Posted on 12/31/2007 6:48:34 AM PST by Reaganesque
COLUMBUS JUNCTION, Iowa -- Down more than 10 points in the polls here only weeks ago, Mitt Romney appears to be surging back days before Iowans head to their caucuses.
Two polls released over the weekend showed Romney ahead of rival Mike Huckabee by several points, while another survey out Sunday has Romney in a statistical tie with the former Arkansas governor.
That's a far cry from early November, when a surging Huckabee took the front-runner mantle from Romney and never looked back. While Iowa's caucuses -- the first test of the presidential contest - are difficult to poll given only a small percentage of the state actually turns out for the caucus meetings, the polls may indicate a change in attitudes in Iowa.
A spokesman for Romney said polling really is all over the map.
"We're still running like the underdog," traveling press secretary Eric Fehrnstrom said, "although the sense is the people of Iowa are responding to Mitt Romney's message that he is the candidate who can bring real change to Washington and fix what's broken."
A new McClatchy, MSNBC and Mason-Dixon poll out Sunday has Romney leading Huckabee 27 percent to 23 percent, while an American Research poll from Saturday shows Romney leading Huckabee by 9 points, 32 percent to 23 percent. Meanwhile, a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby International survey of likely caucus-goers finds Romney and Huckabee in a statistical tie.
Huckabee's emergence as a front-runner was followed by intense media scrutiny while Romney had already faced that earlier this year, a point that could have lead to Huckabee's quick rise and plateau in the polls.
Huckabee on Sunday went on NBC's "Meet the Press" to counter criticism that he doesn't have enough foreign policy experience after a series of gaffes on the campaign trail. He ticked off a demographic-filled list about Pakistan when quizzed about a misstep, but spent several moments slamming back at Romney for his critical advertisements.
Huckabee said Romney was running a "desperate and dishonest campaign."
"If you aren't being honest in obtaining the job, can we trust you to be honest when you get the job," Huckabee said.
Romney's national spokesman, Kevin Madden, responded to Huckabee's attack noting that the rival candidate "never refutes the facts of his troubling record."
"It's a record that is tough to defend, so his testiness and irritability when being questioned about it is obvious," Madden said.
"But Mike Huckabee's lashing out with personal attacks against Governor Romney that have no merit or substance is quite unfortunate. Campaigns should be about the issues."
What's the "hard source" of the photo of Romney with the gay flag?
One thing is apparent to me, if Mitt Romney can significantly top Huckabee after losing the lead in Iowa, he’ll be able to deal with whatever Hillary, Obama, or Edwards dishes out, should he get the nomination.
From accounts I've read, Huck was Mr. Nice Guy as long as you were 100% on his side, but woe unto you if you disagreed with him. Clearly, Huck's competitors have picked up on that, and used it.
Falsus en uno, falsus en omnibus. :)
Romney has never advocated a national health plan.
You claim to know a lot about the Log Cabins. Are you a member.
I’ve backed up my info. Therefore, it is not a claim. IT is called FACT.
Ask David Mixner. He has a website blog. He started the funds :)
Are you part of Log Cabineers for Hunter??
Hard-sourced my hairy cheeks. There is a kernel of truth in some of it but most of it is FLACCID and propaganda from your basic white supremacy website. Good job exposing yourself.
While I don’t support organs like The Log Cabin Republicans, they are far from being tied to any Commie organization. You need to put aside your anti-gay sentiments for a moment and innoculate your homo hating life view. They’re here, they’re queer but none that I know are child molesters, or recruiting your sons or daughters for free-love or anal rape. In fact, my acquaintances are guys and gals who have served their country and don’t ask for any special consideration in return except to be left alone to live their version of the American Dream.
I, nor Duncan Hunter, would never have anything to do with commies. Which the Stonewallers are. Which the Log Cabins have political affiliations and funding with.
>>>from your basic white supremacy website.
Link?
Mike Huckabee is the new Howard Dean.
You were bright enough to find this crap and post it on this forum at this particular thread surely you can do a Google search and find the same propaganda at several sites. I know, I have seen them, try the Westside Baptist Church’s cesspool for starters. Or are you one of their contributors? You conveniently ignored the gist of my message.
You implied that I copied this from a white supremacy website. Source that site. This is my own compilation and research.
Now, what are you disputing? Stonewalls affiliation to NAMBLA? Log Cabin’s affiliation to Stonewall? I will be glad to provide more information. Just tell me what you are doubting.
Your flyer is nice and big and red, but it doesn't negate all of the hard work Mitt did in Massachusetts on behalf of families as documented in this letter from pro-family and prolife groups in his state thanking him for the actual work he did:
An Open Letter from Pro-Life Leaders Regarding Governor Mitt Romney
January 11, 2007
Dear conservative friends:
We hail from a broad spectrum of organizations dedicated to fighting for the pro-family agenda in Massachusetts. As you know, Mitt Romney became the governor of our state in 2003.
Since that time, we have worked closely with him and his excellent staff on that agenda. Some press accounts and bloggers have described Governor Romney in terms we neither have observed nor can we accept. To the contrary, we, who have been fighting here for the values you also hold, are indebted to him and his responsive staff in demonstrating solid social conservative credentials by undertaking the following actions here in Massachusetts:
• Staunchly defended traditional marriage. Governor Romney immediately and strongly condemned the 2003 court decision that legalized “same-sex marriage” in our state. More importantly, he followed up on that denunciation with action – action that saved our nation from a constitutional crisis over the definition of marriage. He and his staff identified and enforced a little-known 1913 law that allowed them to order local clerks not to issue marriage licenses to out-of-state couples. Absent this action, homosexual couples would surely have flooded into Massachusetts from other states to get “married” and then demanded that their home states recognize the “marriages,” putting the nation only one court decision away from nationalizing “same-sex marriage.”
• Worked hard to overturn “same-sex marriage” in the Commonwealth with considerable progress to date. In 2004 he lobbied hard, before a very hostile legislature, for a constitutional amendment protecting marriage – an amendment later changed by the legislature to include civil unions, which the Governor and many marriage amendment supporters opposed. Working with the Governor, we were successful in defeating this amendment.
• Provided active support for a successful citizen petition drive in 2005 to advance a clean constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman.
• Rallied thousands of citizens to focus public and media attention on the failure of legislators, through repeated delays, to perform their constitutional obligation and vote on the marriage amendment.
• Filed suit before the Supreme Judicial Court. The Governor’s suit asked the court to clarify the legislators’ duty to vote and failing that, to place the amendment on the 2008 ballot. That lawsuit, perhaps more than any other single action, was by all accounts instrumental in bringing pressure on the legislators to vote. The vote ultimately was taken on January 2, 2007 and won legislative support – clearing a major hurdle in the three year effort to restore traditional marriage in the Commonwealth.
• Fought for abstinence education. In 2006, under Governor Romney’s leadership, Massachusetts’ public schools began to offer a classroom program on abstinence from the faith-based Boston group Healthy Futures to middle school students. Promoting the program, Governor Romney stated, “I’ve never had anyone complain to me that their kids are not learning enough about sex in school. However, a number of people have asked me why it is that we do not speak more about abstinence as a safe and preventative health practice.”
• Affirmed the culture of life. Governor Romney has vetoed bills to provide access to the socalled “morning-after pill,” which is an abortifacient, as well as a bill providing for expansive, embryo-destroying stem cell research. He vetoed the latter bill in 2005 because he could not “in good conscience allow this bill to become law.”
• Stood for religious freedom. Last year, Governor Romney was stalwart in defense of the right of Catholic Charities of Boston to refuse to allow homosexual couples to adopt children in its care. Catholic Charities was loudly accused of “discrimination,” but Governor Romney correctly pointed out that it is unjust to force a religious agency to violate the tenets of its faith in order to placate a special-interest group.
• Filed “An Act Protecting Religious Freedom” in the Massachusetts legislature to save Catholic Charities of Boston and other religious groups from being forced to violate their moral principles or stop doing important charitable work.
All of this may explain why John J. Miller, the national political reporter of National Review, has written that “a good case can be made that Romney has fought harder for social conservatives than any other governor in America, and it is difficult to imagine his doing so in a more daunting political environment.”
We are aware of the 1994 comments of Senate candidate Romney, which have been the subject of much recent discussion. While they are, taken by themselves, obviously worrisome to social conservatives including ourselves, they do not dovetail with the actions of Governor Romney from 2003 until now – and those actions have positively and demonstrably impacted the social climate of Massachusetts.
Since well before 2003, we have been laboring in the trenches of Massachusetts, fighting for the family values you and we share. It is difficult work indeed – not for the faint of heart. In this challenging environment, Governor Romney has proven that he shares our values, as well as our determination to protect them.
For four years, Governor Romney has been right there beside us, providing leadership on key issues – whether it was politically expedient to do so or not. He has stood on principle, and we have benefited greatly from having him with us. It is clear that Governor Romney has learned much since 1994 – to the benefit of our movement and our Commonwealth. In fact, the entire nation has benefited from his socially conservative, pro-family actions in office. As we explained earlier, his leadership on the marriage issue helped prevent our nation from being plunged into even worse legal turmoil following the court decision that forced “gay marriage” upon our Commonwealth.
For that our country ought to be thankful. We certainly are.
Sincerely,
Rita Covelle President, Morality in Media Massachusetts
Richard Guerriero Immediate Past State Deputy, Massachusetts State Council, Knights of Columbus
Mary Ann Glendon Learned Hand Professor of Law, Harvard Law School
Kristian Mineau President, Massachusetts Family Institute
Dr. Roberto Miranda President, COPAHNI Fellowship of Hispanic Pastors of New England
James Morgan President, Institute for Family Development
Joseph Reilly President, Massachusetts Citizens for Life
Thomas A. Shields Chairman, Coalition for Family and Marriage
In your big, long, post are you trying to say Romney was NOT endorsed by the Log Cabin Republicans in 1994 and 2002?
And if you have issues with the flyer, take it up with the Romney for Governor Committee. They made it, not me.
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