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The Romney campaign breaks the ice with the first intra-party attack ad of
the GOP race, “The Choice.” The spot pits Romney against newly crowned Iowa front-runner Mike Huckabee—the latest Iowa
poll puts him at 32 percent to Romney’s 20—on what many people consider
Huckabee’s soft spot: immigration.
It starts off with their similarities: “Two former governors.
Two good family men. Both pro-life. Both support a federal marriage amendment
banning gay marriage.” (Notice how it puts Romney's pro-life bona fides on par with Huckabee's.)
Then the ad sets up what you expect to be a direct contrast:
“Mitt Romney stood up and vetoed in-state tuition for illegal aliens; opposed
drivers’ licenses for illegals. Mike Huckabee supported in-state tuition benefits
for illegal immigrants. Huckabee even supported taxpayer-funded scholarships
for illegal aliens.”
Wait, what about that driver’s license thing? This is
supposed to be a contrast ad—you expect it to say, “Huckabee even supported
licenses for illegals,” or something like that. Why pull that punch?
Probably because it’s a weak claim. A few blogs out there link to a 2001 piece from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
reporting that Huckabee supported a bill that would have allowed licenses for
illegal immigrants. But the issue hasn’t come up in debates, nor have the opposing
campaigns run with it.
So if Romney doesn’t have a good case against Huckabee on
the licenses issue, why bring it up at all? Well, that much is obvious: It's easier to say it without saying it than to actually say it.
The Huckabee campaign responds here.
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Chuck Norris, speaking to Mike Huckabee in a recent Web video:
“They all have good points. But I think you’ve got the big package—I think you’ve got the
whole package here, Mike, and I really want to encourage the people to really check you out.”
Reminds us of that time Duncan Hunter told
the gay brigadier general at the YouTube debate that American soldiers shouldn’t
be forced to “work in a small tight unit” with homosexuals.
See here for
the full video. The magic happens right around the 1:00 mark.
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Last night’s long-awaited Univision debate was more peaceful than most, as the GOP candidates seemed careful not to alienate an already skeptical audience. Lines about reaching out to Hispanics drew the most applause. The only booing came when Rep. Ron Paul argued that “we create the Chavezes of the world, we create the Castros of the world.”
Univision was originally forced to postpone the debate after only Sen. John McCain accepted the network’s invitation. The other campaigns cited scheduling conflicts. The top GOP candidates also avoided a minority-sponsored forum hosted by Tavis Smiley in September, sparking concern among party leaders that the candidates are hurting the party's reputation among blacks and Hispanics.
Whatever damage was done, the candidates did their best to repair it last night by soft-pedaling their hardline policies and emphasizing shared beliefs over rifts. Here's a quick roundup of peace offerings:
Rudy Giuliani: I approach the Hispanic community the same way I do all communities.
Mitt Romney: And so, Hispanics, along with other people in this country, want to see change.
Mike Huckabee: I think Hispanics want the same thing everybody wants.
Fred Thompson: Well, I think that we do share a lot in this country, whether we're Hispanic or whether we are not Hispanic.
Ron Paul: Hispanics, like everybody else, want change in our foreign policy.
Full transcript here.
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Joining Edwards' Iowa campaign next weekend will be Kevin Bacon, possibly the best-connected actor on the planet.
Edwards is calling its organizing drive "Six Degrees of John Edwards." The deal: Any volunteer who performs six hours of work for the campaign, brings six signed supporter cards to an event, brings six undecided caucus-goers to an event, writes six letters to an editor, or tells six friends about Edwards and his policy book gets a voucher for free Kevin Bacon memorabilia.
But an analysis conducted using the University of Virginia's "Oracle of Bacon" has found that Bacon may also be connected with rival campaigns. The endorsement comes on the heels of Barack Obama's much-publicized tour with Oprah Winfrey, who was in Native Son (1986) with Matt Dillon, who was in Loverboy (2005) with Kevin Bacon.
Also unreported are Bacon's connections to prominent Republican candidates, including fellow actor Fred Thompson, who had an uncredited role in White Sands (1992) as an arms dealer alongside John Lafayette, who was also in Loverboy with Bacon. Bacon's GOP connections don't end there. Robert Duvall, who has endorsed Rudy Giuliani, starred in the 2002 film John Q with Simon Sinn, who was in Where the Truth Lies (2005) with Bacon. Even Giuliani himself is a mere two degrees from Bacon, having appeared alongside Marisa Tomei in Anger Management (2005); Tomei was also in Loverboy with Bacon.
A response from the Edwards campaign is still pending.
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So Rudy Giuliani survived his Meet the Press interrogation Sunday. Moderator Tim Russert needled all the mayor’s tender spots: Giuliani’s hiring of Bernie Kerik as police commissioner, ties between Giuliani’s firm and Qatar, his decision to assign a security detail to protect Judith Nathan when they started dating in 2000. But Rudy weathered the barrage with a defense mechanism reminiscent of Hillary’s Sunday media blitz a few months ago: laughing.
At one point during the hourlong interview, Russert pointed out that Giuliani’s firm has represented Venezuelan-owned oil company Citgo and asked why he would work for a company tied to Hugo Chavez. Giuliani practically broke down giggling. “That’s a stretch,” he said, before clapping his hands and chuckling some more. Russert continued, “These are all accusations being made in a very serious way …” “They’re not serious,” Giuliani said, grinning. (Watch the exchange here, around the five-minute mark. Transcript here.)
Rudy’s laughter doesn’t quite match the enthusiasm of Hillary’s notorious “cackle,” but it’s still telling. TNR’s Michael Crowley has a piece on Giuliani’s comedian persona, in which he notes a determination to replace the “nasty man” image with the “sunnier side of Rudy.” But somehow the cheeriness manages to appear during uncomfortable moments, making them even more so. Russert pushed Rudy hard on his firm’s oil ties, as if to stoke the mayor’s legendary temper. It’s not a funny question. But laughter was his only option. It didn’t diffuse the question entirely, a la Huckabee on Jesus. But you’re a lot better off with YouTube videos that show you laughing than screaming.
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John
McCain's campaign added a slew of videos to his YouTube
page a couple of days ago,
including a 16-second
clip from an interview Barbara Walters did with Bill Clinton about who he thought
would be the Democrats' toughest competition in 2008. After Walters asks her question, the YouTube
clip inserts a fade-to-black that clearly shows McCain's camp edited the clip.
Here's the
transcript of the answer that aired on ABC. The parts that survived McCain's
editing are bolded.
CLINTON: I can't
tell, but I think that McCain has a lot of
appeal, and I think that he seems to be making a little bit of a comeback. And
we disagree on many things, but I think he's, uh, a big figure. So he might be
the most electable. I don't know if he can be
nominated.
It's not
surprising that McCain removed all doubt from Clinton's response, but Clinton actually reiterated a message McCain's
campaign has been pushing recently: Once nominated, McCain is the only
Republican who can beat the Democratic nominee. Of course, Clinton also touched on
the caveat that McCain's camp has tried to play down: He can only beat a
Democrat if he can beat
his fellow Republicans.
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