A reality of modern campaigning is that any candidate - even one as buttoned-down and disciplined as Romney - has to contend with stronger political crosswinds than in the past.

Romney and the Republican National Committee, which is spending money on behalf of the Republican candidate, $40.1 million during April, according to a campaign statement. That's just shy of the raised by the Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee during the same period.

Germany has taken a tough-love, austerity-driven approach to solving Europe's recession, pushing struggling countries to sharply cut public spending and chop their debt even as their economies slump. The United States confronted its own crisis with an $862 billion stimulus package in 2009, which brought debt levels to heights not seen since shortly after World War II but may have dulled the worst blow of its downturn.

House Ways and Means Committee chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) said Thursday that he has two goals with respect to the tax code: "One, block massive, job-killing tax increases" at the end of the year, when the George W. Bush-era tax cuts are set to expire. "And two, enact - not just pass - comprehensive tax reform."