The Early Word: Strategy - NYTimes.com November 12, 2012, 5:45 am The Early Word: Strategy President Obama is taking a new approach to budget talks this time around, meeting with business leaders and rallying the public to support a deficit-cutting accord that mixes tax increases on the wealthy with spending cuts, Jackie Calmes writes. The growth of unlimited fund-raising and the move of outside groups to the mainstream of politics have magnified the role of money in political campaigns, with Mr. Obama's re-election victory likely to reinforce the practice, Nicholas Confessore reports. The 2012 election exposed the Republican Party's vulnerability to potent demographic shifts, setting the stage for a struggle between those determined to rebrand the party in a softer light and those yearning instead for ideological purity, Kevin Sack and Sarah Wheaton report. The Library of Congress will open the exhibition "The Civil War in America," commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Civil War.