Posted on 01/03/2008 3:00:43 PM PST by jdm
Remember the push poll around Thanksgiving that "asked" voters in New Hampshire if they had awareness of some aspects of the Mormon religion? Both Mitt Romney and John McCain filed complaints with the state Attorney General for violations of New Hampshire's laws against push-polling. At the time, no one would 'fess up to hiring Western Wats to conduct the attack. Now the AG has found the next-level cutout, and it wants witnesses who can show where it leads:
Attorney General Kelly A. Ayotte is requesting the public’s assistance in identifying who employed Moore-Information of Portland, Oregon to conduct a poll in New Hampshire, in November 2007, which has been alleged to be a push-poll. New Hampshire’s voters deserve to know whether any candidate in our Presidential Primary violated New Hampshire’s push-poll statute.
On Friday, November 16, 2007, the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office received complaints from both Mitt Romney for President, Inc., and John McCain 2008, Inc., alleging that an illegal push-poll was being conducted in New Hampshire, contrary to New Hampshire RSA 664:2, XVII and RSA 664:16-a. As a result of these complaints, this Office commenced an investigation.
Moore Information hired Western Wats; who hired Moore Information? Jim Geraghty has its client list in politics, and it looks pretty exclusively Republican. They mostly do work in the interior West, with a lot of Idaho, Montana, Washington, and Oregon officeholders and candidates on the list. The only current presidential candidate on the list, though, is Ron Paul. Geraghty mentioned this during today's Heading Right Radio show, but it's not exactly conclusive linkage to the push polling.
Western Wats obviously got set up as a cut-out, a middleman step to keep investigators from tracking down the campaign that initiated this. Moore Information appears to be either another cut-out or the firm that arranged the Western Wats cutout. With Q4 FEC filings due, the campaigns have to list all of their outlays. If one has Moore on their list, then we have some significant linkage to the push poll. If no one does, then Moore is another cut-out.
The candidate to whom this gets tied can kiss their future good-bye. With all of the time that has passed, the issue will not be so much the creepy religion-based push-polling, but the dishonesty of not taking responsibility for it immediately and firing someone over it. If the AG succeeds in finding the connection through the cut-outs, it will ring down the curtain on the prospects for that campaign.
UPDATE: I have searched the FEC filings for those candidates who have already submitted their Q4 campaign records, and see no disbursements for Moore Information. That includes Romney, Giuliani, Paul, Huckabee, Thompson, Clinton, and Richardson. McCain hasn't filed yet, but he co-initiated the complaint, which makes him a very unlikely suspect.
Notice that nobody suspects Hunter.
He’s an honorable man, it’s not even a question.
Someone had to pay Moore, and Huckabee was penurious.
Obviously the perps want to keep the lid on until after the primary (Jan. 8).
Ron Paul certainly has the money for this.
Can someone explain what a "cut-out" is?
“They mostly do work in the interior West, with a lot of Idaho, Montana, Washington, and Oregon officeholders and candidates on the list.”
One politician they work for stands out near NH — Susan Collins of Maine. Is she a McCain supporter? Were the phone calls made from Maine?
It was McCain, I believe. He’s a player in NH, overreacted with his “innocence”, and soon after trotted out his mother to make some anti-LDS cracks.
On the other hand, who stands to gain by this? I see little chance that anyone leaning toward the wishy-washy centrist Romney would switch to the extremist Paul. Romney's biggest competition is McCain. Could someone friendly to McCain have done this without McC's knowledge? The perp almost certainly has to be known as a supporter of a candidate; that would explain his wanting not to be identified before the primary.
Susan Collins was on McCain’s presidential exploratory committee for one.
No, Paul as the culprit doesn't make much sense.
Romney's biggest competition is McCain.
Or that other guy. The one whose campaign manager told the world he wants to knock out Romney's teeth. The one who asked, oh so innocently, but for all the world to hear, whether Mormons believe Jesus and satan are brothers. The one who accused his chief critic in the tuition-for-illegals debate in the Arkansas legislature of drinking a different kind of "Jesus juice."
That guy.
Huckabee Chairman Ed Rollins Trashes Romney
My money is on the Clinton Campaign!! They are clever and devious and WOULD hire a Republican firm!!
All we know for sure is that if Hillary Clinton was not aware of it, it came from her campaign.
I suspect that the culprit was an outsider.
In the infamous 2000 South Carolina push poll in which it was hinted that McCain had fathered a black child out of wedlock, the culprits in that case were Texas oil men who wanted to help Jorge. Ray Hunt may have been one of them.
In this case, the candidates who would most likely profit by peeling votes away from Romney would be a.) Huckabee (who has demonstrated a penchant for dirty tricks and who would be most likely to gain voters by the gambit) and b.) McPain (an opportunist of the first water...and the candidate who is trying to catch Romney).
Neither are above it.
Yeah, I saw this, it could be Huckabee, easily, he’s playing dirty. McCain, of course, because he’s been known to play dirty...Paul, because his supporters usually play dirty...Clinton, because she ALWAYS plays dirty.
I’ve also heard Mitt could have set himself up so he’d have a reason to play persecuted Mormon again.
I think McCain is hiding out in the open. Just my personal opinion.
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