Duncan Hunter Finally Starts Campaign in Iowa by Hiring John Cox’s Former Staff
July 21, 2007 | Permalink | 8 Comments
Duncan Hunter decided, months after other campaigns started making pushes in Iowa, that he should do the same. From a press release we received today:
Get Ready Iowans…Here Comes Duncan
(Des Moines, Iowa)…Duncan Hunter’s Presidential campaign has officially begun in Iowa with the announcement of a statewide director during his campaign swing through in Iowa this weekend (July 21-23) with a myriad of personal appearances at the state’s various county fairs. He will also be hosting a personal “Donuts with Duncan” early morning gathering in Sioux City, and then will be attending the services at two of the city’s churches.
Patrick R. Anderson of Hubbard, Iowa, has taken the reins of Hunter’s Iowa bid for the White House. Anderson, known throughout the state for his expertise with successful candidates, said he is thrilled by the appointment. “My objective is to promote Hunter’s conservative values throughout the state so that the voters will get to know him. He is an outstanding candidate with strong credentials and a firm stance on vital
issues. Iowans will soon learn about the real Duncan Hunter and will jump on board with this campaign.”Anderson has had a world of political experience. Most recently, he was the Collation Director of Field Operations for John McCain for President Campaign. He was the Iowa coordinator for the John Cox for President Campaign; campaign manager for Tom Sooter for Iowa Senate; campaign manager for Kenneth Young for Iowa Senate; and Tom Latham’s 2006 bid for Congress.
There’s nothing impressive about starting a campaign in Iowa less than a month before a straw poll and hiring people that were only previously hired by the John Cox campaign - and someone who was not even fit to be the campaign manager in Iowa for John Cox: Duncan Hunter actually gave him a higher position! Duncan Hunter’s FEC release showed a substandard campaign, and this news just underlines the point. 
I think Hunter could have had appeal with his unqiue resume and political views, but the campaign has been run haphazardly at best; I have to question how serious Hunter is about this run. Even compared to someone like Tommy Thompson, who just about everyone is writing off, Hunter has really run a substandard campaign.
[Photo Credits: flickr user eichelberger_greg and flickr user marcn]
Sphere: Related ContentPolicy Breakdown: Hunter Argues for Keeping Guantanamo Open
While closing Guantanamo has been a popular topic ever since Colin Powell said it should be closed on Meet the Press, Duncan Hunter (among other Republicans) is arguing to keep it open.
Hunter said regarding Guantanamo:
“Once these detainees are brought onto U.S. soil, the detainees may acquire minimal rights under the Constitution, in particular, the right to habeas corpus. This change in status will inevitably spawn a completely new round of litigation,” Hunter said in a statement.
“While I believe the Combatant Status Review Tribunals that all detainees at Guantanamo receive satisfy those rights, it would take years of further litigation to finally reach that result,” the congressman said. “Thus, the military commission process would be stalled for the foreseeable future, and none of the detainees at Guantanamo would be brought to justice.”
“Some would like this result; they would prefer to see terrorists tried under our federal criminal justice system. This is a false choice,” Hunter said.
“We cannot try terrorists for war crimes if it requires our soldiers to read terrorists Miranda rights or take a battalion of lawyers onto the battlefield,” he said. “Military commissions are crucial because they are crafted for the conduct of war by providing procedures flexible enough to account for the constraints and conditions of the battlefield.”
Thus far, all Democratic candidates and Republican candidates Ron Paul and John McCain have called for Guantanamo to be closed, including Fred Thompson who has yet to officially declare.
[Photo Credit: Flickr user Rob Bluey]
Related at 2008 Central:
2008Central.net’s Presidential Election Podcast (06/24/07)
June 24, 2007 | Permalink | Leave a Comment
This week’s podcast covers…
- Mike Bloomberg departing the GOP
- Fred Thompson to announce soon?
- John McCain and Mitt Romney’s political scuffle
- Hillary Clinton booed at the Take Back America Conference: What’s it mean?
- 2008Central.net’s John Whitehouse attended the “Generation Barack Obama” event in New York City on June 22, 2007. What were his impressions?
- Despite a rough couple of weeks, Rudy Giuliani remains the leader of the pack
- Notes on the second tier
- A look ahead to the close of the second fundraising quarter of 2007 and the significance of primary date movement in Floria and New Jersey
- And more…
Feel free to email us questions/suggestions for next week’s podcast (you can also email an audio file of your question and we’ll include it in the podcast).
Subscribe to 2008Central.net’s Presidential Election Podcast
Republican Wednesday Afternoon Roundup
June 13, 2007 | Permalink | 7 Comments
Duncan Hunter
- Hunter is, unsurprsingly, a hawk on potential conflict with Iran.
- Hunter praised Gen. Pace, on his way out as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, for his service.
- Hunter is still getting negative reviews for his defending of earmarks to build a plane the Navy didn’t want, as I wrote about yesterday.
Fred Thompson
- Fred Thompson was on Leno last night. He mainly played coy, but did indicate that there were things he wanted to do that could only be done by the President.
- I’m not paying close attention whatsoever to national polls, but it’s interesting that Thompson has tied Giuliani for first in one such poll. Former NY Sen. Al D’Amato is backing Fred Thompson instead of New Yorker Rudy Giuliani.
- Fred Thompson has so far only said that his record is pro-life, despite a questionnaire filled out in the past that seems to indicate otherwise. George Will also took some hard swings at the prospect of a Thompson candidacy.
Jim Gilmore
- Gilmore will not be participating in the Iowa Straw Poll.
- Some are mentioning Gilmore as a possibile candidate to run in place of Sen. John Warner, but people in Virginia don’t seem to like him as an option there either.
- Gilmore, Paul, and Gravel are scheduled to address the National Taxpayers Conference 2007 tomorrow in Washington, DC.
John Cox
- John Cox says he will participate in the Iowa Straw Poll. He also wants to get rid of the 16th Amendment for a Fair Tax instead.
John McCain
- While he attacks Mitt Romney (see below), Tom Tancredo called the collapse of the immigration bill the death knell for the McCain campaign. McCain is still confident that a working bill can pass the Senate, though.
- The Washington Post has a good look at members of the McCain team who worked for Bush - and directly against McCain - in 2000. But they’re not the confidants as much as they are the hired help. Too early to take too much away from this article, but in short, do not count the McCain team out, no matter how bleak it may look right now.
- Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty campaigned for McCain this week in Iowa. McCain for his part thinks his position on global warming can win him support in northern California.
Mike Huckabee
- Huckabee wants to participate in the Iowa Straw Poll and still is including himself for now, but will re-evaluate how meaningful it will be before he makes the final decision to spend precious resources on it.
- Huckabee, who has visited Guantanamo, says that it is not as bad as its reputation, and is actually better than some prisons in Arkansas. He’s also joked around about Paris Hilton and Britney Spears.
- Huckabee had a bad week this week; first confusing Reagan’s birth day and death day, and then getting an appearance cancelled because of lack of interest - perhaps the worst thing that can happen to a politician. And I’m not really sure what to write about this. Perhaps I should just link it and move on.
Mitt Romney
- Not only Brownback (see below) but now also John McCain is attacking Mitt Romney on abortion, circulating a video:
Republican John McCain’s campaign criticized rival Mitt Romney’s abortion record anew Wednesday, circulating a video showing the then-Massachusetts governor reiterating his vow to uphold the state’s abortion-rights laws.
“I have indicated that as governor, I am absolutely committed to my promise to maintain the status quo with regards to laws relating to abortion and choice, and so far I’ve been able to successfully do that,” Romney says, answering a question at a May 27, 2005, news conference the day he vetoed the state’s stem cell legislation.
He adds: “My personal, philosophical views about this issue are not something that I think would do anything other than distract from what I think is a more critical agenda” that includes jobs, education and health care.
- In related news, Romney announced his team of advisors that will counsel him on faith and values issues.
- Romney did not grant a pardon while Governor of Massachusetts.
- Some are crediting the $4 million that Mitt Romney has spent on advertising since February as a reason that his poll numbers have gone up so dramatically.
Newt Gingrich
- There’s an article from the AP that Gingrich’s financial backers are the ones who stand to monetarily gain if his ideas are made into policy. Personal politics aside, any accusations are probably looking at this from the wrong angle: Given his history in politics, he had ideas and probably solicited for donations. I’m not of the opinion this is anything that serious.
- Gingrich keeps telling Republicans to look at Sarkozy in France for a template on how to run.
Ron Paul
- Paul is starting to see greater exposure and support in New Hampshire visibly. Will a rise in the polls be next? We’ve long thought that his message would play better there than almost anywhere else. He’s also kept getting donations based on his performances in the debates. He finished second (albeit very distant) to Mitt Romney in the Utah straw poll.
- Paul’s strong support keeps growing. His campaign manager says that the GOP call center was shut down after it was flooded with calls urging Paul to be left in the debates.
- Paul may have over one million supporters online by 2008. I also caught this interview of Paul by Tucker Carlson, and Paul came off very well.
Rudy Giuliani
- Giuliani unveiled his ‘12 Committments to the American People’ yesterday in New Hampshire. GreenMountainPolitics1 was not impressed, nor were Liberty Papers (who I think it is fair to assume are representative of Ron Paul supporters.) In general, the 12 commitments just seem to be an outline of his talking points, really.
- Giuliani received a much more friendly reception when he was interviewed by Sean Hannity yesterday. The interview went back and forth from Giuliani explaining his positions to attacking Democrats; there was little to no pressure put on Giuliani in the interview (the toughest question may have been: “Do you think you could actually cut the size of government then?”). Giuliani also announced he would participate in an August GOP debate.
- Following in James Dobson’s lead, a number of conservative Republicans have said that they cannot support Giuliani because of his position on abortion.
Sam Brownback
- Brownback is still going to participate in the Straw Poll, and has a new web site partially dedicated to it (if anyone can get the entire site to work smoothly, drop a comment and let me know). It’s almost the best web site a Republican has, it’s just functioning exceptionally slowly and doesn’t provide quite enough information. Brownback will be spending four days next week on a bus tour of Iowa.
- The Brownback-Romney feud continues, with Brownback chellenging Romney to debate, even saying “I’m prolife. He’s not.” Brownback is also getting praise and heat for his belief that abortion should be illegal even in cases of rape and incest.
- Brownback is interviewed here about stem cell research.
Tom Tancredo
- Tancredo is still going to participate in the Straw Poll.
- John McCaslin writes about a Weekly Standard piece about Tancredo’s story that Karl Rove banned him from the White House:
Mr. Tancredo had told The Washington Times during an interview in April 2002 that because of the “open-door” policy President Bush favored on immigration, terrorists could be “waltzing across the border” thirsty for American “blood,” which the congressman warned would be on the administration’s “hands.”
Mr. Rove was not happy to read the remarks, and he personally called Mr. Tancredo to complain. (The White House denies that the phrase “darken the doorstep” was ever used by Mr. Rove.)
Ever since, continues the magazine, Mr. Tancredo has had people believing that in light of his public disagreement with Mr. Bush, he has been banned from the White House for the life of the presidency. But that’s not the case.
Mr. Tancredo has been invited to the White House twice each year in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, and once so far in 2007 with another invitation on its way.
“And, lo and behold, he accepted and showed up on most, if not all, of those occasions,” the magazine concludes.
- Tancredo explained further his call to temporarily halt legal immigration. He also answered ten questions in Time magazine about his campaign.
Tommy Thompson
- A week old, but a still interesting interview of Tommy Thompson with Deadspin.
- Thompson is rethinking entry into the Straw Poll after McCain and Giuliani backed out.
- Thompson is going to start running a radio ad in Iowa about his plan for Iraq. In the 60 second ad, he states: “The Iraq War is the most important issue facing our country and our party. This is Tommy Thompson. My plan to win the peace in Iraq is straightforward. First, force a vote of the Al Maliki government as to whether they want our troops in the country. If they vote “yes” our stay is legitimate. If they vote “no”, then we begin redeploying our troops out of Iraq. Second, they should establish 18 state governments where each major ethnic group can elect their own people. This would bring an end to much of the strife that currently divides Iraq. Finally, they must share their oil profits with every person in Iraq, just like the state of Alaska does with its oil revenues. This would spark an upsurge in their economy and give every man, woman and child a stake in the future of their oil industry and their country. I’m Tommy Thompson and my campaign for president is talking real solutions to real problems. Visit my Web site at Tommy2008.com to learn more.”
[Audio available from Tommy2008.com]
Poll Vaulting: McCain, Clinton Lead in Iowa; Romney Gains, Obama and Fred Thompson Fall
The American Research Group has released two new polls from Iowa for both Republicans and Democrats. I’m going to compare those results with the results form the May 2007 poll conducted by the Des Moines Register.
Starting with the Democrats:
| Candidate | ARG May 07 | DMR May 07 | ARG April 07 | ARG March 07 |
| Hillary Clinton | 31 % | 21 % | 23 % | 34 % |
| John Edwards | 25 % | 29 % | 27 % | 33 % |
| Barack Obama | 11 % | 23 % | 19 % | 16 % |
| Bill Richardson | 8 % | 10 % | 5 % | 1 % |
| Dennis Kucinich | 4 % | 2 % | 2 % | 1 % |
| Joe Biden | 3 % | 3 % | 6 % | 2 % |
| Chris Dodd | 2 % | – | 2 % | 1 % |
| Wesley Clark | 1 % | N/I | – | 2 % |
| Mike Gravel | 1 % | 1 % | – | – |
| Undecided | 14 % | 11 % | 16 % | 10 % |
A few interesting things that stand out. First is Barack Obama’s precipitous fall in the ARG poll. The margin of error is 4%, which could put him even behind Richardson. His campaign might have to ask if he is spending enough time there, getting to know enough insiders to get a caucus victory. John Edwards is trending the wrong way in Iowa (even after the withdrawal of Tom Vilsack, which Edwards had obviously hoped to use as a boost), but Edwards still remains a clear number two overall in recent polls. The Des Moines Register poll gives Clinton something to worry about, but she’s still ahead. Richardson clearly is breaking from the second tier twoards the first tier. Whether he has enough gas in the tank to get to the top tier is still a question that needs to be answered. The lower tier really is not doing anything that notable.
I’m interested in the ARG poll though - every month they seem to have one candidate really fall in the polls, only to rebound the next month. In April it was Clinton. In May it is Obama - there hasn’t been any type of indication that Obama’s support is this low. So until there is some confirmation of that, take it with a grain of salt.
Now, the Republicans:
| Candidate | ARG May 07 | DMR May 07 | ARG April 07 | ARG March 07 |
| John McCain | 25 % | 18 % | 26 % | 29 % |
| Rudy Giuliani | 23 % | 17 % | 19 % | 29 % |
| Mitt Romney | 16 % | 30 % | 14 % | 10 % |
| Newt Gingrich | 8 % | N/I | 8 % | 7 % |
| Fred Thompson | 6 % | N/I | 13 % | 12 % |
| Sam Brownback | 3 % | 5 % | 1 % | – |
| Tom Tancredo | 2 % | 4 % | 2 % | 1 % |
| Chuck Hagel | 2 % | N/I | 1 % | 1 % |
| Tommy Thompson | 2 % | 7 % | 1 % | 1 % |
| Jim Gilmore | 1 % | 1 % | 1 % | – |
| Duncan Hunter | – | 1 % | – | – |
| John Cox | N/I | 1 % | N/I | N/I |
| Ron Paul | – | – | – | – |
| Undecided | 10 % | 12 % | 12 % | 11 % |
Looking at the Republican results, one thing that jumps out is Fred Thompson starting to drop before he even gets into the race. But like Obama above, it’s hard to judge the validity of these results without independent confirmation; and the Des Moines Register poll did not include potential candidates like Thompson or Gingrich.
Among the top group, it’s clear that Mitt Romney is the one with all the momentum. Giuliani seems to have weathered the storm, as he is no longer bottoming out, but he’s not even where he was a mere few months before. Romney, on the other hand, keeps trending up. The30% of the Des Moines poll is not repeated once Thompson and Gingrich are included, but he’s still growing. John McCain seems to be losing a little ground, but retaining most of his supporters in the state that he skipped in 1999.
On the lower tier, the hope for the lower tier that the Des Moines poll gave - bumps for Tommy Thompson, Sam Brownback, Mike Huckabee, and Tom Tancredo - seems to be erased in the ARG poll. I have to wonder if the now imminent entry of Fred Thompson into the race spells the end for this lower tier. Not only do they have to distinguish themselves from the top tier, they also have to distinguish themselves from each other. I imagine that the Republican debate on Tuesday will be a key last time for that to happen; if not, it will certainly be the Iowa Straw Poll in August.
There’s reasons to take these polls with grains of salt - for instance there’s reasons to both include and exclude declared candidates like Fred Thompson and Newt Gingrich - but it’s worth keeping in mind exactly who these polls include while considering what they mean. For instance, Al Gore was not included in any of the Iowa polls.
Sphere: Related ContentFox News’ “First-In-The-South” Republican Primary Debate
May 15, 2007 | Permalink | Leave a Comment
Fox News will be hosting a Republican Primary Debate in South Carolina this evening (May 15, 2007). It will air live on the Fox News Channel at 9pm and will be moderated by Brit Hume and Chris Wallace.
Be sure to check out 2008 Central throughout the day for pre-debate notes, liveblogging the debate and post debate resources.
Participating Candidates will be…
- Sam Brownback
- Jim Gilmore
- Rudy Giuliani
- Mike Huckabee
- Duncan Hunter
- John McCain
- Ron Paul
- Mitt Romney
- Tom Tancredo
- Tommy Thompson
Chris Wallace and Brit Hume discussing their roles…
Sphere: Related ContentTuesday night’s First-in-the-South Republican Presidential Candidates Primary Debate at the University of South Carolina’s Koger Center will be broadcast by FOX News Channel. FOX News’ Washington, D.C., managing editor Brit Hume will moderate the debate and questions will be posed by “FOX News Sunday” anchor Chris Wallace and White House correspondent Wendell Goler.
Conducting a 90-minute debate with 10 candidates is no easy task and requires close attention and a quick response time to keep the flow of the debate running smoothly. Hume and Wallace sat down with FOXNews.com late last week to describe what they expect and hope to achieve during the main event.
Don’t forget to watch the Republican presidential candidates debate on FOX News Channel or FOXNews.com Tuesday night at 9 p.m. ET.
Q: So what is your objective as the moderator/panelist?
Brit Hume: The objective of the moderator really is to move things along without being obtrusive, remembering always that we — journalists — are not the story, the candidates are the story, and recognizing also that with 10 of them on the stage there’s only so much you can do. And also, to try to devise a format which will get the candidates interested in the audience too.
Chris Wallace: This is a serious process. This is part of the process of the American people getting to know and decide which candidate they are going to vote for, first in the Republican primary and then eventually for president so I think the purpose is seriously to give viewers some insights on information that allows them to make a more informed choice.
Q: So how do you decide which questions go to which candidate?
BH: Some questions will be asked to all of them, on central issues. And other questions, we have to sort of figure out on a news basis or an area of expertise basis or an area where candidates have given emphasis in their platforms or campaigns that are questionable, or where candidates have said things that raise controversy or whatever. So sort of a combination of everybody gets to say something on certain key issues and then you pick it kind of on a news basis beyond that.
CW: We’re going to divide it up by subjects. I am going to take some subjects, Wendell is going to take some. Brit is going to take others and I am going to try to become really well versed between now and next Tuesday on where each candidate stands on the issues that I am covering. And as I do every Sunday on “FOX News Sunday” try and ask, you know, the most probing, penetrating questions, but one thing that I am keenly aware of is that this is about the candidates and the voters and while I want to try to probe them so that I can get them off their talking points, it’s about the candidates, not me.
Q: How do you prepare?
BH: Well, I am blessed in the sense that the work I do everyday, which sort of steeps me in this stuff, prepares me. You’ve got to read a lot. You read previous debates. You read what the candidates have said. You read their position papers, you try to familiarize yourself as best you can, what their critical positions are on the main questions.
Q: You’ve interviewed most if not all of these candidates before. So what is the challenge or the benefit of this forum versus say, “FOX News Sunday” or “Special Report”?
BH: The thing is really governed by the numbers and when you’re trying to manage 10 people in 90 minutes, it’s a complicated mathematical challenge and it challenges your alertness because you’ve got to keep track of what a lot of different people said about a lot of different things so that if there is something that screams out for a follow-up, you don’t miss it, which is quite possible.
In the meantime, you’re keeping an eye on the time, you’re keeping an eye on sort of juggling the question of whether everybody is getting a fair shot and then you’ve also got to be conscious of the substance of what people are saying so that if something leaps out you don’t miss it. So it’s not easy and it’s not like an ordinary interview with one person or two or three. This is … huge.
CW: Well, obviously the benefit is you’ve got all 10 of them there. It helps in terms of comparative, comparison shopping. The disadvantage is that you have all 10 of them there and that obviously with 10 candidates giving minute answers in 90 minutes, if you do the math, nobody is going to get asked anything in real detail.
Q: Have you ever done this before?
CW: I’ve moderated debates but never presidential debates.
BH: Yes. I did it in New Hampshire in 2000 with an early Republican debate, and I did it in Baltimore in ‘04 with Democrats, the Democratic debate, and in both cases there was a large, a fairly large number of candidates, and in both cases we had the same difficulties we have here. The fact is you can only do so much. This is about them. It’s not about us. We can do the best we can, we can hope to be useful and helpful, but this all depends on them, as it should, and people shouldn’t get too many big ideas about how much difference a moderator can make. If the candidates are going to be reticent and stick to their talking points, you really can’t change that, you can’t force it.
Q: How do you plan to or do you have any say in how to control an unruly candidate?
CW: That’s what they pay Brit to do. He’s got the whip and the chair.
BH: One of the things that I think is one of the least attractive roles that a journalist or a broadcaster plays in a debate is the role of time cop so I am going to try to get out of that. One of the things we have tried in the past is have a distinct clear bell that goes off when the time is up, which says to the audience, the candidate and everybody else, this candidate’s time is up and he or she — in the case here, it’s all hes — is still talking. Then if the journalist later comes in and says you’re time is up, it doesn’t seem like the rude and obtrusive interruption by a smart-alecky journalist. The bell has proved very effective in the past. It works. It might not this time but it always has.
Q: Do you have any concerns or fears of something unexpected happening?
CW: Oh I would love something unexpected to happen. You know these things can sometimes be all too predictable and you hope that they will get off their scripts and make news. I thought that Mayor (Rudy) Giuliani made some news in the last debate with a not-very-focused answer on abortion. You hope that days later people will be talking about several of the answers from this debate.
Q: And lastly, this occasion has an audience present. Do you try to involve the audience or what is its function?
CW: As far as I am concerned it’s just me and the candidate, well me and my team, my colleagues, and the candidates. The audience is there and I am glad they get the opportunity to watch but I’m not playing to the audience, and to the degree possible, I think I will have my back to them both literally and figuratively.
BH: There’s usually an audience present and you always tell them not to applaud, and sometimes they obey and sometimes they don’t, and you can’t control that very well, and if you keep getting all stuffy about it you look like a jerk. So, you just have to hope for the best on that.
And a little audience participation sometimes enlivens the debate so you know you may warn against it, you may encourage them not to do it, but you’re not always sorry that they applaud or boo or hiss or react or laugh or whatever. You always love it when they laugh, that always enlivens the old occasion and sometimes moments in the debates that cause laughter are sometimes the most memorable moments of all.
John Cox Sues Fox News For Debate Exclusion
May 11, 2007 | Permalink | 5 Comments
Republican candidate John Cox is suing Fox News for excluding him from next week’s “First In The South” Republican Primary Debate. Cox is claiming that his name was left off the only poll used to determine eligibility. 
In the lawsuit, Cox is requesting an injunction, which if granted would delay next week’s debate. A judge was hearing the case this morning; we’ll provide updates as they become available.
Complete coverage of this matter here.
*UPDATE* A judge denied Cox’s request for an injunction to postpone the debate was dismissed…
Sphere: Related ContentU.S. District Judge Joe Anderson ruled the state party has a right to choose who is going to be in the debate. He said that while state law gives the party the authority to conduct its own primary, that does not require the GOP to function as though it is a government entity in its sponsorship of the debate.
Republican Roundup
April 24, 2007 | Permalink | Leave a Comment
Duncan Hunter
DH: First, lets take the last one first. I’m a sponsor of the Fair Tax. Now we spend about $250 billion a year plus preparing, defending and shaping our lives around the tax code of the United States. That’s money that doesn’t go to feed anybody. It doesn’t go to send any kids to college. It doesn’t go to create new jobs. It’s just paperwork money that is a cost to the American citizen. And if we have the Fair Tax, we eliminate that massive overhead, that massive bureaucracy. I like that. Another thing I like about the Fair Tax is it gives a more level playing field on trade. Because our dumb bunnies, the people that negotiated our trade deals with the rest of the world, said this: “Every other trading partner in the world gets to refund its taxes to its manufacturers, they have value added taxes. So, they all work tax free. Every country can do that under the deal we signed except one country. Guess who? The United States of America.
With the emergence of Iran as a country pursuing a nuclear weapon and with North Korea already having some and racing now to develop systems for the delivery of those nuclear devices, and China now emerging as a new superpower and stepping into the shoes of the old Soviet Union, I think national security is going to be an important issue.
Fred Thompson
Jim Gilmore
John Cox
The article in the New York Times about Cox’s run for the Presidency.
John McCain
The burning of oil and other fossil fuels is contributing to the dangerous accumulation of greenhouse gases in the earth’s atmosphere, altering our climate with the potential for major social, economic and political upheaval. The world is already feeling the powerful effects of global warming, and far more dire consequences are predicted if we let the growing deluge of greenhouse gas emissions continue, and wreak havoc with God’s creation. A group of senior retired military officers recently warned about the potential upheaval caused by conflicts over water, arable land and other natural resources under strain from a warming planet. The problem isn’t a Hollywood invention nor is doing something about it a vanity of Cassandra like hysterics. It is a serious and urgent economic, environmental and national security challenge.
In the rest of the speech, instead of frame global warming as a environmental problem or a problem threatening America directly (such as in an Inconvenient Truth, when Al Gore shows where Manhattan would flood), McCain instead frames as a national security problem. Starting from oil money going to terrorists that we’re fighting, to money that is going to Venezuela and Iran. The speech itself won’t win McCain many awards, but it seems to be the standard against which other Republicans’ energy plans will be set. The wording that McCain uses to to describe incentivizing alternative energy (but not subsidizing) seems taken directly from Newt Gingrich’s debate against John Kerry. Ideologically, I’m sure there are some differences on the subject between the two, but I was more reminded of the commonalities while reading McCain’s speech, not the differences. His attack on the politics of oil especially seems like something that might resonate with independents especially, and possibly the right.
Mike Huckabee
“Sometimes the best position would be for the appointee to make the decision and not force the President to do so. You best serve the person you work for when you can decide that if you are a distraction that you no longer will create that level of problem for your boss. … The Attorney General is clearly creating a major distraction for the President and for the Administration and for the Republican Party.”
Mitt Romney
Well, I like the idea of letting states have some flexibility to develop their own programs to get more and more people insured. We found a way to get everybody in our state, Massachusetts, insured. I like the plan. I think it’s one of the best things we did in my administration.
It’s not perfect. We will learn from it. But the idea is for people who can afford insurance make sure they get their premiums down by taking mandates off insurance companies. Let the insurance companies offer true market-based products. And then for people who can’t afford insurance, help them buy their own private policy. Don’t put them on Medicaid. Get them private insurance. Get everybody in the system.
It’s a bit like bringing work to welfare. Bring personal responsibility to health care. Get the government out of the health care business for those 45 million uninsured, and let individuals own their own policies.
When asked about whether he would have gone into Iraq, Romney talked about his feelings about the war then and now, even sort of giving a timetable for starting to pull troops out:
Well, it’s kind of an impossible setting to imagine, because there is so many imponderables and so much we would like to know before you’d ever consider committing our troops.
But one thing I can tell you is that when the president made his decision, based upon the intelligence that existed then — from our own intelligence sources and around the world — I supported the president’s action.
And the question is, what do you do now? And how do you make sure that we get our troops out as soon as possible, without precipitating a regional conflict that would cause us to have to go back and potentially a far more dangerous setting?
And so I support the president’s troop surge. I believe that al-Maliki has a plan that we can support, to try to stabilize the civilization — or the population in Iraq. I don’t give it 100 percent chance of success, but I think we will know in a matter of months if it’s working or not.
If it’s working, we can start bringing troops home.
And his feelings on the war’s execution really seem to echo that of John McCain:
I think the place where we really fell down in our planning was in preparation for what would happen after we knocked down Saddam Hussein. I think we underestimated the kind of mayhem that might ensue once insurgency started from surrounding nations, once people within Iraq itself began the sectarian violence between the Shia, the Sunni. The Kurds also were affected — not to the same degree, of course.
But those kind of developments would have suggested that we needed more troops. That if we were going to go in, we would go in heavy, we’d lock down the country, we would secure its major assets. We would not be in a situation where we had the kind of unraveling of civil order that occurred.
And so, I think we were underprepared, underplanned, understaffed, certainly undermanaged with regards to the prison situation.
We find ourselves in a very difficult situation, in part because of the failures of our own preparation.
The interview concludes with the Romneys talking about their personal lives, their family, and his father; for a time, they also talk about her diagnosis of multiple sclerosis.
Newt Gingrich
STEPHANOPOULOS: How about the broader context? After Columbine, you gave a speech where you blamed 35 — blamed the shootings on 35 years of liberalism. … You went — you said, “I want to say to the elite of this country, the elite news media, the liberal academic elite, the liberal political elite — I accuse you in Littleton of being afraid to talk about the mess you’ve made and being afraid to take responsibility for the things you have done, and instead foisting on the rest of us pathetic banalities because you don’t have the courage to look at the world you have created.” Do you stand by that prescription today?
GINGRICH: Yes, I think the fact is, if you look at the amount of violence we have in games that young people play at 7, 8, 10, 12, 15 years of age, if you look at the dehumanization, if you look at the fact that we refuse to say that we are, in fact, endowed by our creator, that our rights come from God, that if you kill somebody, you’re committing an act of evil.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But what does that have to do with liberalism?
GINGRICH: Well, who has created a situation ethics, essentially, zone of not being willing to talk about any of these things. Let me carry another example. I strongly supported Imus being dismissed, but I also think the very thing he was dismissed for, which is the use of language which is stunningly degrading of women — the fact, for example, that one of the Halloween costumes this last year was being able to be either a prostitute or a pimp at 10, 11, 12 years of age, buying a costume, and we don’t have any discussion about what’s happened to our culture because while we’re restricting political free speech under McCain-Feingold, we say it’s impossible to restrict vulgar and vicious and anti-human speech. And I would argue that that’s a major component of what’s happened to our culture in the last 40 years.
Now, this is going to get his base and the right riled up, but I’m not sure it’s the type of thing that would help him in the long run. At the end of the day it seems like something to encourage the partisan bickering back and forth that Gingrich has also stated that he wants to move past.
Ron Paul
I am arguing that (Republicans) have lost their way. Right now, on the surface, a lot of Republicans in Washington will be critical of my positions, saying “I don’t support the president or the party,” but if you look at our platform, our state platforms, our policy positions, I would say we have lost our way. And quite frankly, I have not seen anybody running for the presidency on the Republican ticket that’s actually offering to stand up and stand for the principals the Republican Party has been built on.
In the past six years, when the foreign policy really changed, when we accepted the notion of pre-emptive war, a strong violation of our personal civil liberties, (we) at the same time (became) the party of entitlements, doubling the size of the Department of Education, McCain-Feingold. These are all things that Republicans used to criticize and not support, and all of a sudden we accept them. In essence, we have accepted what has traditionally been the Democratic platform — increase entitlements and foreign intervention, getting involved in quagmires abroad.
Rudy Giuliani
Sam Brownback
Tom Tancredo
It’s important to understand, my friends, that people coming across our country into this country, some of them are coming for the same purpose as they people who went to Beslan,” . … It’s not all people who are just looking for the job that no other American wants … but there are other people, very dangerous people, who come across that border unimpeded, and there is absolutely nothing to say that the same thing that happened in Beslan could not happen here.
Using that as a starting point, Tancredo also wants to build a fence on the northern border with Canada. However, only 25 people came to see him at that campaign stop; he’s not finding much of a groundswell of support. He spent four days campaigning in New Hampshire though, this past weekend. We’ll see if subsequent polls have him doing any better, or if he gets better crowds on his next visit.
Tommy Thompson
Romney, Huckabee Do Well in SC Straw Polls
April 22, 2007 | Permalink | 3 Comments
Straw polls were held at county GOP conventions in South Carolina this weekend, and Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee were the biggest winners.
In Greenville County, the most populous county in the state, Mitt Romney won with 132 out of 441 votes cast. Mike Huckabee came in second with 111 votes, and Duncan Hunter third with 87. It should be noted that those three addressed the convention along with John Cox, Rudy Giuliani, and Sam Brownback, so it’s hard to say how much their presence mobilized their supporters to come out in the first place. However, even when taking into account that John McCain chose not to attend the convention, the mere 17 votes of support he received is strikingly low.
Mitt Romney also won the Richland County GOP Convention straw poll, although it seems his campaign was just more successful in getting supporters to stay at the convention waiting for the straw poll. He had 50 votes, with 17 for Brownback, 15 for Giuliani, 13 each for McCain and Huckabee, and 10 for Hunter. With voting numbers that small, it’s hard to put any significance to the vote.
The final results to look at today are those from an issues evaluation poll at the Spartanburg County Convention. You may remember they held their straw poll over a month ago. This poll was built around issues. This article details the voting process:
Although many of the candidates also hit conventions in Greenville, Laurens and Richland counties Saturday, only in Spartanburg were they asked to tailor their speeches to specific issues: the war in Iraq, border control, “fair trade,” the Bush tax cuts and social issues - particularly abortion rights and the definition of marriage. Delegates gave each candidate up to five points, five being the best, for their skill in addressing each of those topics.
In that format, Mike Huckabee was the big winner, finishing with 3522 points. Rudy Giuliani was just behind, with 3161 points. Duncan Hunter had 3090, Mitt Romney 2972, and Sam Brownback 2931. John McCain was represented at the convention by former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating, and finised last with only 2027 points, even well behind the 2456 John Cox earned.
As for what we can take from these results, clearly at some level, this was a bad weekend for McCain. Some of this has to result from McCain’s disfavor in the state going back to 1999. A little more was McCain choosing to skip these conventions in favor of campaign events where he can talk longer. However, if he keeps getting negative press from speaking longer, and doesn’t go to shorter events, then it’s hard to see where the long term uside is in the state.
For the other candidates, it’s clearly a sign that Mike Huckabee can still make an impact in this election. These results allow him to portray him as being in the top tier in the state, as he ran neck and neck with Romney in the two most populated conventions. That’s a huge step for his campaign, but the key is not the results, but building from it from this point on. We’ll have to see how well he does that. As for Romney, he clearly has a large following in the state who id dedicated. At the least, that reflects good organization, and he’ll be able to get out the vote on primary day as well. Hunter has support as well, but if he’s finishing behind Huckabee and Hunter now, it’s hard to see how he can pass them. As for Giuliani, these types of conventions are not his base at all. His challenge will be maintaining the level of support he does from more moderate Republicans, and then getting them to the polls, both of which will eventually require him to build a solid organization.
In the long run, South Carolina seems primed as a place where a more conservative Republican can get a foothold, unless Giuliani somehow undertakes the Herculean effort to mobilize his support. Huckabee, especially, could get a boost from the state, or it could prove an area for Romney to break through if he can’t manage to pull off Iowa or New Hampshire.
Sphere: Related ContentRepublican Roundup
April 17, 2007 | Permalink | 2 Comments
- Chuck Hagel
- Duncan Hunter
- Fred Thompson
- Jim Gilmore
- John Cox
- John McCain