romney and social and fiscal conservatives, they are going to get it during the next three months.”

Tom DeFrank on the pick of Ryan: “Another game-changer, without the catastrophic Sarah Palin overtones.” He also calls Ryan the “Republican Party’s fiscal theologian… Ryan is a sane, sensible, steady pick. But still a serious gamble.”

More: “While Ryan is a serious, intelligent guy, nothing in his background really suggests he's ready to be President tomorrow. His selection creates a ticket of two plain-vanilla guys with zero foreign policy experience. (Romney aides say that's irrelevant - the election will be won or lost on the economy.)

And his draconian budget plan provides a convenient foil for Obama strategists eager to wage ‘MediScare’ warfare this fall.” He also notes that Romney “has failed to present a clear vision of his own beyond shopworn platitudes.” So he adopted Ryan.

“President Obama’s reelection campaign on Sunday accused Mitt Romney of tax-related hypocrisies in his vice presidential search and his eventual selection of Wisconsin Representative Paul Ryan,” the Boston Globe writes. Because Ryan would eliminate capital gains in his plan, Romney would pay nearly zero in taxes because that’s where almost all of Romney’s income came from.

Romney is against zeroing out cap gains. He said so in a debate earlier this year and pointed out that he would essentially pay nothing if that were the case.

Tim Pawlenty was on ABC’s This Week where he said he provided “several years” of tax returns to Romney. “I gave him a bunch of tax returns, I don’t remember the exact number of years.”

But remember, there’s more to being a heartbeat away from the presidency than fiscal issues – what about social issues and foreign policy? The New York Times today looks at Ryan’s very conservative social policy: “Though best known as an architect of conservative fiscal policy, Representative Paul D. Ryan has also been an ardent, unwavering foe of abortion rights, has tried to cut off federal money for family planning, has opposed same-sex marriage and has championed the rights of gun owners.”

More: “In nearly 14 years as a Republican congressman from Wisconsin, Mr. Ryan has not only voted for legislation that would cut off federal money for Planned Parenthood and the Title X family planning program, but also backed bills to establish criminal penalties for certain doctors who perform the procedure known as partial-birth abortion.” But: “in a break with many members of his party, Mr. Ryan voted in 2007 for a bill that would prohibit employment discrimination based on sexual orientation.”

Speaking of heart beats… the New York Times also writes: For two years, Tea Party lawmakers in the House have been the stubborn barbarians at the gate, strong-arming their often reluctant Republican colleagues by refusing to compromise on spending, taxes, debt or social policy. But Representative Paul D. Ryan’s ascendancy to the No. 2 spot on the Republican ticket is a signal event for a movement that counts him as one of their own. If Mitt Romney wins in November, a Tea Party favorite will be a heartbeat from the Oval Office.”

Reuters: “[A]lthough U.S. voters overwhelmingly cite economic issues as their main concern, they also want reassurance that their leaders can execute the role of commander-in-chief. Introducing Ryan on Saturday, Romney said his new running mate was ready. But Democrats are already aiming at what they say is a dearth of national security experience on the Republican ticket.” And: “Even as he has championed huge cuts in government spending, Ryan has been protective of the Pentagon's budget, those in the defense community say.”

Ryan voted yes on the Iraq war, no on removing troops from Afghanistan and Iraq

The Romney campaign is looking to fill in his foreign policy for him, assigning Dan Senor to him, Maggie Haberman reports.

The Seattle Times: “Like many in politics, when his party’s in power, his budget philosophy differs dramatically from when the other folks are in the White House. For example, he voted yes on President Bush’s expansion of Medicare’s drug benefit. In 2005, the Washington Post reported that the White House had revised its estimated costs of the program: ‘[T]he new Medicare prescription drug benefit will cost more than $1.2 trillion in the coming decade, a much higher price tag than President Bush suggested when he narrowly won passage of the law in late 2003…. As recently as September, Medicare chief Mark B. McClellan said the new drug package would cost $534 billion over 10 years.’ As Bruce Bartlett noted in 2009, “the drug benefit had no dedicated financing, no offsets and no revenue-raisers; 100% of the cost simply added to the federal budget deficit.” Now Ryan said he’d take a different tack.”

And: “Back in 2005, Bush was arguing for private accounts. Ryan introduced a bill that would have “create[d] new private accounts funded entirely by borrowing, with no benefit cuts!” but at the time the Bush administration had concerns about it and deemed it ‘irresponsible.’” Get this: Ryan voted against Democrats’ push to make “new spending or new tax cuts … offset by revenue increases or spending decreases.” He also “voted ‘yes’ for TARP, Economic Stimulus HR 5140, the $15 billion bailout for GM and Chrysler.”

Tax shenanigans… The Boston Globe: “It is one of the most striking elements of Mitt Romney’s financial fortune. He has used the seemingly bland investment vehicle known as an individual retirement account — established by Congress to help average Americans save a modest amount for retirement — to shield at least $20 million and as much as $100 million from initial taxes.”

More: “Romney has not provided details about how his IRA grew so large. But Romney associates with direct knowledge about the matter said Bain Capital partners used their IRAs as a pool of investment money, enabling them to make personal investments in Bain deals, many of which earned spectacular returns. Much as a lower-dollar investor might pick mutual funds for an IRA, the Bain partners could make side investments in the firm’s deals and then watch as their retirement funds grew. … critics are questioning whether Romney went too far in deferring or avoiding taxes by his use of an IRA, noting that Congress has put limits on contributions to prevent too much income from being shielded from taxation.”

The Tampa Bay Times’ editorial board rips Romney’s tax plan, based on the Tax Policy Center’s analysis: “The numbers speak volumes about the Romney campaign's priorities. While President Barack Obama is proposing that taxes rise on the wealthiest Americans by letting the Bush tax cuts lapse only for those with incomes of $250,000 or more, Romney would flip that formula and give further breaks to the nation's millionaires, people who are already paying the lowest effective tax rate in 60 years.”

And: “If he has a dispute with the results, he needs to provide specifics on just how he will provide massive tax relief to those at the top without adding to the tax burdens of average people.”

Here’s a tough ad, which claims that Romney “pay less, you pay more,” that his plan would raise taxes on all but the rich, and the Washington Post’s fact checker calls it accurate: “This ad is tough, but we cannot fault the accuracy of its key points. To some extent, the Romney campaign has been hoist with its own petard by refusing to provide sufficient detail that shows how the numbers add up in Romney’s tax and budget plans. So we are left with the judgment of a respected and independent third party. We hold campaign ads to a high standard, particularly attack ads. If Romney releases the missing details, and a new analysis finds that Romney can meet the stated goals of his tax plan, then we can certainly revisit this analysis. But, until then, for the first time in this frequently nasty campaign, we award a rare Geppetto Checkmark for a campaign ad.”

Priorities USA is up with an ad hitting Romney for the closing of a steel plant that led to a man and his family not being able to afford health insurance, and the man’s wife died of cancer.

The New York Times looks at the swing vote of unmarried women: “Single women are one of the country’s fastest-growing demographic groups — there are 1.8 million more now than just two years ago. They make up a quarter of the voting-age population nationally, and even more in several swing states, including Nevada. And though they lean Democratic — in a recent New York Times/CBS News poll, single women favored Mr. Obama over his Republican rival, Mitt Romney, by 29 points — they are also fickle about casting their ballots, preoccupied with making ends meet and alienated from a political system they say is increasingly deaf to their concerns. But the Obama campaign, needing their support to offset traditional Republican strength among married women, is lavishing attention on them.”

Gallup says Obama’s getting fewer 2008 voters than Romney is from the Republican side. Well, yeah. That’s why this is a close election. 2008 was an electoral landslide.

An unsubstantiated claim by the Senate's top Democrat that Mitt Romney paid no taxes for a decade continues to dog the presumptive GOP nominee as liberal groups and other Democrats line up behind the assertion.

The Romney campaign is struggling to move past the claim, first made last week by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who cited an unnamed source in asserting that Romney won't release his taxes because he paid no taxes for 10 years.

And now fellow Democrats are jumping into the fray.

Charles Dharapak / AP

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney pays for a sandwich at Stepto's BBQ Shack in Evansville, Ind.

"Harry Reid made a statement that is true. Somebody told him. It is a fact," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told the Huffington Post on Monday in support of Reid.

The Senate majority leader's initial comment last week (also to the Huffington Post) and his subsequent refusal to back off the assertion have prompted reprisals from angry Republicans.

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Preibus called Reid a “dirty liar” on Fox News this morning.  And Romney himself challenged Reid to "put up or shut up" on Friday, when he additionally said he'd paid "a lot" of taxes each and every year.

But short of assailing Reid -- in especially personal terms – Romney and the GOP have found it difficult to move the campaign narrative back to jobs and the economy with headlines about his taxes dominating coverage. Moreover, Romney seems mostly unmoved by the public clamor for his taxes; he has offered no indication that he plans to release records beyond the 2010 records he's already made public, and the 2011 returns he's promised to release.

In the meanwhile, the progressive cavalry has rushed in to Reid’s defense.

"Romney's secretive behavior in hiding his tax returns raises questions about if he actually did pay any taxes or if he had enough corporate loopholes to avoid paying his fair share," said Nevada AFL-CIO executive secretary-treasurer Danny Thompson.  "Our members pay their fair share every day - Romney could learn what it really means to support your country from their leadership example. If Romney paid taxes, then let's see it."

"I don't know who Harry Reid's source was, but I do know that this is a question that has swirled around Mitt Romney for this entire campaign," Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said Sunday on ABC, only stoking the speculative cloud surrounding Romney. "I do know that he could clear it up just like that, lickety-split, by releasing his tax returns."

Romney is nearing his announcement of a running mate, an occasion the GOP candidate is expected to parlay into some sort of campaign swing introducing the VP pick to voters. His campaign is hoping this announcement and the eventual Republican National Convention during the last week of this month will help the campaign move past these questions about taxes.

But reporting this weekend has suggested that Reid, a longtime tactician who’s given to aggravating political adversaries with these types of assertions, takes great relish in his role as attack dog.

It’s one Reid might also cheerfully resume after the vice presidential rollout, as long as Romney’s tax returns remain mostly undisclosed.