Obama, Romney Advisers Trade Barbs On Priorities

The Associated Press: Advisers in Presidential Campaign Talk Taxes
Campaign advisers to President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney say the general election will offer competing visions of how to help the middle class. Romney adviser Ed Gillespie says the most important thing to do is to foster job creation, and the best way to do that is through policies that promote free enterprise. ... Obama adviser David Axelrod says Romney essentially is calling for more tax cuts for the wealthy while making reductions to safety net programs such as Medicaid (4/15).

The Hill: Axelrod Defends Obama Attacks On GOP Budget, Tax Reform As 'Legitimate' Critique
In a "Fox News Sunday" interview, Axelrod hit Republicans for trying to lower taxes for the wealthy, cutting Medicaid and not offering tax offsets. "This is not the direction our country should go, so of course we're going to critique that," Axelrod said. "That's part of the process and it's a legitimate one" (Herb, 4/15).

Politico: Bachmann: Rosen's Comments 'Insulting'
(Rep. Michele) Bachmann and (Sen. Kirsten) Gillibrand (on "Meet the Press") then engaged in a sharp exchange over Romney and President Barack Obama and their party's respective records affecting women, growing particularly tense over the issue of contraception (Raju, 4/15).