While his public schedule has been markedly light, at least compared with Romney and McCain, Giuliani has kept up the fundraising pace. His campaign declined to say how many total events they did for the quarter, but said they’ll do around 50 in June alone.

Labels: fundraising, Jonathan Martin, Politico

he New Hampshire Attorney General's Office has opened an investigation into whether presidential hopeful Mitt Romney's staff might have made an illegal traffic stop, the same day a group of conservative activists with a connection to rival Sen. John McCain complained Thursday.

ConserveNH President Paul Nagy wrote a letter to Attorney General Kelly Ayotte asking her to check if Romney aides illegally stopped a New York Times reporter, checked his license plate against a database and overstepped their role.

"We want attention to the indiscretion," said Nagy, who said he is not supporting a candidate. "I think there is a bunch of arrogance involved in this. We just don't do that to guests when they visit our state during the presidential primary season."

One of ConserveNH's founder, Patrick Hynes, works for McCain's political action committee, Straight Talk America.

Nagy said the letter was sent independently of the McCain campaign and said he was unaware that Hynes is on McCain's payroll.

"I know nothing about that. I could not tell you who any of the members of the board are supporting," said Nagy, who is a critic of McCain's immigration plan.

"We want attention to the indiscretion," said Nagy, who said he is not supporting a candidate. "I think there is a bunch of arrogance involved in this. We just don't do that to guests when they visit our state during the presidential primary season."

McCain's New Hampshire spokeswoman Jill Hazelbaker flatly denied any connection between the campaign and the letter.

"You would be hard-pressed not to find a McCain supporter in just about any New Hampshire organization. Mr. Nagy's statement speaks for itself," she said.

Gathering for their April meeting at the county courthouse, Republican activists from Warren County, Iowa, planned for this summer's county fair and vented about illegal immigration.

And then the county chairman for Senator John McCain's presidential campaign, Chad Workman, made an unexpected digression: He took direct aim at Mitt Romney's religion, according to four people at the meeting.

Workman questioned whether Mormons were Christians, discussed an article alleging that the Mormon Church helps fund Hamas, and likened the Mormons' treatment of women to the Taliban's, said participants, who requested anonymity to discuss the meeting freely.

One participant summed up Workman's argument this way: "The fundamental flaw of Mitt Romney . . . was that he was Mormon, not because he thinks this way or that way on one issue."

Workman did not return calls seeking comment.

Emma Nemecek, an Iowa field operative for Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas, had recently forwarded an e-mail to Iowa Republicans containing a number of criticisms of Mormonism, including a charge that it is not a Christian faith. The e-mail closed with a quote from a Founding Father, John Jay: "Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers."

The April meeting in Warren County is one of several instances in which a representative of McCain's campaign has tried to highlight Romney's membership in the Mormon Church.

Last year, when Romney and McCain were battling to sign up supporters in key states, Romney's campaign got word that Chuck Larson, a former Iowa GOP chairman and now one of McCain's top Iowa advisers, had been calling Mormonism a "cult" while trying to woo state legislators and their staff. One Republican Larson approached, who would talk only on condition of anonymity, said that Larson told him, "He's a Mormon for crying out loud -- that's essentially a cult."

When David Kochel, a senior Romney adviser in Iowa, learned of Larson's comments, he complained to Larson's business partners. Larson then called back to apologize, according to Kochel, who recounted Larson's apology this way: "David, I just want you to know that I made a joke about Governor Romney's religion. It is not the kind of thing I'm proud of, and it's not the kind of thing I will ever do again."

Larson declined to comment.

There have been other scattered instances of McCain representatives raising Romney's religion. Earlier this year, for example, The State newspaper in Columbia, S.C., reported that McCain operatives had distributed to reporters comments by evangelical leader James Dobson questioning whether a Mormon could win the presidency.

Romney has faced repeated slights against his religion from other quarters as well. A Florida televangelist, Bill Keller, told followers recently that a vote for Romney is a vote for Satan. And a small group of worshipers from the Faith Christian Outreach Church in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, has been going door-to-door distributing a DVD that takes a critical look at the Mormon Church.

"Our concern was simply that Mormonism has continued to try and pass itself off as a Christian religion, which it is not," said Monte Knudsen, senior pastor at the church, who insisted the effort was not aimed at hurting Romney's candidacy.

Labels: ARG, Nevada, Polls

Labels: Justin Hart, Lighted Candle Society

[Larry] Sabato said the incident reflects on Giuliani, who accepted Ravenel's aid when he was first putting his campaign together and most of the state's top Republicans had committed elsewhere.

Giuliani, he said, has "egg -- no, omelet -- all over his face. To say this was a poor choice for his state chairman is an understatement," Sabato said.

Hat tip to South Carolina '08.com.

Labels: Giuliani, Greenville News, south carolina

Labels: John McCain

Looking at voting patterns and the strength of both parties' bases, a true three-way race may help the Democrats more than the Republicans. Why? It’s simple -- the South. The irony of a Bloomberg candidacy is that it could make the Democrats more competitive in the South because their 35% base vote in the South is made up of die-hard Democrats.

Moreover, is it inconceivable that the logic Todd & Co. use about the South might also have applicability in the Northeast and California? Splitting the limousine liberal vote in New York, New Jersey, Conn., California and Mass. could change the dynamics for a Republican quite favorably (depending on the Republican). Indeed, the Republican contender wouldn't need to actually win all or almost any of these states in this scenario. He could however force a Hillary or an Obama to spend time and money in areas a Democrat should have locked up.

His political and personal views are more in line with moderate Democratic Party politics: His first major act as mayor was a large property tax increase, his most controversial was a citywide ban on smoking, and the signature accomplishment of his first term was an education reform that mixed centralized control with increased spending.

Vocally opposed to remarriage for himself, he favors the right to same-sex marriage and has confessed not only to smoking marijuana but to enjoying it.

Labels: Chuck Todd, Michael Bloomberg, national review, Politico

No Child Left Behind

Social Security and Notch Babies

Immigration

BOSTON - Sen. John McCain said Monday he hopes to take advantage of former Gov. Mitt Romney's sagging support at home and lead a resurgence of the Republican Party in the northeast during the 2008 presidential campaign.

``One of the Republican Party's problems right now is we're not doing as well as we should in the northeastern part of America, and I intend to work very hard to gain their support and their votes,'' the Arizona Republican said during a stop at the Taj Boston hotel for a fundraiser.

``I think that John McCain is a man of integrity who has certain positions that he is not willing to change for political expediency,'' said Swift.