Republicans ratcheted up their attacks Monday on Harry Reid and the Obama campaign over Reid's claim that Mitt Romney has not paid taxes in 10 years, with a top Romney surrogate alleging the president's team is behind "this dishonesty and misrepresentation."

The Obama campaign so far has denied guiding Reid's hand when the Senate Democrat leader took to the Senate floor to repeat the no-tax claim -- a claim that Reid had earlier acknowledged he couldn't personally vouch for. Obama campaign adviser David Axelrod told "Fox News Sunday" he doesn't know "who Harry was talking to."

But after Romney first suggested that Obama's team might be behind the claim, Romney surrogate John Sununu doubled down on the charge Monday in an interview with Fox News.

"The Obama campaign and President Obama are the ones that are behind this dishonesty and misrepresentation because they're trying to hide the failure of this abysmal presidency," Sununu, a former New Hampshire governor, told Fox News.

Repeating what has become somewhat of a consensus among top Republican officials and surrogates, Sununu claimed Reid is "lying."

"Harry probably got it from talking to the mirror while he was shaving," Sununu joked, but claimed Reid must have been "encouraged" by Obama's team.

The no-tax claim has prompted a round of name-calling unusual in its vitriol. Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus called the Nevada Democrat a "dirty liar" in an interview Sunday on ABC's "This Week."

Priebus, speaking with Fox News on Monday, defended the comment. "What else do you call somebody who goes onto the Senate floor and claims that somebody hasn't paid any taxes in 10 years, a complete lie," Priebus said. "It is what it is. I mean he's a dirty liar, and we're moving on."

But neither side was letting go entirely. Republicans have pressed Reid to "put up or shut up" -- meaning reveal his source, supposedly somebody from Romney's Bain Capital firm, or back down. Democrats, meanwhile, have used the claim to once again challenge Romney to put the matter to rest by simply releasing his tax files. Romney has released two years' worth of returns, but no more...

Reid chief of staff David Krone told Politico that Republicans are "a bunch of cowards and they're avoiding this issue."

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Editor's Note: First, it is incredible that Harry Reid -- who routinely circumvents the natural process of Congress by executing pocket vetoes on legitimately passed House legislation -- is allowed to use the Senate floor to openly politick without objection from the rank-and-file, let alone the Senate GOP. That, in and of itself is an abuse of power and should be the real story here. Second, Mr. Romney should declare that he will release a decade's worth of tax returns when Mr. Obama unseals not only his college records in total, but all of his writings for the Harvard Law Review. Until then. Mr. Romney should hold his ground.


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