WASHINGTON - The Republican National Committee (RNC) is out with a new web video "Nice Try, Joe: You're Not Foolin' Coal Country" as Vice President Biden wrapped up his anti-American energy jobs tour in Ohio. After getting a cold response from local workers, Joe Biden "evolved" his position in favor of coal energy. The people of Ohio understand the importance of coal to heat their home and provide countless jobs, even if the administration is just going to pay lip service to coal for votes.   Web video can be viewed here. Download the web video here.   "Vice President Biden had a dose of reality this week when he found out coal country is not happy with the Obama administration's anti-coal agenda," said RNC Chairman Reince Priebus. "In a few short years, Joe Biden went from 'no coal plants here in America' to 'we desperately need coal.' I guess when a convicted felon gets 40% of the Democratic vote against Barack Obama, there's reason to 'evolve.' "Despite the Vice President's latest 'evolution,' America's energy workers won't forget this administration's anti-American energy agenda. The millions who are looking for work won't either. Mitt Romney understands the important role that American coal plays in heating our homes and powering our businesses. Instead of destructive actions and empty rhetoric, Mitt Romney will unshackle the coal industry from Barack Obama's overzealous EPA to keep energy costs down and put more Americans back to work. This fall, voters in coal country will have a chance to send another message to this anti-coal administration."   ### 

Excerpts from HotAir     By: Chairman Reince Priebus May 17, 2012 "Vice President Biden is in Ohio coal country today. "Yes, the same Biden who said in 2008, 'We're not supporting clean coal,' and 'No coal plants here in America!' Who even called coal a threat more dangerous than terrorism. "Coal country isn't Obama country and for good reason. If Obama and Biden get a second term, anti-coal Cap-and-Trade will be at the top of their 2013 agenda. "So why would the veep venture to a community whose jobs he'd destroy? "Federal Inmate No. 11593-051. Last week in West Virginia, President Obama lost 41 percent of the vote (and 10 counties) in the Democrat primary to Keith Judd, a convicted felon. "'A lot of folks here have real frustration with this administration's stance on coal and energy,' the Chairman of West Virginia's state Democrat Party explained. 'They are frustrated and they are upset, and they wanted to send Obama a message'... "Team Obama is scrambling to hide their anti-coal agenda. The campaign website's 'all-of-the-above' energy plan now includes clean coal, which was conspicuously absent until last week. How convenient... "America needs an 'all of the above' energy policy. But that's not what President Obama is offering, no matter how his website has been edited. "As Gov. Romney says, President Obama isn't for all of the above, he's for 'all the sources of energy that come from above the ground.... He just doesn't like the things that come from below the ground.' "But more than just coal comes from below the ground. Coal brings with it jobs and paychecks and families' livelihoods..." Click Here To Read The Full Op-Ed:http://bit.ly/JSuOdE   ### 

U.S. Congressman Bill Johnson (OH-6): "I believe that it is very very important to get the truth out on President Obama and Vice President Biden's record on energy and job creation. It's very, very clear that they cannot run on their record of pro-economic growth because their policies have failed America, they've made our economy worse. They are hurting Americans and so they are resorting to the tactics of envy and division. Unemployment has been far too high for far too long, over eight percent for almost forty months. We were promised that it would never get to eight percent when the stimulus bill was passed early in the president's administration. Gas prices have doubled since President Obama took office. Today, hard working Americans are paying $300 more per year for their utility bills to power their homes. "But, instead of working to help American families with these increased burdens, President Obama's and Vice President Biden's policies have only made matters worse. Most notably with their all out assault on energy production. It's amazing that the vice president would choose to come and try and tout their record in an area where we are focused on an opportunity to increase domestic energy production. But their assault is not only on oil and natural gas but also the coal industry. Many of you on this call probably know that Ohio gets nearly 90% of its electricity from coal. In Eastern and Southeastern Ohio where I represent where the vice president is today, the coal industry employs and supports many many hundreds of American families. For example, just one proposed rule by the Obama administration, a rewrite of the extreme buffer zone rule, could result in the loss of upwards of 27,000 coal industry direct and indirect related jobs and a surge in electricity prices for consumers. This is nothing new. "We've seen his assault on coal and so we weren't surprised when he rejected the Keystone pipeline. That's an energy resource that would lower energy prices, create jobs and take us one step closer to energy independence. And we're going to continue to press the issue on the Keystone XL pipeline. I also find it interesting that the vice president started this tour of Eastern Ohio in Youngstown talking about the resurgence of manufacturing when at the same time the activist EPA has got an assault out on the steel industry.... The rhetoric coming out of the president and vice president simply does not match their policies and their actions. "I think Governor Romney is going to represent the coal industry very well. I have met him and we have talked about those issues and he gets it. It's not the people of Eastern and Southeastern Ohio. If the vice president is doing such a good job, who we need to connect with is his boss. We need him to go back to the president and tell the president what their attack on the coal industry is doing to the people of Eastern and Southeastern Ohio and indeed to the nation. Ohio gets 87 percent almost 90% of its energy from coal, and yet through the EPA they have basically eliminated any future expansion and building of coal-fired power plants...In the latest polls I have seen the American people trust Mitt Romney to do a better job in addressing the economy. "In 2007, let me remind you that Vice President Biden said that coal was a bigger threat to Americans than high fructose corn syrup and terrorism for crying out loud. So, I don't know how many people are going to remind him of that today when he's in Martin's Ferry but somebody should." Click Here To Listen To The Full Audio: http://www.gop.com/audio/5.17.2012_OH.mp3   ### 

Former U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony Principi: "I believe that they (veterans) are not being well served today because of some of the policies in place under the Obama administration. And of course, jobs, adequate employment is the key to a successful life for the men and women who are returning from Afghanistan, who have returned from Iraq and from other parts around the world. Today, we see a significantly higher unemployment rate amongst those young men and women who are coming home and can't find meaningful jobs. And it impacts their well being; it impacts their mental health which is another area that they are not being well served. "I would also point out the enormous backlog of claims that are pending at the VA. Again, this is a resource issue. The number of claims pending are somewhere in the neighborhood of 800 to 900 thousand. Veterans are having to wait an interminably long period of time to receive their disability compensation that they need as a result of their wounds on the battlefield or in training. Pensions for those who are in need to not only themselves but for their widows and widowers, it is taking well over a year and sometimes even longer to get those benefits paid by the VA. As a result, we really need to have a change. "I think Governor Romney who has a record as governor and the programs he put in place for veterans of Massachusetts. His commitment to ensure that the resources are there and that they are allocated appropriately for things like mental health, for the prosthetic research and development. The VA should be the world's leader in prosthetics and rehabilitation and has lost ground. So, I think it's time that we really begin to address these issues, long overtime I should say, that is really why I have joined this campaign and this coalition..."   U.S. Congressman Randy Forbes (VA-4): "When you make a statement like Obama's policies have failed veterans and military families, which I certainly agree with, it sometimes can be subjective, so I don't want to be subjective, I want to be objective and state very clearly that there is absolutely no matrix, no calculation you can use that would lead you to conclude that Obama's policies have not failed veterans and military families... "These veterans are very proud of the military they helped build and under the president's watch we are getting ready to cut over a trillion dollars out of national defense in this country. We are talking about pink slipping between 150 and 200 thousand veterans . Where are they going to go for jobs? We have a program that the president has put in to give credits to employers, that more and more people are saying just isn't working and they even acknowledge isn't creating new jobs. We are talking about a president that is getting ready to watch 1.5 million jobs lost across the country. Many of these are veterans' jobs that is based on his own secretary of defense. We're looking at an Air Force that said they are going to be on the ragged edge, a Navy that will be down to the lowest number of ships that they have had in 100 years... "We're changing the health benefits and are trying to balance some of these short falls by this administration of the backs of our veterans. Some of these veterans are going to have their healthcare benefits quadrupled and even the Democrat Senator from Virginia , Senator Webb said that we can't do this, that it is like the Obama administration is trying to renegotiate the contracts after they have taken place. So wherever we go and we listen to veterans talk today, they are very concerned that this president just hasn't been putting a priority on the national defense or on our veterans... "It's so ironic that they would even have an event in Virginia where they came in and put a bulls-eye on Virginia ever since they have been in office. First thing they did was cut out the Joint Forces Command without any pre-decisional analysis at all. That cut out hundreds of jobs, many of those were veterans. They then are moving more amphibious ships out of Virginia and putting them to other locations that equals about two-thirds the number of jobs that would be with an aircraft carrier, many of those jobs are veterans. And now they are even talking about moving a carrier out of there which would impact thousands of jobs, many of them veterans. "The objective facts, the matrix you use to calculate the benefits to our veterans there's absolutely no way you can reach a conclusion other than the fact that President Obama's policies have simply failed veterans and our military families and they deserve better." Click Here To Listen To The Full Audio: http://www.gop.com/audio/5.17.2012_VA.mp3   ### 

WASHINGTON-At a time when President Obama's operations in North Carolina are being plagued by a sexual harassment scandal and the North Carolina Democratic Party's embattled Chairman refuses to resign, Republicans are growing stronger than ever in North Carolina. In coordination with the Republican National Committee (RNC), the North Carolina Republican Party (NCGOP) and the South Carolina Republican Party (SCGOP) today announced that they will immediately begin to coordinate volunteer efforts to defeat President Barack Obama in the crucial battleground state of North Carolina this November. As a solidly red state, South Carolina and the SCGOP are in a unique position to contribute volunteer resources to the already immensely successful voter outreach efforts being conducted by the NCGOP and the RNC's Victory operations in North Carolina. "The South Carolina Republican Party has pledged to provide at least 1,000 volunteers to work the phones, knock on doors, and register voters in North Carolina in advance of Election Day," said SCGOP Chairman Chad Connelly. "South Carolina is not a battleground state, but our close proximity to North Carolina provides our volunteers the unique opportunity to make a big difference in what will be a crucial battleground state and home of the Democratic National Convention. I'm extremely proud that South Carolina Republicans are extending our 'First in the South' presidential primary tradition into being a major force in Republican efforts to defeat President Obama this fall. These efforts will in no way impact the South Carolina Republican Party's ability to support volunteer operations for candidates in South Carolina, but rather will give motivated volunteers a great opportunity to make a difference in an important, battleground state. Carolina Republicans are united to defeat Barack Obama." "Republicans are uniting across the country to defeat President Obama and I'm proud that our friends from South Carolina will be joining with us to deliver a decisive loss to President Obama in North Carolina on Election Day," said NCGOP Chairman Robin Hayes. "While President Obama's ground game in North Carolina is being plagued by a sexual harassment scandal at the North Carolina Democratic Party, our already impressive efforts are becoming stronger by the day. The North Carolina Republican Party and the Republican National Committee have started our voter outreach efforts earlier than ever in North Carolina and by partnering with South Carolina we will be in an even stronger position to elect Mitt Romney as our next president." "The Republican Party is singularly focused on defeating President Obama and this partnership is one more sign that our efforts continue to gather momentum heading into November," said RNC Chairman Reince Priebus. "North Carolina is a mess for President Obama and today's announcement will help ensure Republicans turn North Carolina red once again this upcoming Election Day." In addition to the South Carolina Republican Party's pledge to provide at least 1,000 volunteers to work on-the-ground in North Carolina, they have also pledged to utilize the RNC's Social Victory Center at volunteer centers in South Carolina where volunteers will make thousands of phone calls to North Carolina voters before Election Day in November. The RNC has started its Victory operations earlier than ever in North Carolina and recently announced that Senator Richard Burr will serve as the RNC's Victory Chairman in North Carolina. In last Tuesday's North Carolina primary election, more total voters cast a ballot for Republicans than voted for President Obama and there was an 87% increase from 2008 in the number of Republican ballots cast. In contrast to the enthusiasm demonstrated by Republican voters, 21% of people who voted Democrat chose to vote for 'no preference' over President Obama. Since 2008, the number of registered Democrats in North Carolina has dropped by 131,226 and represents more than 9 times the 14,000 votes that Obama won the state by in 2008.   ### 

WASHINGTON - The Republican National Committee (RNC) released a new web video "The Obama-Biden Attacks On American Coal Energy Jobs" as Vice President Biden campaigns in Ohio today. The millions who are out of work won't easily forget their anti-American energy agenda when they go to the polls this November. With coal producing countless jobs and 80 percent of Ohio's electricity, Ohioans know another four years of the Obama-Biden failed energy policy would decimate middle-class electricity bills and good energy-related jobs across the state.   Web video can be viewed here. Download the web video here.      "The Obama Administration has been against coal jobs from the very beginning," said RNC Chairman Reince Priebus. "Who can be surprised that this administration has instituted one of the most aggressive anti-coal campaigns in memory after repeatedly attacking them during the campaign? "Vice President Biden will try and gloss over their anti-coal agenda to try and shore up their plummeting support among blue collar voters but their record speaks for itself: trying to bankrupt the coal industry while propping up failed green energy projects tied to campaign donors. The millions who are out of work won't easily forget their anti-American energy agenda when they go to the polls this November. Voters in coal country sent Obama an embarrassing message last week when a West Virginia felon got 40% of the vote against the president in the primary, and this fall they'll send another strong message by electing Mitt Romney the next President of the United States."   ### 

Former U.S. Senator John Sununu (R-NH): "If you look around the world at what's happening in Europe, what's happening in the financial markets, the seriousness of this issue, dealing with the budget, dealing with the debt really cannot be overstated. And the facts are that Barack Obama has undermined America's financial future like no other president in history. Five trillion dollars in new debt in the last three years. A $2.6 trillion healthcare takeover whose cost keeps going up. That isn't any campaign rhetoric, that's the White House and CBO budget analysis of the cost of the global healthcare takeover. And maybe most important and worst of all, Obama has provided no plan and very little expression of interest in addressing these issues. He's certainly issued the talking points. But his budgets have shown no substantive plans or goals to address the exploding costs of the Baby Boomer retirement. "He was given an opportunity and failed to provide leadership when Congressional leaders put a deal on the table. And then analyzed from top to bottom, and the fact is that President Obama had a $4 trillion debt reduction plan that Congressional leadership put on the table with $800 billion in new revenues and he said no because he didn't want to offend his liberal base. And that kind of pandering to a political base when you have a tough deal but a good deal on the table is a total lack of leadership... "He has had three and a half years to deal with the problem and it gets worse every single day. He thought $4 trillion in new debt was unpatriotic and irresponsible. He's gone beyond that in a much shorter amount of time. His budget for 2013 put up another trillion dollar deficit. It's impossible to claim that he's serious or capable of dealing with the problem when his 2013 budget...looks like business as usual and we can't afford that. Mitt Romney will reduce the size of government. He understands that when government is consuming 25% of the GNP, 25% of our economy, that's too big and its much larger than the historic norm...He'll provide the leadership. Mitt Romney won't ignore problems. Mitt Romney won't burden future generations with more debt which has been the operating procedure of Barack Obama..."   New Hampshire Senate Majority Leader Jeb Bradley: "I think this is all about leadership we've had four years of campaigning from the Oval Office, it's time for somebody who has created jobs, that's Governor Romney, somebody who has actually cut spending in his home state when he was Governor of Massachusetts to assume the helm of our nation. The chaos that is happening in Europe will be happening in America if we don't reform entitlement spending in Washington. When Senator Sununu and I served in Congress, when I left Congress in 2006 our budget situation was manageable about a $150 billion dollar deficit, too high, but certainly not over a trillion dollars per year which is what we've seen under President Obama. "Entitlement reform is absolutely necessary. Mitt has the leadership skills to work in partnership with the states to reform these entitlement programs, starting with Medicaid. That's crucially important, in New Hampshire...you know what we have done by implementing managed care for Medicaid. We've cut our state budget by 11% to manage revenues and expenditures. This is the kind of leadership we need in Washington. We have seen a failed leadership and we are on the brink of an ever cascading set of problems that we are going to have financially if we don't turn things around in November." Click Here To Listen To The Full Audio: http://www.gop.com/audio/5.16.2012_NH.mp3   ### 

Former U.S. Congressman Dennis Ross (FL-12): "The president did not create our debt problem. I'll be the first to admit that it has been a Republican and Democrat issue for the last 30 years at least but the president has spent the last three years ignoring it. He has offered a budget. He just couldn't get a single Democrat to vote for it in either the House or the Senate. He complains about the hand he was dealt, then gambles with money borrowed from China in trying to address our economy. "The debt of this country is increasing at a rate of 4 billion dollars a day. Debt per citizen is about $50,000, taxpayers about $140,000...what's important to know is that we're not on a course to correct this. And the president has...failed miserably to address the spiraling debt of our economy and so one of the things that we were...excited about was that as a Republican Congress we are finally making some moves towards what the American people want us to do and that's cut spending. "I believe that you'll see Governor Romney be one of the strongest presidents fiscally that we've had in decades. He has a history of being fiscally prudent. He understands that...expenses must not exceed revenues and...he understands the reality that we are going to have American exceptionalism we have to have the number one country in the world economy. On the course we are, we're not getting there. "It's appalling that we've seen the national debt nearly double since 2006. Public employees in 41 states earn more than private employees...we've seen unemployment increase to a record of 39.7 weeks. We've seen a stimulus package that's done nothing to stimulate the economy up to the last three years. We need to talk about the economy. We need to talk about reining in federal spending. We need to talk about the American people having opportunities again to incentivize their entrepreneurship. So, when the president talks about how he wants to invest in green energy jobs I just have to look at Solyndra, LightSquared, GM, student loans, ObamaCare, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and conclude...we're on the wrong track. "It's not fair that our kids have over $50,000 in debt at the moment and that we have to invest in such things as Cowboy Poetry, Soccer Fields for terrorists, GSA conferences, and departments that fail in their missions." Click Here To Listen To The Full Audio: http://www.gop.com/audio/5.15.2012_Florida.mp3   ### 

RNC Chairman Reince Priebus: "College students across Missouri and across the country are going to be heading home pretty soon for the summer and entering the workforce. It is important to note that the massive amount of debt that President Obama will be leaving this generation is unmistakably enormous and something that this generation and future generations will now have to deal with. There's no doubt that President Obama is the undisputed Debt King of the last five presidents despite the fact that President Obama has repeatedly promised to cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term. "We've seen the most rapid increase in debt under any United States president, under President Obama. And by the time he is finished President Obama will have added as much to the national debt as all of the predecessors before him combined what makes all of this even worse is that President Obama refused to address entitlement reform for political reasons and he has instead kicked the can down the road. President Obama's last three and a half years in office have been characterized by a never ending line of broken promises and there's no reason to expect anything different if he by some miracle were elected to a second term. We can expect to see more out of control spending on things like GSA's trip to Las Vegas and Solyndra. "America doesn't need more wasteful spending and we at the Republican National Committee, we're going to hold this president accountable to the words and the promises he made to the American people. He's the one that said he was going to get the debt under control; he's the one that said he would cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term. "Well, I happen to believe that American's are starving for people of their word to run for office, get elected and most importantly govern in the way that they have campaigned. And this president, while he campaigns nonstop, he certainly hasn't come close to governing in the way that he campaigns. He can't make a promise and he can't keep a promise. And that's why he needs to be sent back to Chicago at the end of this year."   Former U.S. Senator Jim Talent (R-MO): "I want to echo what the Chairman said. This is a case of the president's policies have clearly failed and by his own standards. The standards that he set for himself and according to his own numbers and projections of his administration. So, all these facts are undisputed. He did pledge to cut the deficit in half by the time he left office. In fact, the deficit is projected to be bigger in his final year in office than it was in his first year in office. He pledged to go line by line through the budget. There is no evidence whatsoever that he did. We know for example with the GSA scandal and the various government funding of green energy companies...there was simply no effort to do that. "Many of those investments according to Obama officials went to people with close political connections with the president. So, the total deficit is going to double our debt is going to double by the time the president is going to leave office. According to Politifact he is the undisputed Debt King of the last five presidents. This is another example of where the president's policies have failed the American people. And we don't have to say to people in Missouri what this means. In Missouri, our government has to balance its budget. Missourians have to balance their own budget. We are leaving to the next generation, in fact to this generation and the next generation an enormous debt and they are going to have to service it. I mean this is going to be paid. And our people are going to have to pay it. "The president made no effort to reduce the deficit and no plan to get to a balanced budget, to get to a deficit that is half of the one that he inherited. He ignored the recommendations of the Bowles Simpson Commission that he appointed. So this is a referendum on his failed policies in this area as in others. And the American people are going to pay the price for it." Click Here To Listen To The Full Audio: http://www.gop.com/audio/5.15.2012_Missouri.mp3   ### 

U.S. Congressman Mike Turner (OH-3): "As the presidential race heats up in Ohio and people turn to the issue of the president's record and their grave concerns about the economy. People in Ohio are struggling... "This president has a record of trying to have government lead the economy and government lead the economy through spending. We've seen what that record is, 38 straight months of unemployment above 8 percent, 12.7 million unemployed Americans, and the president continues to add to our national debt, which currently sits at $15.6 trillion. As Ohioans ask the question, what was the president going to do? They look first to his proposal in his budget. And his budget put forward a plan of increased spending and increased taxes. And the people in Ohio know that that is not an equation that can produce jobs. As I've traveled around Ohio, I've asked groups to vote for themselves, raise their hands if they believe that increased spending and increased taxes will move this economy forward and will they support that. In all the rooms I've been in not one person has ever raised their hand. And then I remind them that's the exact same result that we got from this Congress when the president's budget, his economic plan, was placed on the floor of the House. Not one Republican, not one Democrat voted for the president's plan of increased spending and increased taxes. "The president brought forth a budget that would continue to add trillions of dollars to the national debt. And the people in Ohio know that is an absolute threat to the ability of this economy to produce jobs. And they want Washington to rein in spending. They want Washington to come forth with a plan that will allow the private sector to move forward and create jobs. They are aware that the president's record that United States lost its Triple A credit rating score as a result of the out of control spending that this president hasn't come forward with one plan for cutting spending, not one plan for reining in the national debt, just mountains of debt in front of them and they know that grave threat to this economy's ability to create jobs. "Another issue, Vice President's coming to Ohio this week. There are thousands of Delphi retirees who lost their pensions and are still demanding answers from this administration. The president had said he was going to run one of the most open administrations and then as they went through the General Motors bankruptcy deal, where Treasury Geithner clearly had conflicts of interest being on all sides of the transaction. The administration picked winners and losers and in doing so almost 20,000 Delphi salaried retirees lost portions of their pensions, from up to 70%. Most recently, the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program just announced that they were not going to continue their investigation as a result of the lack of assistance. The administration's representatives Ron Bloom, Matthew Feldman, and Harry Wilson have refused to meet or speak with the Inspectors. So, as a result of the administration refusing to provide information the Delphi retirees as to how the administration moved forward they are thwarting the ability of these retirees to get their pensions restored. "As the Vice President goes to Ohio, he should answer their questions as to why the administration will not release the documents requested from the Delphi retirees and why the Special Inspector General is not receiving cooperation from either the administration or the former representatives of the administration so we can get to the answers how these pensions were taken and how these pensions can be restored." Click Here To Listen To The Full Audio: http://www.gop.com/audio/5.15.2012_Ohio.mp3   ###