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Obama aide: Romney tax plan doesn't add up

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE, Calif., Oct. 7 (UPI) -- An aide to President Obama told reporters Sunday that Republican rival Mitt Romney's tax plan doesn't add up.

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Democrats have been slamming what they call Romney's $5 trillion "revenue neutral" tax cut proposal.

Speaking aboard Air Force One as Obama headed to Los Angeles for a fundraiser, Deputy White House Communications Director Jen Psaki said Romney has proposed lowering taxes 20 percent for everyone over 10 years at a cost of $2.7 trillion; repealing the high income payroll tax at a cost of $300 billion; ending the estate tax for a cost of $150 billion; and lowering the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 25 percent for a cost of $1.1 trillion.

Psaki said that adds up to $4.8 trillion in revenue losses, rising to $5 trillion when factoring in interest payments for additional government borrowing.

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Romney has taken off the table tax breaks for savings, capital gains, IRAs and 401(k)s, she said.

That's hardly revenue neutral, Psaki said.

"Eliminating all of the high-income tax breaks, all tax breaks across the board for high-income individuals, as he said he would do, that still only gets you to $2.7 trillion," Psaki said. "Nobody thinks he's going to do that."


Turnout big in Venezuelan election

CARACAS, Venezuela, Oct. 7 (UPI) -- Venezuelans lined up for hours Sunday for the chance to vote for either 14-year incumbent Hugo Chavez or challenger Henrique Capriles for president.

While various polls in recent days predicted victory for the socialist Chavez, none could discount Capriles, a self-described moderate who vowed not to undo popular social programs, the Latin American Herald reported.

"I think we are really going to get enough votes to change the government," Mary Angela Herman, 68, who brought her 93-year-old father to vote at a leafy upper-class neighborhood in Caracas, told The Washington Post. "We are all very confident because we have seen so many people here with Capriles."

Since first being elected in 1998, Chavez has used the country's rich oil reserves to fund what he describes as modern socialism. While the United States is Venezuela's biggest trading partner, Chavez has consistently goaded Washington by aligning himself with the governments of Cuba, Iran and Syria.

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"You can't do better than this president," Miguel Guevara, 77, who sells books in the streets and voted in a poor barrio whose support helped bring Chavez to power, told the Post. "The only one who has helped the country is named Hugo Chavez."

The 58-year-old has been undergoing treatment for an undisclosed type of cancer for the past year and a half. Faced by a challenger who just turned 40, Chavez posed for youthful photo opportunities in his campaign, including riding a motorcycle and doing a rap routine, CNN reported.

There are 18.9 million resident and expatriate Venezuelans eligible to vote, the Herald said.

The Post said lines of voters started to form before 5 a.m., an hour before polls opened.


Hunt for missing Colo. girl in third day

WESTMINSTER, Colo., Oct. 7 (UPI) -- The hunt for a 10-year-old Colorado girl who vanished while on her way to school switched from Westminster to Superior several miles away Sunday, police said.

The switch in the search's focus came after a Superior resident reported finding a backpack with a water bottle with Jessica Ridgeway -- the name of the missing girl -- written on it, The (Boulder) Daily Camera reported.

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Westminster police spokesman Trevor Materasso said investigators had yet to confirm whether the backpack, which was found about 6 miles from where Jessica was last seen, belonged to the girl.

"We've been looking for a lead, and this is possibly that," Materasso told reporters.

Police employed a bloodhound to search the area where the backpack was found, he said.

Police closed roads into the neighborhood to non-residents and officers searched the trunks of residents entering the area, the newspaper said.

More than 800 volunteers worked into the night Saturday searching for the girl, who was last seen by her mother Friday as she walked out of sight headed to a park 3 blocks from her home to meet classmates and go to their Westminster elementary school. Classmates say Jessica never showed up at the park, The Denver Post reported.


Canadian postal worker deal reached

OTTAWA, Oct. 7 (UPI) -- Canadian postal worker union leaders have reached a tentative contract agreement with Canada Post, government officials said.

The deal, which must still be ratified by the rank-and-file carriers, was reached after more than a year of negotiations. Details were not released.

"I have always said that the best solution to any labor dispute is one that the parties reach themselves," QMI Agency quoted Canadian Labor Minister Lisa Raitt as saying in a statement Saturday. "I am very pleased that Canada Post and the CUPW returned to the bargaining table and worked together to reach an agreement that is supported by both parties."

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The union represents about 50,000 urban postal workers, whose collective agreement expired on Jan. 31, 2011, and about 6,000 rural and suburban whose contract expired Dec. 31, 2011.

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