Oh-eight (R)
Posted: Monday, June 11, 2007 10:31 AM by Domenico Montanaro
Filed Under:
Republicans
GIULIANI: The Washington Post got its hands on the list of 97 fundraising bundlers working on behalf of the Giuliani campaign. The Post identified 11 of the 97 who were Bush Rangers/Pioneers. Is that a lot or surprisingly small number? More proof that there are a significant number of Bush Rangers/Pioneers sitting on the sidelines, ready to kick the tires on all four supposed front-runners?
In a story we're likely to see quite a bit this year, the Sunday Washington Post examined Giuliani's poor relations with black New Yorkers, despite the fact that Giuliani oversaw a Harlem renaissance.
HUCKABEE: The former Arkansas governor’s solid debate performances are getting him a second round of profile coverage. McClatchy's Thomma tries to figure out why Huckabee hasn't become THE Christian conservative candidate. "He talks passionately about the morality of helping parents send their children to college, the need to observe the golden rule in handling Katrina refugees mistreated by an uncaring federal government, and the immorality of corporate chief executive officers getting multimillion-dollar bonuses while taking pensions and jobs away from workers. Hardly the stuff that gets a candidate airtime on right-wing talk shows or the backing of televangelists. In fact, it can sound like something a Democrat might say. That might help explain why Huckabee hasn't caught fire with the party's social conservatives and is trailing better-known candidates in polls and fundraising. His invisibility in national news media is another factor."
The AP says Huckabee might reconsider participating in the Iowa straw poll.
MCCAIN: On Saturday in Iowa, McCain tried to make lemonade out of the immigration lemons that have soured the taste of his campaign in the mouths of some Republicans. “Congress' failure to strengthen the nation's borders against illegal immigration has created a ‘big credibility gap’ between the government and Americans who expect more than a decades-old status quo, U.S. Sen. John McCain said Saturday… On Saturday, during an hourlong question-and-answer session, audience members pelted McCain with more than half a dozen immigration-related questions and comments."
Apparently one McCain's rivals --Romney? -- is paying someone to be in a chicken costume and attend McCain events in Iowa.
ROMNEY: What happens when you cross the Kennedys with the Osmonds? In all seriousness, Romney's five sons are having their 15 minutes on the campaign trail and in the blogosphere. The five could be a potent surrogate weapon for their father.
The New York Times looks at Mormons who, while supporting Romney, are leery of the increased attention their religion is going to get in the MSM.
The Politico writes that one of Romney's Hispanic backers was once chastised for trying to raise money from illegal aliens.
TANCREDO: The congressman took his one-issue campaign to western Iowa, where he spoke to supporters of Iowa Rep. Steve King. Tancredo said that King was one of the members of Congress who encouraged him to run for the White House. Courting King and supporters will still be a priority for the first-tier GOP candidates because one of the front-runners is going to want to be the second choice behind Tancredo.
Tancedo had some harsh words for McCain over the weekend in Iowa. “‘I think that the silver lining in this bill and the fact that we've debated this bill and the fact that he's pushed it so hard, it probably means there will never be a President John McCain,’ Tancredo said.”
F. THOMPSON: The Los Angeles Times looks at the company, Lifelock, the privacy company for which Fred Thompson is serving as radio pitchman for the rest of this month. "LifeLock was co-founded in 2005 by Robert J. Maynard Jr., whom the Federal Trade Commission accused in 1996 of deceiving consumers with advertisements that suggested his credit-repair company could remove records of bankruptcies and delinquent payments."
More: Thompson's spokesman, Mark Corallo, said Thompson "did not research the company before becoming LifeLock's pitchman. Corallo said ABC Radio asked Thompson, as well as other hosts of its syndicated talk programs, to endorse LifeLock, an advertiser on its stations." “‘It's part of the contract,’ Corallo said. ‘You can't expect the individual on-air personality to do research on every company.’”
George Will seems skeptical of Thompson-mania. "Some say he is the Republicans' Rorschach test: They all see in him what they crave. Or he might be the Republicans' dot-com bubble, the result of restless political investors seeking value that the untutored eye might not discern and that might be difficult to quantify but which the investors are sure must be there, somewhere, somehow. One does not want to be unfair to Thompson, who may have hidden depths. But ask yourself this: If he did not look like a basset hound who had just read a sad story—say, ‘Old Yeller’—and if he did not talk like central casting's idea of the god Sincerity, would anyone think he ought to be entrusted with the nation's nuclear arsenal?"
Also, the AP-Ipsos poll is the latest to show Thompson already nearing 20%.
