Residents debate "barrel tax" in Jack Daniel's hometown

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By Tim Ghianni

NASHVILLE, Tenn | Sun Oct 23, 2011 4:40pm EDT

NASHVILLE, Tenn (Reuters) - A lot more is smoldering in Lynchburg, Tennessee than this weekend's Jack Daniel's World Championship Invitational Barbecue.

Home to makers of the Tennessee sipping whiskey, Lynchburg is embroiled in a debate over whether they should be subject to a barrel tax to pay for what proponents are calling necessary infrastructure improvements.

Opponents of the proposal say the company does plenty already for the city and for Moore County.

"I'm opposed to it because I don't think that any government or any government entity should go after any corporation for a special tax just because they are very successful," said Kenneth Fly, owner of the Bar-B-Que Caboose.

He noted there were more than 20,000 tourists in town this weekend for what some call the Super Bowl of barbecue competitions.

"These people are spending this money and bringing tax money into this county because of this Jack Daniel's Barbecue, and the park is on land donated by Jack Daniel's," he said.

"They don't need to be the Sugar Daddy for the county."

Charles Rogers, a 76-year-old Moore County native who left for a career as a corporate executive before returning, is pushing for the right of residents to vote on whether Jack Daniel's should be subject to a barrel tax.

Rogers first raised the issue with the city council in 2007, but it was defeated.

This year the council approved a resolution asking its General Assembly delegation to introduce a private act that would enable Moore County residents to vote on such a tax.

Rogers said he thinks the distillery should pay for using the area's bucolic images to sell its product, images that have boosted tourism but put stress on the infrastructure.

If state lawmakers allowed a private act, it would take signatures from registered voters equal to 10 percent of the vote in the last presidential election to get the barrel tax proposal on the ballot.

Rogers argues it's worth the effort for improvements to area schools as well as the roads and bridges that are heavily used by tourists.

"When I moved back down here, I looked at the county's needs. Our sewage plant is on the verge of collapse," Rogers said.

(Reporting by Tim Ghianni; Editing by David Bailey and Ellen Wulfhorst)

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What To Look For In Tonight’s GOP Debate

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The Republican presidential candidates resume their debates tonight in New Hampshire, and each contender will have something important to prove. All in all, it could be a rough-and-tumble affair. Here’s what to look for:

Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts and the front runner in many polls, is expected to face criticism of his flip-flopping on issues, ranging from abortion to gay rights, and for his controversial health-care overhaul in his home state. Romney has been trying to base his campaign on his expertise as a businessman who rescued shaky companies and knows how to create jobs. But his rivals will try to throw him off message and divert his attention to social issues, where many Republicans don't think he has been consistently conservative. The debate moderators are also likely to quiz him about his Mormon faith, which was criticized as a "cult" by an evangelical leader over the weekend.

[See a collection of political cartoons on the 2012 GOP hopefuls.]

Texas Gov. Rick Perry has been hammered by other candidates for his views on illegal immigration because he signed a bill granting in-state tuition to illegal immigrants at public colleges and universities in Texas. He also has been criticized for claiming that Texas has been a powerful job creator under his leadership, while his rivals say the state actually benefited from government and military hiring and the private-sector employment that was generated tended to be low-wage jobs. A bright spot for Perry was his announcement last week that his campaign raised $17 million in the latest quarter, tops among all the candidates for that time period. A big question: Can he improve his weak debate performances up to now?

Businessman Herman Cain won a Florida straw poll last month and surged in the polls to the top tier where he has joined Romney and Perry. Last week, he came in second at a "values voters" conference in Washington. Cain is a powerful public speaker, but he lacks experience in public office and has a skeleton organization around the country, is lagging in fund-raising, and has yet to show that he has staying power. These issues are likely to come up in the debate.

Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota's star has dimmed since she won an Iowa straw poll several weeks ago. She has made some intemperate and controversial remarks since then, and has dropped in the polls. She can be a skilled debater, however, and will attempt to show that she is a serious first-tier candidate. Bachmann will also try to appeal to supporters in the Tea Party who have switched to Perry or Cain.

[View photos of Michele Bachmann.]

Rep. Ron Paul of Texas could get another boost from the debate because his libertarian views, such as his criticism of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, differ so starkly from those of the other candidates. This makes his bold positions stand out. His goal will be to widen his appeal beyond hard-core libertarians. He won the straw poll at the "values voters" conference in Washington last weekend.

Other candidates, including former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and former Gov. Jon Huntsman of Utah, will try to break from the pack and elbow their way into the top tier.

Tonight's debate is sponsored by the Washington Post and Bloomberg News.

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Herman Cain Sees Fundraising Uptick Off Debate, Straw Poll

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Herman Cain is picking up steam this week, but it still remains to be seen whether he can take his five minutes of fame and use them to catapult himself into the top tier of GOP candidates.

Cain's team started noticing new fundraising success, they said, after his performance in last week's GOP debate. Cain's press team tweeted Saturday, before he won the straw poll, that Cain had fundraised more money in the 48 hours following the debate then he had in the entirety of his campaign. After winning the non-binding straw poll in Florida, however, the money kept pouring in with Cain's staff tweeting Sunday " WOW! Got word that our main donation page is slow due to excessive traffic!"

[Vote: Herman Cain vs. Morgan Freeman: Is the Tea Party Racist?]

By Monday morning his staff tweeted that they'd outdone themselves again reporting more contributions in three days then during the whole of the campaign. Notably, however, the campaign has refused to divulge any specific fundraising figures.

"I can say we have been raising several hundreds of thousands of dollars daily and gotten thousands of new donors," Cain's spokesperson Ellen Carmichael says.

Indeed, Republican consultant Matt Mackowiak says with the financial quarter ending Sept. 30, it's unlikely Cain will emerge as a frontrunner financially when quarterly reports are released in mid-October.

"Cain may not be able to fully take advantage of the straw poll victory and the notoriety that comes with it," Mackowiak says. "It takes time to plan a fundraising event where you can get chunks of money and you can't take advantage of that before this quarter ends." [See who's in and who's out of the 2012 GOP race.]

Carmichael says Cain isn't expecting to touch Mitt Romney's level of fundraising, but does believe Cain will do much better than many anticipate.

Regardless, Herman Cain trended second in Google searches Saturday and he scored some important meetings including one with Donald Trump, who ran briefly for the GOP nomination and has since reserved most of his time for candidates considered front-runners. Trump also met with Texas Gov. Rick Perry last month and met with former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney on Monday.

Cain's official calendar initially didn't have anything scheduled for this week, but after his victory that certainly changed. Cain's Monday was booked with an appearances on the Today Show on NBC followed by spots on CNN's American Morning, CNN Newsroom, Neal Boortz's radio show, Dennis Miller radio program, where the host endorsed Cain and promised to headline a fundraising event for him, America Live with Megyn Kelly on Fox News, Sean Hannity's radio program and On the Record with Greta Van Susteren.

The surge of attention is exactly what he needed to stay in the race he said on Today. Cain also admitted that he thought about dropping out of the GOP race for the presidential nomination, and while he isn't counting on a victory yet, he is feeling reinvigorated to move forward.

Even more evidence that he's making moves? The Hermanator has been leaking into pop culture. Over the weekend, the former CEO of Godfather's Pizza, along with all the other major GOP candidates, was spoofed on Saturday Night Live as saying he'd "deliver". [Read: Herman Cain Would Have Dethroned Burger King Sooner.]

"I am using that line on the next debate," Cain said on the Dennis Miller show Monday morning.

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Slow and Steady, Romney Gains on Perry in GOP Debate

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Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney didn't exactly wow observers of Thursday night's GOP debate, and he didn't exactly disappoint them, either. Romney has always had trouble connecting with voters and shaking off his white-collar image, but the two-time presidential candidate has learned how to hold his own on camera and deflect potshots from opponents, while also making a few deft stabs of his own. Thursday night, he even got a few off-the-cuff jokes in.

But with the conservative, Tea Party oriented side of the GOP divided, and Texas Gov. Rick Perry failing to impress, Romney's path to the nomination is looking brighter.

As expected, Romney and Perry continued to tussle on Romney's Massachusetts healthcare law, Social Security, and immigration. Romney kept up his attacks on Perry, accusing him of flip-flopping on whether Social Security needs to be reformed or abolished. "There's a Rick Perry out there that is saying—and almost to quote—it says that the federal government shouldn't be in the pension business, that it's unconstitutional," Romney said. "So you better find that Rick Perry and get him to stop saying that." Perry returned fire by blasting the healthcare overhaul law Romney passed in Massachusetts. Romney didn't break new ground—he raised points he's raised in several previous debates—but his onslaught, along with shots at the Perry from others on the stage, got the Texas governor on the defensive, and highlighted his still-muddled positions on Social Security and economic recovery. He's still taking shots from most of the field of candidates, and the beating took a toll as the debate wore on. A puzzling answer on the threat of nuclear weapons in Pakistan made Perry look unprepared on foreign policy.

[See cartoons about the GOP hopefuls.]

With the Romney-Perry battle becoming familiar, the second-tier candidates may have been one of the big stories of Thursday night's debate. Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann continues to fade, but businessman Herman Cain and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum both gave energetic performances. Santorum likely appealed to conservatives who long for a return to the muscular foreign policy of the Bush years, an uncommon theme in the currently isolationist-minded GOP. "We should be fighting wars to win, not fighting wars for politics," Santorum said, regarding Iraq and Afghanistan. Texas Rep. Ron Paul appealed to his base of libertarian supporters, and is now joined by former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson. But any long-shot candidate gaining ground spells trouble for Perry. Each vote for Bachmann, Cain, Santorum, or one of the other conservative candidates such as former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is a vote which comes from the constituency of conservative Romney skeptics which should be Perry's base. Perry needs a knockout to establish himself as the clear front-runner, and in three debates he's failed to do so.

[See who's in and who's out of the 2012 GOP race.]

Perry also took a beating on immigration, perhaps his weakest spot in the GOP race. But it also may have produced his most memorable line. Defending his position that children who were brought into the country illegally should be able to pay in-state tuition, he excoriated his critics. "If you say that we should not educate children who have come into our state for no other reason than they've been brought there by no fault of their own, I don't think you have a heart," he said. For a moment, Perry looked like the most moderate candidate on the stage. But that may not help him in a GOP primary.

Both Perry and Romney have significant weaknesses. Romney's shift from moderate positions on issues like gay rights, gun control, and gay marriage have left him him branded a flip-flopper, and his healthcare law, similar to Obama's healthcare law, looked like it might have been his fatal flaw this time around. The moderate immigration policies Perry supported as governor aren't necessarily an Achilles heal--Arizona Sen. John McCain won the GOP nomination in 2008 despite his support of the much-reviled McCain-Kennedy immigration bill in 2006. More troubling for Perry is the perception that, overall, he's too extreme to win a national election, and that he's not quite ready for prime-time scrutiny. Thursday night did little to defuse that issue, and Romney still has the most to gain from Perry's failure to launch.

aparker@usnews.com

Twitter: @AlexParkerDC

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Debate Shows GOP 2012 Contest Is a Two-Man Race

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It's hard to say for sure who won Wednesday night's debate. But the debate proved what most polls show, that the 2012 GOP contest is shaping up to be a two-man race, between former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and incumbent Texas Gov. Rick Perry. The two took turns taking shots at each other, while other candidates spent the night trying to get their own jabs in at the duo. While Perry enjoys sizable leads in the polls, Romney still carries the aura as the anointed pick of the party establishment. At this point, it really isn't either man's race to lose.

Romney's clear, competent answers and incisive jabs earned him the "winner" label with most pundits. Perry didn't exactly lose the debate, but he didn't behave like a front-runner, either, and may have disappointed some by failing to seize the moment in his big stage debut.

[See a slideshow of the GOP contenders.]

And the pair's battle over Social Security may have exposed a vulnerability with Perry, whose march to the Republican nomination was beginning to look inevitable. Romney was able to keep Perry on the defensive about comments he made in his book, Fed Up, blasting the program as a "Ponzi scheme." "Our nominee has to be someone who isn't committed to abolishing Social Security, but who is committed to saving Social Security," Romney said. But while the onslaught may have put Perry back on his heels--leaving some to wonder if he hadn't been fully prepared for the question--Perry may have impressed his rock-ribbed conservative base, by refusing to back down from the comments. He sidestepped the "intellectual" discussion of whether founding Social Security 70 years was a good idea, claiming that its current funding structure and future outlook is, indeed, a sham. He said he made no apologies for using "provocative" language. "It is a monstrous lie, it is a Ponzi scheme to tell our kids that are 25 or 30 years old today, 'You're paying into a program that's going to be there,'" Perry said.

[Read Robert Schlesinger: Rick Perry's Double Talk on Social Security and the Constitution.]

As is often the case, the actual daylight between the two candidates' stances is much less stark than the rhetoric. Perry hasn't fully articulated his stance on Social Security in this campaign cycle, but in his book he said he supported a retirement safety net which "will allow individuals to own and control their own retirement." Romney has said he opposes privatizing the Social Security, but would allow enrollees to invest some of their money into the markets, although he also supports trimmed benefits as a way to address projected shortfalls in the program. But Romney clearly believes that setting himself up as a defender of Social Security will aid him with GOP voters who are spooked that their benefits may be in jeopardy.

[See cartoons about the 2012 Republican primary.]

Debates aren't necessarily zero-sum contests with clear winners and clear losers. Candidates hope to achieve different reactions from different audiences. Perry's answers opposing the scientific consensus on man-made climate change, his criticism of Obamacare and the individual mandate, and even his strongly worded blasting of Social Security's future will appeal to the most conservative GOP primary voters. Romney's focus on his business background as the key to unraveling America's economic mess aims to appeal more to voters in the GOP establishment. And the clear distinction he sought to draw between Perry's ideological opposition to Social Security and his own pragmatic desire to save it also aims for this key group. While GOP voters are certainly worried about the size of government, many of them, especially older voters, aren't eager to overhaul America's central entitlement programs. The next few months of the GOP primary could be a battle between pragmatic, issue-based voters supporting Romney, and more passionate conservatives rallying behind Perry.

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Quotes from Republican candidates' Florida debate

RICK PERRY, TEXAS GOVERNOR
On Texas policy to give in-state college tuition fees to the children of illegal immigrants:
"If you say that we should not educate children who have come into our state for no other reason than they've been brought there by no fault of their own, I don't think you have a heart. We need to be educating these children, because they will become a drag on our society."
On creating a better climate for small business:
"What we've done in the state of Texas over the course of the last decade is to lower that tax burden on the small businessmen and women, have a regulatory climate that is fair and predictable and sweeping tort reform that we passed in 2003 that told personal injury trial lawyers, 'Don't come to Texas because you're not going to be suing our doctors frivolously.' ... If it'll work in the state of Texas, it'll work in Washington, D.C."
Accusing Romney of changing positions on issues:
"I think Americans just don't know sometimes which Mitt Romney they're dealing with ... we'll wait until tomorrow and see which Mitt Romney we're talking to tonight."
On Romney's criticism of the Social Security government retirement system:
"Now, it's not the first time that Mitt has been wrong on some issues."
MITT ROMNEY, FORMER MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNOR
On immigration:
"We have to crackdown on employers that hire people that are here illegally. And we have to turn off the magnet of extraordinary government benefits like a $100,000 tax credit -- or, excuse me, discount for going to the University of Texas. That shouldn't be allowed. It makes no sense at all."
On whether he thinks Obama is a socialist:
"Let me tell you the title that I want to hear said about President Obama, and that is: former President Barack Obama. That's the title I want to hear.... What President Obama is, is a big-spending liberal. And he takes his political inspiration from Europe and from the socialist democrats in Europe. Guess what? Europe isn't working in Europe. It's not going to work here."
NEWT GINGRICH, FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER
On what would happen if political gridlock in Washington continues:
"We might as well buy Greek bonds and all go down together."
GARY JOHNSON, FORMER NEW MEXICO GOVERNOR
On Obama's jobs record:
"My next door neighbor's two dogs have created more shovel-ready jobs than this president.'
MICHELE BACHMANN, U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FROM MINNESOTA
On the tax burden:
"Barack Obama seems to think that when we earn money, it belongs to him and we're lucky just to keep a little bit of it. I don't think that at all. I think when people make money, it's their money. Obviously, we have to give money back to the government so that we can run the government, but we have to have a completely different mind-set. And that mind-set is, the American people are the genius of this economy. It certainly isn't government that's the genius."
HERMAN CAIN, BUSINESSMAN
On which federal department he would eliminate:
"If I were forced to eliminate a department, I would start with the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) and start all over. It's out of control. Now, I know that makes some people nervous, but the EPA has gone wild. The fact that they have a regulation that goes into effect January 1, 2012, to regulate dust says that they've gone too far."
RICK SANTORUM, FORMER PENNSYLVANIA SENATOR
On immigration:
"Governor Perry, no one is suggesting up here that the students that are illegal in this country shouldn't be able to go to a college and university.... The point is, why are we subsidizing? Not that they can't go. They can go. They just have to borrow money, find other sources to be able to go. And why should they be given preferential treatment as an illegal in this country?"
(Compiled by JoAnne Allen)

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Perry takes fire on immigration at debate

ORLANDO, Florida | Fri Sep 23, 2011 12:50am EDT
ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - Republican Rick Perry took heavy fire from his rivals over a Texas policy that aids illegal immigrants at a presidential debate on Thursday where he struggled to protect his front-running position.
Texas Governor Perry attempted to change the narrative from two previous debates, where he came under fierce attack from former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and other candidates.
But his competitors accused Perry of coddling illegal immigrants with a Texas policy to allow their children to gain education tuition assistance.
"I would not allow taxpayer-funded benefits to illegal aliens or for their children," said Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann. "That's a magnet. End the magnets for illegal aliens to come into the United States of America."
Other candidates took shots at Tea Party movement favorite Perry over illegal immigration, one of the few issues where he belies his reputation as a staunch conservative.
Perry is ahead in polls of Republicans but his lead is fragile over Romney, who is the choice of many mainstream Republicans. A USA Today/Gallup poll on Wednesday found Perry leading Romney 31 percent to 24 percent among likely Republican voters.
No knockout blows were struck at the debate, and Perry again appeared to flag as the two-hour gathering wore on. A focus group of voters assembled by a debate host, Fox News Channel, declared Romney the winner.
Perry revived old charges that Romney has flip-flopped on key issues from healthcare to education.
"I think Americans just don't know sometimes which Mitt Romney they're dealing with." Perry said. "We'll wait until tomorrow and see which Mitt Romney we're really talking to tonight."
Illegal immigration is a politically charged issue for Republicans, with conservatives wanting stern measures to deal with America's estimated 11 million illegals. Senator John McCain's support for a reform plan in 2007 nearly ended his 2008 presidential bid.
DEFENDS TEXAS PROGRAM
Perry said that as governor of a state with a long border with Mexico, no one had worked harder than he has on border security. He fiercely defended the program as correct for his state, saying to do nothing would leave the immigrant children as a burden.
To those who oppose it, he said, "I don't think you have a heart. We need to be educating these children because they will be a drag on our society."
Republicans increasingly see a good chance to oust Obama from the White House with the U.S. economy struggling to rebound from 9.1 percent unemployment and chronic debt and deficits.
On a day the stock market plunged on fears of renewed recession, the U.S. economy was the top topic and all the candidates promised conservative prescriptions of low taxation and limited regulation to fix it.
The Republicans declared Obama's economic leadership a failure, a point that lesser-known candidate Gary Johnson underscored with a jab that drew guffaws from the audience.
"My next-door neighbor's two dogs have created more shovel-ready jobs than this administration," the former New Mexico governor said during his first debate appearance.
Perry again was forced to defend a Texas policy he ordered to vaccinate adolescent girls against sexually transmitted diseases, but this time he had an answer that attempted to tug at voter heartstrings.
"I got lobbied on this issue. I got lobbied by a 31-year-old young lady who had stage 4 cervical cancer ... And the fact is I erred on the side of life and I will always err on the side of life as a governor and as the president of the United States," he said.
Perry got in plenty of shots at Romney, accusing the former Massachusetts governor of backing an Obama administration education reform known as Race to the Top, and favoring the White House's healthcare reforms.
But Romney managed deft counterpunches and took a high-minded position by declaring Republican candidates may bicker over issues but are united in their goal. He would not repeat a comment he had made in an earlier interview that Perry was not electable.
"Governor Perry and I disagree on some issues," he said. "But one thing's for sure, we all agree that President Obama needs to be former President Obama and we're going to make that happen."
(Additional reporting by Kim Dixon in Orlando and JoAnne Allen in Washington; editing by Alistair Bell and Vicki Allen)

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