White House debt talks were described at the "fish-or-cut-bait" stage Thursday night, as President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner sought to keep alive an estimated $3 trillion deficit-reduction package already taking fire from the left and right.

Budget director Jack Lew received a fierce, angry, even screaming reception at the Senate Democratic Caucus, and Democratic congressional leaders were called to the White House to meet with the president for nearly two hours Thursday evening.

At the same time, Boehner felt compelled to go on "The Rush Limbaugh Show" to deny any deal, and the timing is doubly sensitive for the speaker because the Senate is slated to vote Friday on a much tougher House-passed bill that would require Obama to accept twice the spending cuts in return for raising the debt ceiling on Aug. 2.

The Cut, Cap and Balance measure has become a cause célèbre for tea party forces, and Boehner was almost abject in his denials to Limbaugh even as the speaker and the president are desperate for a settlement to avert default.

"Well, Rush, there is no deal," Boehner told the radio host. "No deal publicly, no deal privately; there is absolutely no deal."

That's not to say they aren't trying.

This latest attempt steps back a notch from their $4 trillion "grand bargain," but the speaker and the president remain convinced that thinking bigger is better to get past the immediate debt crisis.

With just 12 days left until the Treasury Department runs out of money, major elements will have to be subject to legislation to be completed by Congress under a tightly written schedule. But the goal is to combine appropriations cuts, entitlement reforms and tax overhaul in a single endeavor to more than match the $2.4 trillion increase in the debt ceiling needed to get past the 2012 elections.

The size of the revenue target is still a sticking point, as is the mechanism to ensure that the needed legislative changes - for tax and entitlement reform-get done before this Congress ends.

Boehner and Obama are discussing some sort of trigger mechanism that would threaten each party with the loss of almost its first born child - policy wise.

Democrats have suggested that if Congress fails to act, taxes will go up on those earning over $250,000. Republicans have countered that if the added taxes take effect, the law would also rip out portions of Obama's prized healthcare reforms, such as eliminating the individual mandate.

That it is down to these kind of threats is not entirely surprising. Obama has always insisted that any "balanced" deficit-reduction plan must include new revenues, but this is also hardest part for Boehner to deliver because rank-and-file members are opposed to new taxes.

At least $1 trillion in reductions are assumed from appropriations savings through 2021 and an almost equal sum from winding down U.S. military commitments overseas when measured against the baseline used by the Congressional Budget Office.

In the case of tax reform, the anticipated revenues will almost certainly be substantially less than the administration first sought, and one issue is how far back then Obama will step from prior changes he was willing to make in Medicare, a sensitive issue for Democrats.

In prior talks, the president signaled his willingness to accept structural reforms that would raise the eligibility age to 67 gradually over the coming decades as well as greatly increase the number of elderly beneficiaries subject to higher Medicare Part B premiums, keyed to income.

Both changes would have a greater impact beyond the 10-year budget window used to score the package but could be hugely important to winning conservatives' votes for the deal. At the same time, the administration knows that if it is too specific now, it risks losing Democratic votes needed for the debt bill.

The White House was clearly taken aback by the stampede of press reports Thursday - coupled with the angry reaction from lawmakers.

Lew's office even called back a reporter to assure him the director had responded "forcefully" at the Senate caucus.

Democratic officials familiar with the negotiations wouldn't discuss the president's private talks with congressional leaders Thursday evening but pushed back against the criticism from lawmakers that the president was somehow backtracking on a perceived pledge that changes in taxes would be locked in up front.

In fact Obama has said publicly, the officials pointed out, that the tax changes would not take place until 2013 and the same sort of staggered timetable would apply to the entitlement changes as well.

To protect himself, the speaker has included Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) in the latest talks, and Boehner told reporters again Thursday that he is opposed to new taxes. But as Lew learned firsthand Thursday at the Democratic Caucus, it will be hard to bring a deal back to the party without new revenues, especially if Republicans get concessions on Medicare. "There will be no big deal without big revenues," said one Democratic leadership aide.

Completing tax reform in this Congress is an economic and political opportunity for both sides and a big attraction for Boehner in trying to reach a deal.

In a single stroke, tax writers would be able to address both corporate and personal income tax rates and therefore, address big- and small-business interests at once - an important alliance for the GOP to maintain.

Apart from deficit reduction, many economists would argue that tax reform could help the recovery and increase employment. But the timing is unusual because the Bush-era tax cuts are due to expire at the end of 2012, which adds to the confusion of projecting revenues.

The CBO, which strictly follows current law and assumes that all tax cuts expire on time, forecasts 10-year revenues of about $39 trillion. By comparison, Obama's debt commission last December assumed middle-class tax cuts and some estate tax and alternative minimum tax relief would survive, leading to revenues of about $36.288 trillion.

This is why the Gang of Six said this week that their $3.7 trillion deficit-reduction plan both cuts taxes, when measured against CBO, and raises them, when measured against the commission's standard.

In prior talks, the White House and Boehner used an updated version of the commission's baseline, and the administration wanted to be able to count on about $400 billion in new revenues for a total near $36.7 trillion. That number has already been whittled down in the course of the talks, but a person familiar with the negotiations insisted it remained an open question for the speaker on Thursday.

With the House slated to go home for the weekend, it will be a pivotal decision for the speaker - as well as Cantor - in judging how to proceed. Unlike many of their tea party allies, neither leader is comfortable with risking default, and Republican business allies are growing more restless as the crisis persists.

"Jeopardizing our country's credit rating and fiscal security by refusing to compromise isn't the answer," R. Bruce Josten, U.S. Chamber of Commerce executive vice president for government affairs, said in a posting Thursday.

At the same time, the White House's tactics in this situation most infuriate Senate Democrats, who complain that the president's chief of staff, Bill Daley, is too quick to make concessions to Boehner, even at the party's expense.

It could be the worst of both worlds then for Majority Leader Harry Reid. The Nevada Democrat had hoped to pursue his own fallback with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, but that alternative appears less viable now. At the same time, if Boehner concludes a deal with Obama that can win House passage, Reid's fellow Democrats will have little opportunity to make changes before Aug 2.

House Republicans Bullish on 2012 Opportunities  

House Republicans are optimistic about their ability to stay on offense in 2012, on the heels of a historic wave that netted them 63 seats last cycle.

The National Republican Congressional Committee is targeting 20 districts that are either currently held by a Democrat or were added through reapportionment in states like Florida and Texas. At the same time, the committee has relaunched its incumbent assistance program in an effort to keep its independent expenditures focused on offense.

On Thursday, NRCC Chairman Pete Sessions (Texas) and Vice Chairman Greg Walden (Ore.) announced 12 new additions to the first tier of its three-step Young Guns program.

"Back in January we effectively announced what our vision statement would be, and that is to have standing room only and to have to have the Sergeant-at-Arms place folding chairs up and down the aisle," Sessions told a handful of reporters at an off-camera briefing.

While Democrats look to pick up the 24 seats needed to take back the majority, a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll found that just 32 percent of registered voters nationwide want to re-elect their current Representative. But Walden said current metrics don't support the presumption that 2012 will be a fourth straight wave election. He said the focus next year will be on President Barack Obama and his re-election bid.

"If you're trying to get into the majority, you want it to be about the majority in the House," Walden said. "This is going to be about the president and the White House, and it's also going to be on the economy and jobs."

The NRCC's offense strategy will continue to focus on the Blue Dog Coalition, which saw its ranks cut in half last cycle. Among the Blue Dogs whom Sessions named or the NRCC is targeting are Reps. Jim Matheson (Utah), Heath Shuler (N.C.), Mike Ross (Ark.), Mike McIntyre (N.C.), Leonard Boswell (Iowa) and Jim Costa (Calif.).

Other Democratic districts listed as top targets include those of Reps. Larry Kissell (N.C.), Brad Miller (N.C.) and Tim Bishop (N.Y.) as well as the open seats being vacated by Reps. Dan Boren(Okla.) and Joe Donnelly (Ind.).

Two Utah districts - Matheson's and the new 4th district - are on the list of 20 districts the NRCC is targeting.

Along with the Beehive State's new district, the seven other new districts the NRCC expects to target include Arizona's 9th, Florida's 26th or 27th, Georgia's 14th, South Carolina's 7th, and Texas' 25th, 33rd and 36th districts.

The following candidates were added to "On the Radar" status Thursday: Abel Maldonado in California's 23rd district; Justin Bernier, Mike Clark, Mark Greenberg and Lisa Wilson-Foley in Connecticut's 5th district; Luke Messer in Indiana's 6th district; Rob Frost in Ohio's 10th district; Ed Martin and Ann Wagner in Missouri's 2nd district; Michael Williams and Roger Williams in Texas' 33rd district; and Greg Anders in Washington's 2nd district.

Sessions said the NRCC also has a "watch list" of 25 more districts that could become competitive under the right circumstances.

A spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee dismissed the NRCC's claim that it will be able to stay on offense next year. The DCCC on Thursday rolled out a list of recent candidate recruits it is touting in top races.

"From polling to town hall meetings, voters are rejecting the Republican agenda," spokesman Jesse Ferguson said. "That's not being on offense, that's being offensive."

Meanwhile, Sessions and Walden highlighted the committee's fundraising last month, which was its best off-year June since 2005. The NRCC raised $6.7 million, topping the DCCC last month by $500,000. It had about $3.6 million more in the bank than the DCCC had and $1.2 million less in debt at the end of June.

Walden singled out Rep. Charles Bass (R-N.H.), who returned to Congress this year after two terms out of office, as the epitome of the early success of the NRCC's Patriot program.

Bass raised more than $300,000 last quarter, thanks in part to a "Patriot Day" fundraising event last month, during which each of the 10 Members in the program raised $130,000 to $150,000.

"Charlie Bass, for example, that's probably the most he's ever raised this early in the cycle," Walden said. "So he's taking it seriously, and so are we."