Posted on 02/02/2007 9:08:48 AM PST by Reagan Man
A speech given by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney before a National Review-sponsored conference last week may have been panned as unfocused, but in the eyes of those who attended, he at least had one thing going for him: He showed up.
Sen. John McCain and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, both of whom face serious skepticism from many conservatives, skipped the National Review event, and neither plans to attend a gathering of the Republican Study Committee, a group of conservative House members, this weekend in Baltimore.
Rep. Jeb Hensarling of Texas, the RSC chairman, is "looking forward to hearing Mitt Romney and believes that the RSC retreat offers a unique opportunity for some of the top minds in the conservative movement to come together to strategize, discuss and be heard," said Brad Dayspring, a spokesman for the group.
Romney, who is aggressively seeking the favor of conservative leaders, is on the schedule to address the RSC on Friday. In March, he is scheduled to speak at the Club for Growth's winter conference in Florida and to appear before the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington.
David Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union and one of the chief organizers of CPAC, said his group hadn't heard back yet from either McCain or Giuliani about whether they'll be at the three-day meeting, which starts March 1. "I frankly don't get it," Keene shrugged in an interview Wednesday. "On the one hand," he said, McCain has been "trying to court the right, but on the other, he seems to be dissing them."
Keene, who has not picked a candidate, readily admits that he has his differences with the maverick senator, but suggested that McCain has pluses that would resonate before a conservative audience, notably his hawkish stance on government spending and the Iraq war.
Asked to explain why they would pass on an opportunity to make their case before such influential audiences, members of McCain's camp said they don't have as much to prove.
"It's important to keep in mind that the senator has served as a conservative for over 20 years in Congress," said campaign spokesman Danny Diaz. "These people know him, they know his pro-life record, his fiscal conservatism, his stance on the war on terror. The same can't be said for others in the race."
When McCain cannot attend an event, he has sent surrogates, Diaz said. Conservative activist Bob Heckman was at the National Review conference, and former Sen. Phil Gramm is standing in for him at the RSC meeting in Baltimore. As for the CPAC gathering in March, Diaz said a decision would be made in the "coming days and weeks."
Giuliani's team excuses his absence from National Review and RSC by pointing out that he is speaking to conservative audiences in places that will have considerable sway in deciding the next nominee. The former mayor was in New Hampshire last weekend addressing the Republican convention, said Giuliani spokeswoman Katie Levinson. "This weekend he's down in South Carolina at the invitation of the state party." He'll also speak to the state party's executive committee.
Reaching out to Republicans across the board is important to Giuliani, she said, and is something he'll continue to do aggressively.
A decision has not been made on if Giuliani will attend CPAC, but he plans to speak before the board of the conservative Hoover Institution when it meets for a conference next month in Washington.
As with McCain, ACU's Keene predicts Giuliani would get a decent reaction should he also make it to CPAC in part because he's a celebrity of sorts. "Many conservatives admire his performance in NYC on crime, taxes and after 9/11," he said.
To Romney's camp, there is truth to Woody Allen's maxim about the importance of just showing up.
"As the old saying goes, a true friend is the person who walks into the room when all the others get up and walk out," quipped Kevin Madden, a spokesman for the former governor. "As a conservative Republican who wants to lead our party to victory and champion our ideals, Governor Romney prefers to reach out to these important groups as opposed to ignoring them."
[Martin comes to Politico from National Review, where he wrote about politics for the magazine and the Web site. Prior to that, he worked for The Hotline covering topics ranging from gubernatorial contests to congressional leadership battles.]
>>>>carefully staged only-pro-Rudy meetings and speeches, and a PR blitz focused on everything but the issues SoCons/Gun Conservatives care about.
Brillstein-Grey Entertainment offers powerful talent manager.
Duncan Hunter has already had a TV ad in Iowa.
Could it be because they aren't conservative?
nah... that doesn't make sense... /s
>>> the study reveals that 52 percent of Americans believe that Christian churches should express political views. Surprisingly, support for political involvement of churches is strongest among younger voters age 18 to 29 (59 percent).
NGOs
Skeptical? Not me. I know all I need to about both.
He seems to have a top-notch, well-organized and intelligent plan in place. Dare I say presidential?
The Romney family. Mitt and Ann and their 5 sons with families.
Guess I'm not mature. I like the dolly.
Ahem.... is this some sort of confession? They say that is the first step. Good luck.
Julie Annie and his cultists are going D-O-W-N.
Talk about distortions and misunderstanding your post may hold the modern day record.
Guiliani has been campaigning for conservative candidates across the country for six months or more. If he is "hiding" is he going about it in a way strange way.
"Skipping conservative events is intended to marginalize social conservatives and gun owners,..." This is just a LIE as Guiliani has been campaigning in Georgia, S. Carolina, Virginia for Allen, Ohio for Blackwell and many other places for conservative candidates. Why would you think such a LIE will not be exposed?
"The Julie-annie strategy from the get-go was to hijack the Republican party, and dump social conservatives/gun owners from the party." Another stupid LIE. Why don't you show us the source for such idiocy? What are you going to be whining about when the NRA supports him?
Either you are consciously LYING about what Kristol is saying or you don't understand it. He said NOTHING about changing our government. He DID say his goal was to change the GOP and conservativism so that it could GOVERN i.e. win in a "modern democracy". Now there is nothing wrong with attacking this statement from many angles but just flat out LYING about what he said is not worthy of FR.
The buzz is Julie-Annie is also planning to skip primaries in conservative-leaning states as a way to marginalize and dump conservatives overboard.
"What are you going to be whining about when the NRA supports him?" (Julie-Annie)
Yeah, that'll happen when ... 
(do you do Stand Up comedy in your spare time?)
When it happens I expect similiar yucks. But when the choice is RC or HRC the NRA will do the smart thing.
Cultists? Those not willing to spew hatred of him and look stupid are cultists. Hilarious.
Now as to the NRA - FYI they do not support 'Republicans'. They endorse candidates who believe whole heartedly in the RTKBA regardless of party. Shocking stance isn't it. They've even endorsed Democrats right here in IL, you can look that up.
Rudy holds the 2A in disdain and contempt, he SUED the gun makers -- along with Richie Daley and other left-wing liberal gun grabbing democrat mayors. The NRA didn't like that - really, I'm not kidding.
Ergo, if in some alternate universe it did come down to the two democrats, Rudy v Hillary, the NRA wouldn't endorse either.
That way he won't show so many defeats.
Why would they attend a conservative event?
They're not conservatives!
They think if they're the nominee, that conservatives won't have a choice, but to vote for them.
The key for conservatives is to make sure neither becomes the nominee!
Time to draft John Kyle!
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