ComMITTed to Romney!

Lots of new content over at Iowans for Romney!

Co-Blogger Keith Steurer (also a County Co-Chair for Romney) gives his take on the Huckabee stunt earlier today as well as some photos and commentary on a recent Romney event.

Recently added Co-Blgger “Big Jay” also chimes in with some recent posts (here & here.

And a Iowa Romney supporter sent me an e-mail with why he supports Romney. Pretty convincing stuff!

Jeff Fuller

So, who do you think is going to come in second in Iowa?

Gov. Huckabee, we hardly knew you. Then we started to learn a bit about you and promptly ran in the other direction. I could pretend that I’m angry about Huckabee’s baldly duplicitous press conference this morning, but I can’t. His attempt at playing the poor Christian martyr refusing to fight back (against legitimate ads focusing on his poor policies), but-here’s-the-ad-we-were-going-to-show-anyway-so-you-can-play-it-a-thousand-times-tonight-and-I-can-pretend-I’m-running-a-completely-positive-campaign spin was so badly mangled that the press corps laughed in his face. It was a gut-check reaction from a group of people who didn’t have time to filter their thoughts on the subject through a thousand different prisms and decide whether the strategy was brilliantly conceived or not. For that moment they were human, and the level of political theater had reached such a high degree of B.S. that it was on par with Ahmadinejad’s assertion that there are no homosexuals in Iran. Any credibility he hoped to achieve could get tossed right out the window with one simple soundbite.

I’m not angry because the con man has been exposed completely and there’s no putting that genie back in the bottle. Of course, we’ve known that Gov. Huckabee has been playing on the people of Iowa’s emotions for months without the slightest hint of substance. No, the emotion that I’m feeling today is more along the lines of schadenfreude. Our opponent has been kind enough to give us a sword and then proceeded to run into it a few times himself.

Bye-bye Huckster.

Now on to the campaign ahead of us. I feel confident tonight in stating that Gov. Romney will win Iowa. Yesterday the big question was who would come in 3rd. Now, I think, the question has shifted to who comes in 2nd.

Obviously, the best scenerio we could hope for would be a wounded Gov. Huckabee coming in 2nd with Sen. Thompson coming in a distant 3rd, but that seems unlikely. More probable we’ll see a last-minute surge from Sen. McCain and Sen. Thompson that may well overtake Gov. Huckabee. But the nightmare scenerio of Sen. McCain coming in 2nd might well be the “big story” of the night (for Republicans anyway).

Somehow, I don’t think that would happen though. Gov. Huckabee’s support really did not come from the Sen. McCain wing of the party. Really, the most obvious beneficiary of the southern-style social conservative, 2nd Amendent heavy candidate is Sen. Thompson.

So, I’m making an official ending prediction for Iowa:

1. Gov. Romney 35%
2. Sen. Thompson 23%
3. Sen. McCain 19%
4. Gov. Huckabee 15%

What this means for a resurgent Sen. Thompson campaign, I do not know. His odds tonight are better than the 1% chance I gave him yesterday though. S. Carolina again becomes an important state.

~~~Thomas

This comes from Jonathan Martin at Politico.

To make matters worse, as Huckabee’s challenges have grown more intense of late, he has lost the aide he brought on to handle his rapid-response and research operation.

Joe Carter, who took a leave from the Family Research Council to move down to the former Arkansas governor’s campaign headquarters in Little Rock, has returned to Washington, leaving a key position unfilled in the crucial final days before the caucuses.

With Carter gone — his last e-mail to reporters was Dec. 17 — Huckabee has been largely responding to every new story or attack that emerges himself, at times compounding the problem.

~Ryan Jesperson

“Mike Huckabee is the candidate that just keeps on giving!” [quote from Jeff Fuller just now after speaking with him]

Does Mr. Huckabee think we are all complete, utter idiots?

[Please forgive me for using the nickname “Duckabee” — I depart from the normal decorum in this one instance as I believe the label best suits Huckabee as he continues to dodge truth — I simply could not resist.]

KUDOS to Rusty, Ann Marie, and Mike for getting the Huckabee low-road story up so fast. Is this amazing, or what? Seriously, I think Huckabee woke up this morning and said to his wife,

“I think I want to become the first presidential candidate in the history of the Iowa caucuses to become a certifiable laughing stock of the media and the good folks of Iowa. What do you think darling? What is the best way for me to do that today?”

There are so many words that came to my mind after seeing all the reports today on this. I chose the title of this post from a line in Rusty’s post. Here are the words that came to my mind after watching all of these reports on Duckabee:

— CUNNING — INDECISIVE — MANIPULATIVE — CRAFTY — DISENGENUOUS — UNSOPHISTICATED — BACK-WATER — DISHONEST — CORRUPT — DECEITFUL — FRAUDULENT — DOUBLE-DEALING — UNPRINCIPLED — UNSCRUPULOUS — GUILE — TWO-FACED — DESPERATE (I could list the other 25 but want to keep this short)

Why the word “dishonest”? Simply because Duckabee absolutely knew that the State of Massachusetts, by law, does not allow capital punishment. Even if the guy feigns ignorance on this, he is inept at the very least. Governor Romney campaigned to add the death penalty in Mass.

The best moment of this day with Duck? When he said he made the (”high road”) decision to not run the ad but that he wanted to show it to the reporters so they supposedly would know he made the ad. He made that statement with a complete straight face as if he were serious. Then the entire audience burst out in complete spontaneous laughter and Duckabee stood there with a complete serious face. I totally expected him to burst into laughter himself. That was hilarious!

Carl Cameron, in one clip I saw, said this could end up as a genius move by Duck. If the people of Iowa don’t mind being played the fools by his camp, then maybe. There is a chance that Huckabee has attained “martyr” status in the minds of some in Iowa. If so, then there will be a sympathy following, but still I cannot imagine thinking people backing a person who touts his “Christian values” while his behavior is completely dishonest at best.

No, I think this will sink Huck’s life-raft. Iowans are not fools. Reporters of the MSM are not fools and I think they will turn on Huck. Until about two weeks ago, Huck has gotten a pass from the MSM. His presumptuous, manipulative, and cunning behavior to play all the reporters for fools will backfire. They will shred him in the next few days. Mark my words. It is over for Huckabee. He will get the martyr-sympathy vote, but that is it (credit to Jeff Fuller for this insight). Iowans are too smart to vote for this guy. I think we will see the media eat Huckabee alive over the next three plus days.

I wish I could be a fly on the wall in one of the Republican caucus meeting halls to hear the discussions among voters. Oh, how sweet it would be.

Here is how I would like the results to show three nights from now, in Iowa, on Thursday night:

— Romney: 44%
— Hunter: 18%
— Thompson: 9%
— Keyes: 8%
— Giuliani: 5%
— Paul: 5%
— McCain: 5%
— Tancredo: 4% (yes, he will still get votes)
— Duckabee: 2%

I gave Duckabee 4%, not because I think there are really dumb Iowans, but because I think 4% of the Republican voters of Iowa who liked Duckabee a month ago, will not have gotten the news from today.

IOWANS: Please remember that both Giuliani and McCain abandoned the Ames Straw Poll in August effectively telling you a) your straw poll does not matter, and b) we [McCain/Giuliani] don’t want you to have any of our campaign money for your economy.

~ Vic

I’ve pointed out Romney’s comprehensive policy statement “Strategy for a Stronger America” in previous posts.

One of the nice things about this document is that it provides the text to a number of Romney’s major speeches. I spent some time reading the text of these speeches and was struck by how powerful and well thought out they are. They are worth reading.

Below is the text of the speech Romney delivered at the 2007 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).

“The mainstream media is surprised that we’re here. They wrote our obituary last fall. Course, they’ve written our obituary before: after Watergate, after the 82 midterm elections, after Iran-contra, and after Bill Clinton’s election. The truth is that their wishful thinking reports of our demise have been greatly exaggerated. In fact, I predict that we’ll be around a lot longer than . . . say, newspapers.

“No, conservatism is alive and well. And it is needed more than ever. America faces a new generation of challenges, critical challenges. Today is similar in many respects to what we faced as a nation 30 years ago, looking at the menacing face of communism.

“In fact, 30 years ago, in this very conference, one man stood up and told America what was needed. It was conservatism, a new coalition of conservatives that would lead to a brighter future for the nation. Ronald Reagan said this: ‘What I envision is not simply a melding together of the two branches of American conservatism into a temporary uneasy alliance, but the creation of a new, lasting majority.’ And here is where he said that this conservative alliance would lead: ‘I have seen the conservative future, and it works.’

Continue Reading »

Pay special attention to the “no executions” part, like I said earlier Massachusetts doesn’t have the death penalty so there is a good reason for that. I think the whole thing reeks amateurism, and is absolutely laughable. Heck the “Trust Huckabee” group does a better job at campaign ads lol.

From —–>The Washington Post

“Huckabee said the ad which attacks Romney for being too dishonest to be president — was sent to television and radio stations yesterday but will not be broadcast. He said he had made the decision 10 minutes before his [12:00pm CST] news conference, surprising even his top staff. ‘I pulled the ad. I do not want it to be run at all,’ he said.”

More from —–>The Politico

“[Senior aide Charmaine] Yoest, who set up the staging of the press conference, just came back out to the hallway and said she was told about five minutes before the event started that he would not air the ad. By then, she said, it was too late to remove the signs.”

The Cedar Rapid Gazette tells a different story and says the ad was pulled from KCRG-TV9 TV9 in Cedar Rapids at precisely 10:01am CST:

More—–>Cedar Rapids Gazette

“An official at KCRG-TV9 TV9 in Cedar Rapids confirmed that the station received the 30-second spot from the Huckabee campaign shortly after 6 a.m. today but was told at 10:01 a.m. not to air the commercial and the station did not show the paid advertisement.”

Looks like we have a Drama King on our hands Ladies and Gentlemen.

“To say one thing one minute and then turn around and show an attack ad to reporters the next will, obviously, leave folks with a very cynical view of Mike Huckabee and his message.”

Camera Crews Jump for Coverage
After it became clear that Huckabee was not going to air the ad on Iowa television, but would still preview it for reporters, the press corps offered a collective laugh in recognition of what Huckabee was up to.
photo by:Robert A. Reeder

Asked to explain the pledge to stay positive with his decision to still show the ad and display the oppo, Huckabee said he only showed the negative spot to prove that he had actually cut one and had made this decision (link).

So he had to think about keeping his promise? It’s not like he has a problem with telling the truth. And it’s not like he hasn’t already been negative PERSONALLY. Romney has been talking about the issues, and praising Huckabee personally in his contrast issue adds. Huckabee has been running to any microphone within eye site calling Mitt Romney names, saying he is “dishonest, and desperate” and Saint Huckabee tries to act all holier-than-anyone claiming, after he airs his negative adds, that he is not going to run them because he is such a nice guy?

Please Read Rusty’s Post that already mentioned this earlier on the blog. I missed that he’d already posted it. You gotta love those fast moving news days

You read that right, he assembled a room full of reports to Unveil his attack ad against Romney, and then said, ““It’s never too late to do the right thing,” in regards to not airing them. Then he proceeded to play the ad because he said Reporters wouldn’t believe it existed.

I find this description of the ad almost humorous (from The NY Times):

At the same time, he pointed to media cynicism as the reason he felt compelled to show the ad, saying that unless he showed it, reporters would not believe that it really existed. It criticized Mr. Romney’s record as governor of Massachusetts, saying he supported gun control, allowed a co-pay for abortions in his health plan, raised taxes and ordered no executions.

The last part in bold above is the most humorous, seeing that Massachusetts —>doesn’t have the death penalty. I guess that Huckabee would have Governor Romney just going around and ordering people to randomly execute people. I guess he’d like for him to become a “Mafia like” figure.

I swear this guy is absolutely clueless, and he gets more ignorant by the moment.

MITT ROMNEY
Legislative
Sen. Jim Hahn, Muscatine
Sen. David Johnson, Ocheyden
Sen. Dave Mulder, Sioux City
Sen. Brad Zaun, Urbandale
Rep. Rich Anderson, Clarinda
Rep. Betty De Boef, What Cheer
Rep. Dave Deyoe, Nevada
Rep. Greg Forristall, Macedonia
Rep. Linda Miller, Bettendorf
Rep. Steve Olson, DeWitt
Rep. Christopher Rants, Sioux City
Rep. Chuck Soderberg, LeMars
Rep. Doug Struyk, Council Bluffs
Rep. Dave Tjepkes, Gowrie
Rep. Jodi Tymeson, Winterset
Rep. Ralph Watts, Adel
Rep. Tami Wiencek, Waterloo

Other
Doug Gross, 2002 gubernatorial nominee
Brian Kennedy, 2006 1st CD candidate
Fmr. House Speaker Brent Siegrist
Fmr. Senate Majority Leader Stew Iverson
Fmr. Rep. Jim Kurtenbach
Debi Durham, 2002 lt. gov. nominee

Newspaper
Marshalltown Times-Republican
Sioux City Journal
The Daily Nonpareil (Council Bluffs)

JOHN MCCAIN
Legislative
Rep. Steve Lukan, New Vienna
Rep. Mike May, Spirit Lake
Rep. Rod Roberts, Carroll
Rep. Bill Schickel, Mason City
Rep. Walt Tomenga, Johnston,
Sen. Larry McKibben, Marshalltown
Sen. John Putney, Gladbrook
Sen. Pat Ward, West Des Moines
Other
Dave Roederer
Chuck Larson, Fmr. Sen. and former RPI chair
Fmr. Congressman Greg Ganske
Fmr. Auditor Dick Johnson
Fmr. Sen. Jeff Lamberti
Fmr. Sen. Julie Hosch
Fmr. Sen. Pat Shey
Fmr. Rep. Ralph Klemme
Newspaper
Des Moines Register
Daily Iowan
Iowa State Daily
Quad City Times
Woodbine Twiner

FRED THOMPSON
Congress
U.S. Rep. Steve King
Legislative
Rep. Clel Baudler, Greenfield
Rep. Royd Chambers, Sheldon
Rep. Sandy Greiner, Washington
Rep. Jeff Kaufmann, Wilton
Rep. Kraig Paulsen, Hiawatha
Rep. Jamie Van Fossen, Davenport
Rep. Gary Worthan, Storm Lake
Other
Bill Salier, 2002 Senate nominee
Fmr. Sen. Bob Brunkhorst
Newspaper
Ottumwa Courier

MIKE HUCKABEE
Legislative
Rep. Dwayne Alons, Hull
Rep. Carmine Boal, Ankeny
Sen. David Hartsuch, Bettendorf

Other
Bob Vander Plaats
Chuck Hurley
Fmr. Rep. Danny Carroll
Urbandale Mayor Bob Andeweg

Newspaper
Iowa City Press-Citizen
Sheldon Northwestern Iowa Review
Valley News Today (daily)