Obama attacks GOP field on bus tour

DECORAH, Iowa — Hit­ting back against an embold­ened GOP, Pres­i­dent Barack Obama launched a rare direct attack Mon­day on the Repub­li­can pres­i­den­tial field, crit­i­ciz­ing his poten­tial 2012 rivals for their blan­ket oppo­si­tion to any deficit-cutting com­pro­mise involv­ing new taxes. “That’s just not com­mon sense,” Obama told the crowd at a town hall-style meet­ing in Can­non Falls, Minn., as he kicked off a three-day bus tour through Min­nesota, Iowa and Illinois.