Duncan Hunter explains why he would not be comfortable endorsing Mitt Romney. Hunter’s problem is with Bain Capital, Romney’s company, is partnering with a Chinese defense contractor to buy an American defense contractor.

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The results aren’t even in from South Carolina, but Duncan Hunter is dropping out.

Apparently Mitt Romney’s endorsement of Hunter to win the SC primary didn’t help.

Duncan Hunter | 2 Comments »

CNN is reporting that Duncan Hunter will be making “a major announcement“ (CNN has since changed their link to fit their updated content) regarding his presidential campaign this afternoon in New Hampshire. Could an Alan Keyes endorsement be in the works?

Stay tuned.

[Update:] Thanks to reader QXW, for alerting us to the fact that Duncan Hunter is most definitely staying in the race. CNN has more:

Underdog GOP presidential candidate Duncan Hunter lashed out at “knucklehead media executives” who did not include him in this weekend’s New Hampshire primary debates, telling reporters he was staying in the race despite widespread expectations he would announce his withdrawal.

The conservative California congressman criticized debate organizers at FOX and ABC for not extending him an invitation when “guys with zero delegates” like Rudy Giuliani and John McCain were allowed to participate in the events, saying they “decided my campaign was over, and the lights would be shut out on my campaign.

“So here’s my answer: I’m not going to quit. I’m staying in.”

Isn’t it a little strange to schedule a “major announcement” regarding your campaign, and then make that announcement about how you are still running said campaign? This makes me think that Duncan Hunter isn’t a serious candidate after all.

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FDL has a rundown of everyone’s closing ad in Iowa. Duncan Hunter’s cracks me up. He looks like he’s selling low-cost insurance or some new wonder knife or something.

What he loses in all manner of professionalism he more than makes up for in savings! Call now while supplies last! Operators are standing by!

Duncan Hunter | No Comments »

So one of the great things about being an anti-immigrant xenophobe in a nation of immigrants is that you get to point to great things done by Americans born in other nations and take credit for them, and blame immigrants for all the bad things they may or may not be responsible for.

Consider Duncan Hunter in yesterday’s Republican debate in Iowa when he was asked to outline his education policy:

REP. HUNTER: Three words: Jaime Escalante and inspiration. Jaime Escalante was a great math teacher who in the barrio of Los Angeles taught young kids calculus, and he taught them so well that the school district called up and said, “We got a problem. We think your kids are cheating on the tests.” And he said, “Test them again.” And he established this incredible system of calculus in the school district by inspiring young people.

How many of us have — have our careers — can — can point back to a teacher and say, “That teacher inspired me”? What we have to do is take away the bureaucratic credentialing of teachers and allow people who are aerospace engineers and — and pilots and scientists and retired folks to come in and inspire young people in third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth grades. Let — let’s inspire them to reach for the stars and give them the incentive to work hard enough to get there — inspiration, changing the credentialing system, and school choice.

MS. WASHBURN: Hasn’t that teacher since left the public school system?

REP. HUNTER: And you know why? I read the — the — the post- mortem on Jaime Escalante is that the unions ran him out of the school district, and I think that goes right to one of the — one of the big problems that we have.

You’ve got to hand it to Hunter for getting the shot in at the teachers’ unions. But when you consider where Border Wall Hunter stands on immigration, there are some inconvenient facts that we might want to consider when he holds up Dr. Escalante as an inspirational example to sketch out his education policy:

• Dr. Escalante did not speak English when he came to the United States from Bolivia by way of Puerto Rico looking for work
• Dr. Escalante took a job with an electronics company that an American citizen probably could have performed
• 99% of the students at Garfield High where Dr. Escalante’s inspirational story began are of Latino origin, and while the LA Unified School District doesn’t report on this, I bet you a whole lot of them did not immigrate to this country legally

None of that is skin off my back, but in an America led by Duncan Hunter, or any of the other hotheads who are trying to “out Tancredo Tancredo,” I suspect that you’d see fewer Jaime Escalantes. Men of his mettle, because they would face more barriers to entry in our country, would not be able to reach out to and educate hundreds of thousands of Latino students who are studying in poor schools because we want to keep them and their families part of our underground economy.

Duncan Hunter, Presidential Debates, Tom Tancredo | 3 Comments »

Duncan Hunter is trying to pull Mitt Romney into some China-related brambles, and in doing so, is more or less accusing the former Massachusetts Governor of selling out America’s security.  See Bill Gertz in today’s Washington Times:

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is being asked to intervene with the company he founded to block the proposed merger between 3Com and China’s Huawei Technologies.

The request was made in a letter sent last week by Rep. Duncan Hunter, California Republican and ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee [sic], opposing the purchase of 3Com Corp. by China’s Huawei Technologies Co., linked to past industrial espionage and support for America’s enemies. Bain Capital, the investment firm founded by Mr. Romney, is leading the merger, with Huawei taking a minority stake in the deal in an apparent bid to avoid national security scrutiny.

A classified U.S. intelligence assessment by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, disclosed by The Washington Times, stated that the 3Com-Huawei deal poses a threat to U.S. national security. The assessment was sent to the Treasury Department-led Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which is reviewing the merger.

“Your company, Bain Capital, is taking on a ’strategic partner,’ Huawei, in the acquisition of 3Com,” Mr. Hunter wrote, noting that Huawei has close ties to the Chinese military and aided Saddam Hussein and the Taliban.

Mr. Hunter said even though Mr. Romney no longer controls Bain, “the contributions you have received from its principals indicate that your influence within the company remains strong.”

So far, it would appear Hunter hasn’t made a stink about this in the Congressional context, which would almost certainly provoke an ethics complaint against him – you can’t send your electoral opponent a complaint on Congressional letterhead.

But it’s an interesting example of what happens when you put a long-serving, ultra-wonkish congressman in the position of presidential candidate.  Warning Americans about China threatening our national security by gobbling up our industrial base is daily language for Hunter and the company he keeps.  For the rest of us, it just sounds unglued and weird.  The only attention Hunter is likely to attract with this move will come from the 1% who already support him – people who get angry every time they see the words “Mushu Pork.”

And don’t expect this question to hang around Romney’s neck the way Giuliani’s consulting hi jinks grappled onto him.  Romney hasn’t headed up Bain Capital since 1998.

Still, you have to wonder if Giuliani and the others will try to use this against him – any knife in a fight, they say.

Duncan Hunter, Mitt Romney | 1 Comment »

I’m not always comfortable with publishing polls because they’re a snapshot. But we’re only a month-plus out of New Hampshire, and the trends of this CNN poll show that the media simply needs to start running a new story about the Republican race. Because Mitt Romney is solidly in the lead right now.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson has skidded into sixth place in a new CNN/WMUR poll of likely Republican voters in New Hampshire, edged out by ex-Libertarian and anti-war congressman Ron Paul and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney topped the poll, widening a lead he has held for months in neighboring New Hampshire, while Arizona Sen. John McCain and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani were running close in the second and third spots.

Thompson … has trailed the GOP front-runners in early voting states since entering the race in August, and his support in New Hampshire dropped from 13 percent in a September poll to 4 percent in November’s survey.

By contrast, Romney’s support grew from 25 percent to 33 percent over the same period; McCain held steady at 18 percent; and Giuliani dipped from 24 to 16 percent.

Meanwhile, the percentage of support for Paul grew from 4 percent to 8 percent, putting him fourth among the GOP contenders in the Granite State [...]

Among other contenders, Huckabee — seen gaining ground ahead of the Iowa caucuses — claimed 5 percent support in the new poll. Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo, who has made opposition to illegal immigration the centerpiece of his campaign, drew 1 percent; and California Rep. Duncan Hunter, the former chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, had the support of fewer than half of 1 percent.

Romney is now well beyond the margin of error in New Hampshire, and 9iu11iani, who’s trying to make a strong showing UP TO THIRD in Iowa, is looking at the same placement in New Hampshire. Meanwhile, Ron Paul is surging and will probably spend as much money in that state as anyone else. And Fred Thompson no longer exists.

All I’m saying is that it might be time to rewrite those stories. If all you’re going to do is focus on the horse race, the least you can do is get it right.

Duncan Hunter, Fred Thompson, John McCain, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, New Hampshire, Ron Paul, Rudy Giuliani, Tom Tancredo | 5 Comments »

The new Washington Post poll echoes the recent Newsweek survey in that it shows Rudy Giuliani maintaining his position at the front of the Republican pack. But the Post sounds unconvinced, calling the GOP race the “most open in decades”:

Former New York City mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani maintains a double-digit lead over his main rivals, but most of his supporters [55%] back his candidacy only “somewhat,” and he has yet to gain momentum among key primary voting groups or to distinguish himself as the best candidate for the party. Adding to the murkiness of the picture is that Republicans continue to be less satisfied with their candidate options than Democrats are with theirs.

The poll also finds McCain surging, while Thompson treads water and Huckabee remains stuck between the first and second tiers:

Rudy Giuliani 33
John McCain 19
Fred Thompson 16
Mitt Romney 11
Mike Huckabee 9
Ron Paul 3
Duncan Hunter 2
Tom Tancredo 1

Also interesting is the confusion among GOP voters as to just who represents their party’s “core values.” 25% percent pick Giuliani, 24% McCain, 29% choose Thompson, and 17% say Romney. To some extent this may be because there’s a good deal of confusion these days over exactly what those values are, but it probably also has to do with the candidates’ failure to take much leadership in sorting such questions out. Everybody wants to be as conservative as possible for the primary, even to the point of berating the GOP for not having been conservative enough during its recent reign of error, but the elephant in the room is that conservatism itself is in crisis.

Duncan Hunter, Fred Thompson, John McCain, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Polling, Ron Paul, Rudy Giuliani, Tom Tancredo | 4 Comments »

No, I didn’t shorten something Congressman Duncan Hunter (R-Alpine, Calif.) said into some snarky headline. His communications team did that themselves on a press release today.

Washington, D.C. — U.S. Congressman Duncan Hunter (R-CA), ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, will be meeting with President Bush today regarding his Wounded Warrior proposal to Congress. During today’s meeting, Congressman Hunter intends to also suggest that State Department personnel who refuse deployment to Baghdad be replaced with wounded veterans at Walter Reed and Bethesda hospitals. [emphasis added]

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All of the Democratic candidates have had something to say about the wildfires raging through Southern California. Gov. Richardson, Sen. Dodd, and Sen. Edwards in particular have offered both statements and resources for those suffering in my state this week.

How are the Republicans handling this, you ask? In case you were wondering:

Rudy Giuliani: Nothing.
John McCain: Nothing.
Mitt Romney: Nothing.
Fred Thompson: Nothing.
Mike Huckabee: Nothing. A 30-minute interview with Glenn Beck on his front page, too, Beck is the guy who claimed that some of the people who lost their homes hate America.
Duncan Hunter: It’s his frickin’ district and it’s hard to find anything outside of this news article.
Tom Tancredo: Nothing.
Ron Paul: Nothing. And he’s doing a “Hollywood fundraiser” tonight.

They just don’t care. Which is really puzzling, considering that California is an early state. Plus, most of the fires are in Republican-leaning areas, like Orange County and the outer communities around San Diego.

But you would have to have the ability to feel compassion to actually offer it.

California, Duncan Hunter, Fred Thompson, John McCain, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, Rudy Giuliani, Tom Tancredo | 10 Comments »