Barack Obama makes plea to middle America as campaign tour begins

A three-day tour of key election battlegrounds will see the Democrat criss-cross the country, taking in states that could be crucial in his bid for a second term in the White House.

At his first stop-off in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the president made a play for middle America, accusing his opponents in Washington of “stacking the decks” against typical income families.

In contrast, his “fair play and shared responsibility” agenda would change the tax code to ensure that the super-rich made a greater contribution, he said.

His comments followed a State of the Union address on Tuesday in which he sought to ally himself with everyday Americans while suggesting that his Republican opponents were in hock to a “wealthy few”.

Not for the first time, he called for the introduction of a new policy that would see America’s top earners squeezed for.

A so-called Buffett Law would ensure that those on an income in excess of $1 million a year would pay at least 30 per cent in taxes. Billionaire Warren Buffett has made repeated calls for the measure, noting he currently pays less in tax than his secretary Debbie Bosanek, who was brought to Washington for the presidential address.

“Now you can call this class warfare all you want. But asking a billionaire to pay at least as much as his secretary in taxes? Most Americans would call that common sense,” Mr Obama said.

The Republican party’s search for a challenger to Mr Obama has entered a fractious stage.

Just hours before the address was delivered, Republican candidate Mitt Romney published his tax returns, following weeks of pressure from rivals.

It showed the former private equity boss’s income totalled $21.6 million in 2010, but paid only about 14 per cent in taxes – a rate far lower than the typical American. Mr Obama made no mention of Mr Romney in his address, but he didn’t have to. Around the country, newspapers and news channels were helping voters join the dots.

The official Republican response to the address, delivered by Indiana governor Mitch Daniels, decried the speech for “divisive” rhetoric.

He said: “No feature of the Obama presidency has been sadder than its constant effort to divide us, to curry favour with some Americans by castigating others.”

But the message of unity appeared not to have made it to Florida, where the main contenders for the Republican nomination continued their increasingly bitter campaign.

Newt Gingrich attacked Mr Romney’s immigration policy.

“You would have to live in a world of Swiss bank accounts and Cayman Island bank accounts and automatic $21 million-a-year incomes with no work to have a fantasy this far from reality,” he said in reference to Mr Romney’s call for the “self-deportation” of illegal immigrants.

A poll released yesterday suggests Mr Gingrich, who comfortably won the South Carolina primary, looks to be narrowing the race in Florida.

Research by Quinnipiac University found that 36 per cent of likely Republican voters supported Mr Romney, with 34 per cent opting for Mr Gingrich.