Obama campaign raising money off GOP debate

President Obama's re-election campaign is trying to raise money by citing some of the things Republicans said at Thursday night's debate in Ames, Iowa.

Campaign manager Jim Messina put out an appeal for donations this morning, noting all eight Republicans refused to consider tax increases on upper-income Americans, while none of them mentioned the middle class.

"Every single Republican candidate for president pledged allegiance to the Tea Party," Messina wrote. "All eight Republicans, who claim to hate deficits and debt, said they'd keep spending levels exactly where they are if the alternative was to ask millionaires, billionaires and corporate interests to sacrifice a single dime more to actually solve the problem."

That was a reference to Thursday night's show of hands, in which all eight GOP candidates said they would refuse a deal that included 10 times as much in spending cuts if it included any tax hikes.

Messina went on to cite what the Republicans didn't say:

"There was not one mention of the middle class," he wrote, accurately. "There have now been three Republican debates so far -- five and a half hours of TV time -- and though more than 50,000 words have been spoken, the phrase 'middle class' hasn't been uttered."