More on Huckabee’s endorsement by Machinists

August 31, 2007 – 11:05 am

I think that this is fascinating. Here’s what the Machinists say:

“Mike Huckabee was the only Republican candidate with the guts to meet with our members and the only one willing to figure out where and how we might work together,” said Buffenbarger. “He is entitled to serious consideration from our members voting in the upcoming Republican primaries.”

Mike Huckbee’s campaign fills out a little what they talked about:

Huckabee spoke before over 700 members of the IAM in Orlando, Florida on Monday about jobs, globalization, health care, and other 21st century domestic issues.

What does that mean? Specifically, on trade, or "fair trade" as Huckabee calls it:

Huckabee also said he believes in fair trade. “Free trade has to be fair trade. We are losing jobs because of an unlevel, unfair trading arena that has to be fixed. Behind the statistics, there are real families, real lives, and real pain. I’m running for President because I don’t want people who have worked loyally for a company for 20 or 30 years to walk in one morning and be handed a pink slip and be told, ‘I’m sorry, but everything you spent your life working for is no longer here.’"

What does this mean? Why aren’t we losing jobs because the skill sets and technology are changing. Protectionism isn’t going to help that. New skills are.

I repeat. Mike Huckabee is running as an economist populist, the likes of which this party has not seen in a while. BTW, he is going to suck up lots of oxygen from Duncan Hunter with this. And this is going to be very, very, very powerful in South Carolina, where the main division in the last US Senate race was between free-trading Jim DeMint and (now coke-head) Ravenel. Between that and the whole Southern Baptist thing, Huckabee could really do well. Especially if his numbers keep going up in Iowa.

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Rocky and Mitt breakup!

June 26, 2007 – 9:03 am

Mitt Romney endorsed Rocky Anderson for mayor of Salt Lake in 2003. Here’s the ad:

Turns out that Rocky is unhappy with Mitt now. From the Deseret News:

Anderson told host Amy Goodman, "This is not Mitt Romney. If you asked Mitt Romney, sat down and got the real Mitt Romney, first of all, he would say we never should have been in Iraq. Never would Mitt Romney and his wife — and they’re a team, believe me — they would never support the concept of kidnapping and torturing human beings. They have always stood up for human rights, fundamental human rights."

So Rocky says that the Mitt Romney we see isn’t the real one. His evil twin?

"He was very clearly supportive of Roe v. Wade," Anderson said. "He said that as he ran for governor, as he ran for senator in Massachusetts. He told me, going into that race, that Roe v. Wade is working, we need to get beyond this issue." Romney has since moved to the pro-life camp, citing a personal realization during the debate over stem-cell research.

Isn’t that kind of like what Romney told NARAL in 2002? Anyways, more Rocky:

From the war in Iraq to gay issues, Anderson said he believes Romney "has caved into his handlers" and is adopting a viewpoint that "sells to the right-wing Christian Coalition. … This is not the Mitt Romney I knew, and it really saddens me."

In fact, if not for the "flip-flopping," Anderson said he could get behind Romney’s campaign.

"He needs to be himself," Anderson said. "If Mitt Romney would be himself, true to himself, true to the people of this country, I think he would be a great president."

The Romney campaign has tried to spin this as an ideological difference. But that’s not how I read this. This is a character judgment from a self-described "great friend." And a damning one.

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Romney loses Congressional Whip

May 25, 2007 – 12:37 pm

The Washington Prowler has the story and the analysis:

Any doubts former Sen. Fred Thompson isn’t getting into the race have probably flown out the window based on the news this morning that Rep. Marsha Blackburn has jumped off the Mitt Romney Bandwagon and endorsed Thompson. Given that Blackburn is friends with Thompson and from the same state, the endorsement isn’t a surprise. But the timing is. Thompson isn’t announced yet. This leads us to believe that Blackburn must know something other folks don’t. Otherwise, why so publicly go out on a limb and embarrass the Romney camp? According to Romney insiders, Blackburn was slated to help run the "Women for Romney" operation and was in line to be a key national surrogate for the campaign down south. This isn’t a huge blow to that campaign by any stretch. But it is an interesting little twist to a race that is getting more interesting by the hour.

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Giuliani steals Romney RNC endorser!

May 24, 2007 – 11:51 am

Rudy Giuliani just announced his Rhode Island leadership team. One name struck me:

Republican National Committeeman Robert Manning

Why? Because Mitt Romney’s campaign claimed him as an early RNC endorser:

Current And Former RNC Committee Members Supporting Governor Romney (Already Announced):

…
- Robert Manning, RI

That the Romney campaign was faking their RNC lists has been an open secret, and a couple more of these are expected. But I think that this is the first one.

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Allard endorses Romney; Romney seals another caucus state

April 16, 2007 – 9:20 am

Mitt Romney just announced the endorsement of retiring Colorado Senator Wayne Allard. Romney has signed up huge amounts of the Colorado GOP establishment and Allard’s main issue is gay marriage, so this is no surprise. But the question is why Colorado?

Here’s one thought. Perhaps Romney is trying to seal up the traditional late caucus states like Missouri, which he has (although he just lost the LG to Thompson) and Colorado. Does that mean that Romney is planning for the post-Feb. 5th cleanup?

There are several theories about Feb. 5th, but one is that there will not yet be a decisive winner, and the fight for delegates will shift dramatically after that point. Many of the remaining delegate selection contests will be caucuses in which organization matter. Romney could be laying the groundwork for that. They do run a very methodical campaign. Too bad about the candidate…

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Big SC Endorsement for Rudy

April 5, 2007 – 7:01 am

Tom Ravenel, the State Treasurer. I remember making phone calls for DeMint hoping desperately that we wouldn’t elect a protectionist to the US Senate. Good statewide pickup for Rudy. He needs more of those.

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Giuliani signs Forbes

March 28, 2007 – 10:19 am

This is a big deal, and Ryan Sager has it.. Rudy Giuliani was endrosed by Steve Forbes today. Forbes ran in 2000 and performed well, 30%, in Iowa, and so-so in New Hampshire. But what Forbes has is a network and lists. One of my persistent criticisms of the Giuliani campaign has been that there has not been an in-state organization. Signing Forbes helps a huge amount.

For example, when I was in New Hampshire last weekend, Matt Lewis and I interviewed State Rep. Stephanie Eaton who had not decided between Rudy Giuliani and John McCain. But she endorsed Steve Forbes in 2000. I bet that this is swinging her to Giuliani.

Good job team Rudy.

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Romney donor switches to Rudy; Cites lack of moral compass

March 22, 2007 – 6:46 am

This is brutal. The rumors were thick yesterday, but it hit. Ambassador Richard Blackenship, a major Florida donor, switched from Romney to Giuliani. Check out part of the letter:

"The changes in core beliefs gave rise to some concerns. You have to have an anchor in life," he said of Romney. "Mayor Giuliani has a firm, secure hold on his moral compass and how that effects his platform, rather than change to satisfy special interests in our party. The Republican Party needs to broaden its appeal beyond a few special interests."

More:

[Blackenship] said he resigned from Romney’s Florida finance team after becoming convinced Giuliani had broader appeal and said other Romney fundraisers in Florida could do the same.

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Where are Rudy’s endorsements?

March 19, 2007 – 1:34 pm

I noticed something today when I saw that Dan Quayle said that he thinks that Mitt Romney will win the nomination.  Look at Indiana, where the endorsements are split between John McCain and Romney:

Where are Rudy Giuliani’s endorsements? He is top in the polls. He will do well with money. But I think that a lot of insiders still don’t believe that he can win the nomination. Instead he gets one-offs, like David Vitter, who is taken as an indication that social conservatives will support Rudy.

But the endorsement game has been a two-person game on the GOP side. Once you take away New Yorkers, Rudy has only one more endorsement than Duncan Hunter who no one is taking seriously (even his own staff. At CPAC, they were saying that they didn’t know why Hunter was running. They didn’t think he could win)

Now, don’t take this as anti-Rudy, because endorsements don’t mean much. But they are leading indicators of conventional wisdom. When does Rudy start to really roll out endorsements, lists, etc? Those will be one of the signs that he is converting his high poll numbers and name-ID into an organization.

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McCain cranks up in New York

March 5, 2007 – 1:45 pm

This is interesting:

GOP consultant and former state GOP Executive Director Brendan Quinn, who was involved in the state Republican Party’s efforts to keep U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Az, off New York’s presidential primary ballot in 2000, confirmed he is now working for McCain and setting up his Empire State campaign for the ‘08 election.

…

Among McCain’s other New York supporters is former U.S. Sen. Alfonse D’Amato, Quinn said.

This is interesting because New York probably has the most baroque ballot-access laws in the country. Some friends of mine make quite a bit of money off this. At CPAC a New York operative, leaning McCain, told me that he expects that only McCain and Rudy Giuliani will be able to get on the ballot across the state.

The New York showdown will be quite interesting. It could have strong upstate-versus-NYC overtones.

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