Oh-eight (R): Tons of McCain coverage
Posted: Monday, July 16, 2007 9:10 AM by Domenico Montanaro
Filed Under:
Republicans
BROWNBACK: His "Pro-Life, Whole-Life" tour in Iowa
wrapped up over the weekend with events all over the state -- some of which Brownback attended in person; for others, he sent staff.
GILMORE: Here’s the
Washington Post piece on Gilmore’s exit from the race:
GIULIANI: For someone who supposedly is the moderate in the race, he's got some
strong support among traditionally conservative legal types. He can thank Ted Olson for those bona fides.
HUCKABEE: The former governor
reiterated that if he finishes worse than third at the Ames straw poll, “I have to seriously ask, 'Do we keep going? Do we have the juice in places like New Hampshire and South Carolina? Where are we gaining ground?'” Huckabee said Saturday at an Iowa campaign stop.
MCCAIN:
We expected to see some nostalgia-type reporting on McCain's latest New Hampshire trip, and we got it. Some of the coverage was downright hopeful in its tone. McCain should see this as an opportunity. It's not going to take much for a "McCain comeback" storyline to develop. Still as
Dan Balz reports, "There is little of that old exhilaration right now in the McCain campaign. The staff is shell-shocked. Some members are debating whether to stay or go. New campaign manager Rick Davis is stretched thin trying to rebuild and steady the operation. Money will be tight for weeks, maybe months. McCain's opponents will be circling, ready to strike at his weaknesses."
Despite his campaign woes, McCain was in good humor while stumping across New Hampshire over the weekend, NBC’s Andrew Merten says. "I've had tough times in my life -- this is a day at the beach compared to some others," the former POW told a member of the audience at a town hall in Claremont, NH on Saturday. He continued by downplaying his fundraising problems, noting: "I never was going to rely on money to win this campaign. I'm not a very good fundraiser and I'll admit it."
While he focused on Iraq and national security during his speech on Friday in Concord, he instead used Saturday's town hall to address several domestic issues (like global warming and spending) that distanced himself a bit from President Bush -- seeming to target the state’s famed independent voters. He did also said that Donald Rumsfeld would go down as one of the worst defense secretaries in history, and drew a less rosy picture of the Maliki government than the Administration has presented. "The government is not acting effectively, and their time frame for doing so is growing shorter," he said -- but did not suggest how long such a time frame may last.
The New York Times adds, “While Mr. McCain spoke inside the hall here about the need for the government to cut spending — repeating a line about how Congress spends like a drunken sailor — someone wearing a John McCain mask outside tried to undercut his message. ‘My Campaign Spends Like a Drunken Sailor,’ said a sign strapped to the back of the man, who walked around tipsily, holding a flask. ‘That’s pretty good,’ the real Mr. McCain said.”
Meanwhile, more resignations are expected today, according to USA Today. Also, "McCain says he's considering whether to accept campaign matching funds — and with them federal restrictions on spending — but he rules out borrowing from his family's assets." And the new strategy is to focus on three states: Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina and let momentum handle the rest.
ROMNEY:
In the campaign’s new 60-second TV ad, NBC’s Andrew Merten reports, the former governor cites Peggy Noonan’s post-Columbine analogy of our troubled culture being the “ocean in which our children now swim.” The video is set to serene beach images as Romney’s voice touches on violent television, internet pornography, and drug usage. He concludes, “If we get serious about this, we can actually do a great deal to clean up the water in which our kids and our grandkids swim.”
