Mitt Romney privately raised millions of dollars from New York’s elite on Sunday, as Democrats launched coordinated attacks against the likely Republican presidential nominee, intensifying calls for him to explain offshore bank accounts and release several years of tax returns.
The line of attack, dismissed by the Romney campaign as an “unfounded character assault,’’ follows new reports that raise questions about Romney’s personal wealth, which could exceed $250 million. President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign is expected to push the strategy throughout the coming week, underscoring their desire to portray Romney as disconnected from the middle-class voters he needs to win the presidency.
“He’s the first and only candidate for the president of the United States with a Swiss bank account, with tax shelters, with tax avoidance schemes that involve so many foreign countries,’’ Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.’’ He’s one of several high-profile Democrats who spoke out on the Sunday morning news shows.
Romney may have unintentionally helped the Obama campaign.
Republican donors driving Mercedes, Bentleys — and in one case a candy red 2013 Ferrari Spider — crowded into a series of closed-door Romney fundraisers in the Hamptons, New York’s exclusive string of waterfront communities on Long Island’s South Shore. Wall Street bankers and brokerage house chiefs, among others, make the area their weekend playground. Romney’s Hamptons swing follows a weeklong vacation at his lakeside vacation home in New Hampshire.
Voters are split on whether they trust Romney or Obama more to run the nation’s economy, but a majority says that Obama better understands their concerns.
The Hamptons crowd, however, saw things differently.
“I think he’s a plain talking guy,’’ Peter Cohen said, referring to Romney. Cohen, the former Shearson Lehman Brothers chief who now heads his own investment banking firm, made the comment as he chewed a cigar in his black Range Rover outside a Romney fundraiser expected to generate $3 million.
Romney’s day concluded at the Southampton estate of billionaire industrialist David Koch, where donors were asked to give $50,000 per person or $75,000 per couple. The event attracted protesters like Robert Shainwald, a 65-year-old retired teacher.
“Romney has no idea what the working person’s daily concerns are. How could he?’’ Shainwald said as he waved a sign offering free vegetables to anyone who wasn’t a billionaire.
The line of attack, dismissed by the Romney campaign as an “unfounded character assault,’’ follows new reports that raise questions about Romney’s personal wealth, which could exceed $250 million. President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign is expected to push the strategy throughout the coming week, underscoring their desire to portray Romney as disconnected from the middle-class voters he needs to win the presidency.
“He’s the first and only candidate for the president of the United States with a Swiss bank account, with tax shelters, with tax avoidance schemes that involve so many foreign countries,’’ Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.’’ He’s one of several high-profile Democrats who spoke out on the Sunday morning news shows.
Romney may have unintentionally helped the Obama campaign.
Republican donors driving Mercedes, Bentleys — and in one case a candy red 2013 Ferrari Spider — crowded into a series of closed-door Romney fundraisers in the Hamptons, New York’s exclusive string of waterfront communities on Long Island’s South Shore. Wall Street bankers and brokerage house chiefs, among others, make the area their weekend playground. Romney’s Hamptons swing follows a weeklong vacation at his lakeside vacation home in New Hampshire.
Voters are split on whether they trust Romney or Obama more to run the nation’s economy, but a majority says that Obama better understands their concerns.
The Hamptons crowd, however, saw things differently.
“I think he’s a plain talking guy,’’ Peter Cohen said, referring to Romney. Cohen, the former Shearson Lehman Brothers chief who now heads his own investment banking firm, made the comment as he chewed a cigar in his black Range Rover outside a Romney fundraiser expected to generate $3 million.
Romney’s day concluded at the Southampton estate of billionaire industrialist David Koch, where donors were asked to give $50,000 per person or $75,000 per couple. The event attracted protesters like Robert Shainwald, a 65-year-old retired teacher.
“Romney has no idea what the working person’s daily concerns are. How could he?’’ Shainwald said as he waved a sign offering free vegetables to anyone who wasn’t a billionaire.
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