Free Republic

WASHINGTON — President Obama on Monday will call for a new minimum tax rate for individuals making more than $1 million a year to ensure that they pay at least the same percentage of their earnings as middle-income taxpayers, according to administration officials. With a special joint Congressional committee starting work to reach a bipartisan budget deal by late November, the proposal adds a new and populist feature to Mr. Obama’s effort to raise the political pressure on Republicans to agree to higher revenues from the wealthy in return for Democrats’ support of future cuts from Medicare and Medicaid. Mr....

ASPEN, Col. — Bill Clinton thinks Mitt Romney is much improved from his last presidential run, admits he kind of likes Jon Huntsman, and says Michele Bachmann is looking like “a better candidate" than he thought. ... “But, y’know, I like the governors: I like Huntsman and Romney. Romney’s a MUCH better candidate than he was last time, because he’s not apologizing for signing the health-care bill. He’s got another creative way of saying we oughta repeal Obamacare, but that’s prob’ly the price of gettin’ the nomination. “Huntsman hasn’t said what he’s for yet, but I just kinda like him....

SECRETARY OF STATE Hillary Rodham Clinton is more popular than President Obama, the onetime rival who grudgingly dubbed her “likable enough’’ on the New Hampshire campaign trail. According to a new Gallup poll, 66 percent of those surveyed have a favorable view of Clinton, giving her a higher rating than the president (54 percent favorable) or vice president (46 percent favorable). The Gallup poll was conducted from March 25 to 27, while the United States was actively involved in its controversial Libya mission; other polling is even more negative about Obama. As Libya goes, so goes Obama, and Clinton, too....