The first northeastern socially moderate candidate bites the dust. Manchester Union-Leader:

He didn’t directly take himself out of presidential contention, but former New York Gov. George Pataki told key Granite State Republicans last night he won’t object if they want to closely examine and endorse other candidates.

At a private dinner in a secluded alcove at Fratello’s Italian Ristorante in Manchester on Tuesday night, Pataki told about a dozen activists and uncommited GOP leaders that “he’s going to let the dust settle and see where we are in a few months,” House Republican Leader Michael Whalley told UnionLeader.com today.

Pataki said that “he’s not going to actively campaign for President, indefinitely,” said a person at the dinner who asked not to be named. “He never came out and said, ‘I’m not running for President,’ but everybody basically saw the handwriting on the wall, which is he’s out. When you tell your activists it’s OK to go support other candidates, the handwriting is on the wall.”

Hat tip to Elana Levin.

George Pataki | 2 Comments »

Chris Cillizza documents what he thinks the case for Chuck Hagel to run for president.

Missing from Cillizza’s analysis is the fact that Hagel is one of the most conservative members of the Republican senate caucus, with a 96 rating from the American Conservative Union. Hagel’s ideology is the reason Republicans would support him, not a narrative that falsifies his record in order to get it to fit with his Iraq war stance.

Conventional Wisdom has become that because Hagel is bucking President Bush to oppose escalating the Iraq war that he is therefore a rebel or a maverick. Democrats love him because of his Iraq war stance. But both Conventional Wisdom and the Democrats that who are falling for the CW narrative on Hagel are wrong. Hagel is a doctrinaire conservative and he should not be praised by anyone who calls themselves a Democrat.

Cenk Uygur has a great breakdown of who Chuck Hagel really is. Did you know he’s voted with the Bush administration 95% of the time? Or that Hagel voted with Bush more than any other senator in 2006? I suggest you check Uygur’s post out before making a decision about Chuck Hagel that revolves around the Conventional Wisdom that he is a moderate maverick who Democrats should love.

Technorati Tags: Chuck Hagel

Chuck Hagel | No Comments »

Readers will notice that there is a new link in the header for Candidate Bios. These are basic profiles on the Republican candidates and include background information such as previous public offices, organization affiliations, interest group ratings, 2008 candidacy data and a Technorati-powered blog buzz chart for the last seven days.

We hope to expand on these, such as more interest group ratings, etc., as time wears on and are open to suggestions.

Be on the look out for other features popping up in the future as well.

Uncategorized | No Comments »

Greg Sargent reports that Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts Governor and recent conservative, threw a 1992 fundraiser for Doug Anderson, who ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination for Senate in Utah.

The Anderson campaign worker, Tim Hill, told Election Central that he worked for the Anderson campaign as an organizer in the northern part of the state. He said that he recalled overhearing Anderson and a top adviser discussing the fundraiser fairly early in the campaign.

“It was a small fundraiser in Boston,” Hill told Election Central, adding that he couldn’t recall any specifics about it. The executive director of the Utah Democratic Party, Todd Taylor, confirmed that he remembered Hill working on the Anderson campaign.

[…]

As it happens, Romney was apparently aware at the time of the potential political implications of throwing the fundraiser. Hill says that Romney was worried about helping Anderson because he knew it could create problems for him later.

“There was some talk that Mitt wasn’t doing as much as he could be doing,” Hill told us. “Mitt was worried about looking at his future and was worried about pissing off Republicans.” [emphasis added]

Now, it would be foolish to believe Hill’s story without a grain of salt given the hearsay cirumstances of the details, such as the more damaging “pissing off Republicans” quote. But it reinforces the liberal past that will give Republicans another point to attack on.

Kevin Madden, routinely called upon to defend Romney’s non-conservative past, minimized the significance of the fundraiser. Sargent begs to differ:

The new information about the fundraiser is arguably far more significant than the donations, because it shows that Romney didn’t just give Anderson a check — which could be dismissed as a small favor for a friend — but actively moved to help put a Democrat in the Senate.

Romney spokesman Madden dismissed the idea that the fundraiser was significant as a clue to his political leanings at the time. “I would tell you that relationships back in 1992, whether they were personal or political, don’t really have a reflection on where somebody is in 2007,” Madden said. [emphasis added]

By the same logic Madden applies, what reassurance would conservatives have that a Romney candidacy in 2007 is a reflection of what a Romney presidency would be in 2010, or 2012?

The answer is simple: None.

Conservatives, skeptical of Romney’s awakening to Reagan-style Republicanism within the last several years, are looking for Ronald Reagan, circa 1984, not 1944.

Mitt Romney | 1 Comment »

Cliff Schecter has another thought on Mitt Romney’s newfound honesty on abortion: it’s just part of the story.

He was once pro-choice. Good of him to lie about it at first. And atribute his former position to “a family member” who died of a botched abortion. Ok, fine.

So why were you telling gay rights groups you were to the left of Teddy Kennedy on their issues? Let me guess, somebody in your family was a big fan of show tunes…Or could you have adopted both of these liberal positions in the past because you needed to win elective office in Massachusetts, and would do anything to win then, as you will do now?

What will Romney say to explain his change in his position on gay marriage? Or gun control?

Abortion is just part of the social policy spectrum that he has historically been on the wrong end of for conservatives. Is it a big part? Sure, but it’s hardly the whole story and even this new tact won’t be enough for most social conservative voters.

Technorati Tags: Cliff Schecter, flip-flop, Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney | No Comments »

In late December, Matt Browner Hamlin wrote that the ability of narratives to thrive, in part, depends on the reactions by conservative media figures, such as Hugh Hewitt and Rush Limbaugh.

The day after the 2006 midterm elections, Limbaugh proclaimed that he was “liberated” by the defeat of the Republican-controlled Congress because he, admittedly, no longer had to “carry the water” for “people who I don’t think deserve having their water carried.” He justified lying to his audience because the “stakes were high.”

Heading into the 2008 presidential primary season, Limbaugh is operating under a different MO: honesty.

Contemplating the current field of Republican presidential candidates, Rush Limbaugh sounded like a man with malaise.

“To be honest with you, there’s nobody out there that revs me up,” he confessed to his audience of several million conservative sympathizers on his radio show last week, “so why should I pretend there is?” [emphasis added]

Limbaugh joins RedState in proclaiming, “They all suck.”

With the three leading candidates’ conservative qualifications, at best, questionable, conservative activists just are not happy.

From consultants to bloggers to talk show hosts, there is a climate of suspicion — at times bordering on contempt — among conservative activists about their 2008 choices.

The resumes of Senator John McCain (AZ), former Mayor Rudy Giuliani (NY) and former Governor Mitt Romney (MA) don’t hold up under the scrutiny of conservatives.

(more…)

Candidates, John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney | 2 Comments »

Phew, it’s hard to keep up with this guy’s ever changing stance on the Iraq war. McCain’s latest flip-flop has to do with his stance on redeploying our troops.

Last week, in an interview with The Politico, McCain said that if the current escalation fails, he would support redeploying our troops to Iraqs borders “to try to keep other countries from interfering.”

Last night, in an interview on CNN, McCain said he would not consider withdrawal or redeployment “until we have the situation under control.”

Think Progress has the details.

Technorati Tags: Iraq, John McCain, flip-flop

John McCain | No Comments »

Via Soren Dayton, we learn that Mitt Romney has finally admitted that he used to be pro-choice.

I noticed this in the coverage of Romney’s visit to South Carolina and then again in his Nightline appearance. He is more clearly coming out and saying that he had been pro-choice. This is clearly an attempt defuse the issue. First Nightline:

We all learn from experience. And I’m just like other people in this nation. Not everything I believed 12 or 13 years ago is the same today, with regards to the issue of abortion. And so about two years ago, I said I am pro-life. And prior to that time, I had a different position.

This is a much cleaner and simpler position than he had previously. Apparently, he was asked about this in South Carolina too. He said:

“Over the last multiple years, as you know, I have been effectively pro-choice,” he said. “I never called myself that as a label but I was effectively pro-choice and that followed a personal experience in my extended family that led to that conclusion.”

That family member was killed in an illegal abortion in the 1960s, Romney said.

He then talks about the Harvard Stem Cell Institute discussion:

“It struck me very powerfully at that point that the Roe v. Wade approach has so cheapened the value of human life that somebody could think it’s not a moral issue to destroy embryos,” Romney said.

He added every decision he made as governor “in a very liberal state has been on the side of favoring life,” he said. “I am firmly pro-life.”

Dayton is right to note that Romney is trying to defuse his past support for abortion. But if you look closely at what Romney is saying, he has not yet explained what caused his conversion to being “firmly pro-life.” The stem cell explanation makes sense were Romney already of the mindset that embryos were human life, a position that his now admittedly pro-choice position makes it unlikely for him to have held.

Romney has confirmed something that everyone following this race and paying attention to his constant evolution towards a more conservative ideology already knew. Mitt Romney used to be pro-choice. While this admission may make it less likely for Romney staffers to call video of Mitt making pro-choice statements a distortion of facts, it isn’t going to change the fact that Romney is a recent convert.

Romney’s history on abortion isn’t just problematic because he supported abortion rights at one time in the past. The fear gripping the Republican base is that he will some at some point in the future again hold a pro-choice position. Flip-flopping in a documented and public way bolsters that fear and being honest about the change in mindset doesn’t do much to assuage that fear.

Mitt Romney | 5 Comments »

Jim Gilmore, alleged presidential candidate, was sighted this weekend in New Hampshire wooing members of the NH GOP at their annual meeting.

Giuliani didn’t have the GOP activists to himself. Two candidates who recently announced forming Presidential exploratory committees — Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo and former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore — offered a free lunch to delegates once the Republican meeting adjourned. Sen. John McCain’s supporters advertised their own luncheon.

Gilmore has been AWOL (or would it be MIA?) pretty much since he announced the formation of his presidential exploratory committee. I’ve been anxiously awaiting either the launch of his PEC’s website (none exists) or, at least, an update from DraftGilmore.org, which hasn’t been changed since January 9th when Gilmore formed his PEC. Worse BlogsForGilmore, as linked from the Draft site, remains an empty page parked at GoDaddy.com.

But, hey, Gilmore was in New Hampshire this weekend, so maybe he’s giving this whole “campaigning” thing a shot after all.

Technorati Tags: James Gilmore

New Hampshire, James Gilmore | 1 Comment »

Who is the real John McCain, and why should Americans listen to him?

In the 2000 presidential race for the Republican nomination, Senator McCain introduced the “Straight Talk Express” into the lexicon of American politics.

It is a narrative that portrayed the so-called “maverick” McCain as a different kind of politician that chose principle over party. It earned him a “moderate” branding and with the imminent decimation of the GOP majorities in Congress, created an aura of “electability” about him in the pundit class.

During the 2000 primary race, when then-Texas Governor George W. Bush personally started slinging mud, McCain said:

“Bad generals always fight the last war.”

That advice appears to be lost on the 70-year old southwestern senator heading into the 2008 primaries.

Indeed, for 2008, McCain is taking nothing for granted and trying to emulate Bush’s success by veering farther to the right than his now-defunct “maverick” image ever allowed him. This right turn continues to create sharp contrasts between the current McCain and the McCain from 2000. From abortion to war, Senator McCain has allowed his quest for the party’s nomination to take precedent over principle.

McCain’s biggest hurdle, should he win the nomination, will be the continuing occupation of Iraq. The conflict in Iraq does not escape the evolving principles of John McCain. In August 1990, the Arizona senator was quoted in the New York Times that he opposed “trading American blood for Iraqi blood.”

Fast-forward to 2007 where McCain is the biggest supporter of Bush’s war — neck and neck with Senator Joseph Lieberman (I-Connecticut). McCain’s ownership of the escalation policy adopted by President Bush earlier this month should give Americans pause considering the senior senator’s track record on Iraq: length and difficulty (Iraq won’t be an issue in 2008?), endorsement of the escalation plan and his reservations that it is too small (see: “numbers game” on escalation, including his initial request for 20,000 more U.S. forces and his belief that an increase would “risk broken army” and put a “terrible strain” on military) and incorrect prognostications by his own admission.

Why should Americans believe Senator McCain finally got it right this time?

His Iraq stance is not resonating with the American people and is, in fact, hurting his standing with Americans. (In fact, according to a recent poll produced by the Princeton Survey Research Associates, Americans by more than a 2-to-1 margin say that “since the war began” Congress is “not assertive enough” in opposing President Bush, ergo Senator McCain, on Iraq.)

Documentarian Robert Greenwald’s Brave New Films put together a three-minute video that chronicles these and many other contradictions for the website The Real McCain authored by Cliff Schecter.

In Monday’s Los Angeles Times, staff writer Michael Finnegan profiled the new Greenwald ad and the rise of online video in making the case against 2008 candidates.

Read more from Schecter here.

John McCain | 2 Comments »