Oh-eight (R): Bracewell/Giuliani problem
Posted: Tuesday, December 04, 2007 9:06 AM by Domenico Montanaro
Filed Under:
Republicans
GIULIANI: So if Giuliani's name is attached to something -- even if Giuliani personally isn't involved -- is it a political problem? Potentially. "Giuliani is campaigning as President Bush’s staunch ally in the war on terror, his law office has lobbied Congress on behalf of legislation that the Bush administration calls a threat to antiterrorism efforts in the Horn of Africa. Giuliani was not personally involved in the lobbying last year on behalf of the company’s client, the American wing of a dissident Ethiopian political party known as the Coalition for Unity and Democracy, leaders of the group said.”
“But the firm, Bracewell & Giuliani, used Mr. Giuliani’s name in its pitch to win the assignment, and his clout was a reason it landed the job, said Seyoum Solomon, an Ethiopian-American from Maryland who helped negotiate the deal." More: “Maria Comella, a spokeswoman for the Giuliani campaign, said Mr. Giuliani’s views were not necessarily consistent with the lobbying stands taken in Washington by Bracewell & Giuliani.”
The New York Daily News spins Huckabee's rise in Iowa as good news for Giuliani since anything that hurts Romney, helps Rudy.
Speaking of Giuliani yesterday, he seemed to be an afterthought on the presidential trail -- with so much media attention to these other storylines: Clinton vs. Obama, Romney's Mormon speech, and the rise of Huckabee.
But below the radar yesterday was an indication that Giuliani is actively courting anti-tax activist Grover Norquist. "Norquist's high praise is important for fiscal conservatives who look to Norquist for guidance in this (and other) elections. One of the keys to Giuliani's campaign is to convince conservatives that while he differs with them on social issues, he is right in line with their views on fiscal matters. The hope -- among Giuliani strategists -- is that voters will choose their pocketbooks over their church songbooks."
HUCKABEE: Huckabee "distanced his campaign yesterday from an independent group’s efforts to promote his candidacy through calls to the homes of caucusgoers in Iowa and through mailings. ‘It’s not on behalf of my campaign,’ Mr. Huckabee said at a campaign stop in Iowa. ‘I don’t know who is behind it. We’ve asked them to stop. I don’t think it’s helping us. In fact, it’s hurting us, and it’s not part of our campaign. We have publicly repudiated the tactics because they do not represent our kind of campaigning.’”
The Washington Post editorializes against the rise of this new pro-Huck group.
The Washington Post takes a look at Huckabee's campaign operation in Iowa. "Unable to raise enough money earlier in the year to run a traditional campaign, Huckabee is employing an unprecedented and risky strategy to win the caucuses here: a campaign with almost no on-the-ground operation.”
MCCAIN: "McCain, participating in an MTV-MySpace forum shown live, appealed to students at Southern New Hampshire University. The 71-year-old Arizona senator offered lighter versions of his common campaign answers and engaged with the students in person and online. He also flubbed several scripted jokes and mistakenly called Osama bin Laden ‘Saddam Hussein.’”
“McCain talked about the war in Iraq, public education and his belief that climate change must be vigorously addressed, a position that stands him apart from most of the GOP presidential field. He told students that unless something changes, the Social Security system will not be there when they need it.
Also, McCain will campaign tomorrow in New Hampshire with Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling.
ROMNEY: “Mormonism remains a mystery to many voters and analysts said the speech could fuel more questions about the religion, particularly in Iowa and South Carolina, where evangelical Christians are influential in the Republican presidential race.” More: “In a press conference outlining his speech, Romney quoted the New Testament, and spoke about the founding fathers, but never used the words Mormon or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He said if people want to learn more about his religion, they can look on the Internet.”
NBC’s Ron Allen took a look on NBC Nightly News last night at the challenges Romney faces in explaining his Mormon faith. “Many evangelicals claim members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter days Saints are not true Christians," Allen noted. "The faith has fought to overcome negative stereotypes like polygamy, a practice banned by the church more than 100 years ago. But questions keep coming." More: “Romney has often said his religion should not matter to voters. But now, he apparently believes, it does.”
Attention Romney reporters doing JFK comparisons. NBC's Chris Donovan reminds folks of a lesser-quoted speech JFK made in 1960 in Salt Lake City… It might be of note that just 11 days after Senator John Kennedy gave his religion speech in Houston in September 1960, he went to Salt Lake City to give a speech at the Mormon Tabernacle in which he had a few nice things to say about Mormons. "Tonight I speak for all Americans in expressing our gratitude to the Mormon people -- for their pioneer spirit, their devotion to culture and learning, their example of industry and self-reliance. But I am particularly in their debt tonight for their successful battle to make religious liberty a living reality -- for having proven to the world that different faiths of different views could flourish harmoniously in our midst -- and for having proven to the Nation in this century that a public servant devout in his chosen faith was still capable of undiminished allegiance to our Constitution and national interest."
The public servant Kennedy referenced was Senator Reed Smoot, an apostle in the Mormon church, who had to fight a four-year challenge to the right to his Senate seat over questions of whether or not he would be loyal to his religion versus his country. He was re-elected four times. Kennedy explained: "The story of Reed Smoot symbolizes the long struggle of the Mormon people for religious liberty. They suffered persecution and exile, at the hands of Americans whose own ancestors, ironically enough, had fled here to escape the curse of intolerance. But they never faltered in their devotion to their principle of religious liberty -- not for themselves alone, but for all mankind."
