DES MOINES, Iowa, Dec. 31, 2007
Huckabee Yanks Attack Ad At Last Minute
Republican Shows Anti-Romney Spot To Reporters Despite Claiming He'll Rely On Positive Politics
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Republican presidential hopeful former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee looks down during a news conference in Des Moines, Iowa, Monday, Dec. 31, 2007. Huckabee showed members of the media an ad critical of opponent Mitt Romney that, Huckabee said, he decided not to air on TV at the last minute. (AP)
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Huckabee, who has sharply intensified his criticism of the former Massachusetts governor in recent days, tried to reclaim the high road in the midst of a news conference three days before Iowa's presidential caucuses. He told reporters the event had been called to announce the hard-hitting new ad but he had changed his mind about running it on TV.
"We are now committed from now through the rest of the caucuses, that we will run only ads that talk about why I should be president, and not why Mitt Romney should not," he said. "The tipping point was this morning. I just realized that this is not how we run our campaign in this state. We have run it positive. We have gotten here by being positive."
Polls show the race very close between Huckabee and Romney in Iowa. The former Arkansas governor's double-digit lead has evaporated amid a series of Romney ads assailing Huckabee.
Huckabee had long pledged to run a positive campaign and for months had resisted criticizing his rivals directly although he did take unnamed shots at them daily. But as polls narrowed and Romney continued to go after him, Huckabee shifted course over the weekend, calling Romney "desperate and dishonest."
The expectation, fueled by Huckabee himself and his aides, was that he would run ads against Romney in the final days of the campaign. He and his aides hinted a direct response to Romney might be forthcoming, filmed such an ad and called an elaborately staged news conference to announce it.
Then he reversed course.
There was a risk that Huckabee himself would be hurt if he went negative in a TV ad, particularly after spending months branding himself as the upbeat candidate who shunned such politics. Monday's events resulted in him denouncing negativism, though the negative ad got wide coverage.
The 30-second spot accused Romney of "dishonest attacks" on him and on GOP contender John McCain - and then criticized Romney on taxes, spending, guns, health care and abortion. "If a man's dishonest to obtain a job, he'll be dishonest on the job. Iowans deserve better," Huckabee said in the ad.
Romney's campaign suggested Huckabee's turnabout - and what it termed his "rather odd press conference" - was a sign of a campaign in free-fall.
Said Romney spokesman Kevin Madden: "To say one thing one minute and then turn around and show an attack ad to reporters the next will, obviously, leave folks with a very cynical view of Mike Huckabee and his message. Mike Huckabee has turned from nice to very hot-tempered now that his record has been examined by voters."
Romney later told CBS News, "The press conference which Gov. Huckabee had today, I think it's confusing to the people of Iowa."
In Des Moines, more than 50 reporters and a dozen cameras were packed into a conference room at a downtown hotel. A backdrop behind a podium on a platform repeated the phrase "Enough is Enough." Placards on either side of Huckabee - five in all - included conflicting quotes from Romney on issues including taxes, abortion, immigration, judicial nominations and guns.
Huckabee arrived and stepped to the podium. His wife, Janet, stood off to the side. A throng of Huckabee's senior aides were nearby.
He denounced the "very negative and nasty tone that the campaign has taken" and said he had mistakenly come to the conclusion that the only thing to do "was to respond with a counter-punch." He said the ad was supposed to start running Monday but just an hour before the news conference, he had ordered his staff to stop it.
"I just feel like we ought to change the tone of the debate, and I'm going to start with me," Huckabee said.
Nevertheless, he showed the ad to the media - after audio problems caused a several-minute delay.
At the press conference, Huckabee told CBS News correspondent Nancy Cordes that he would have faced questions no matter what he did with the ad.
"By the same token, if I came and said we were going to run an ad but we're not going to run an ad, you'd say 'Where's the ad?'" Huckabee said.
Even though the candidate denounced negative advertising at the press conference, he said he would not rule out running such spots in the future, and wanted to see how Iowans responded to his pledge to stay positive.
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Michelle Obama tells how her role as the First Lady has changed her perspective.
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Posted by parrot2 at 12:58 PM : Jan 02, 2008
+ report abuse
he passed the no child left behind bill. He for the first time passed a bill that helped people on medicare pay for their prescription drugs and he lowered taxes resulting in a continued expansion of the economy when the dot com bubble burst.
Posted by Hwy71So
Say what?
Sorry, but ole Huckster played the media like a violin--they did exactly what he intended---they showed the ad!
He said he wasnn''t going to show the ad and he and the media did!! FOR FREE!!! lol What''s not to believe??
Another politician that "preaches" one thing and does another!
Good morning and Happy New Year.
The media is playing America for all she''s worth. I''m fairly convinced Clinton will win the White House (to our demise and disdain) just as the media wants. You think Bush has lead poorly? Wait till she takes the seat.
I personally think Bush has made a great effort in the executive seat. However, the political agenda of congress has been so devisive with the Dems trying to prove THEY are in charge instead of working on sound legislation. I imagine I''d do a bit of vetoing myself in the exec chair.
The principles that let him bypass the law and release 12 murderers because he felt like it? Or the other 1,021 convicted criminals for whatever reason he conjured up?
Or his principle of taking what amounts to bribes (yes, taking a gift while as an elected official even barbecues, eye exams, and $70,000 worth of furniture in exchange for positions on statewide boards is bribery.)?
For that he is on judicialwatch.org ''s top ten most corrupt politicians list. Way to go, preacher boy!
Or is it his bigoted principles where his camp continuously fired off anti-Catholic commentary during the straw poll. with his recent sectarian violence against two other sects, the only question is which flavor of Christianity will he attack in the Spring?
Huck fought for sales tax on food. Nothing is more regressive than that.
Huck fought to give scholarships to adult illegal aliens (which would take scholarship money away from Arkansas citizens, unless he wanted to pay for them with increased sales tax on food).
He increased the tax burden on every resident by an average of 60%. More than Bill Clinton could have ever dreamed of doing.
Jimmy was a good Southern Baptist Sunday school teacher. Reagan was a divorcee who had signed into law a bill that created abortion in the State of California.
Would you vote for Jimmy Carter today? Yet you are thinking about voting for Jimmy Huckabee, who is the same thing.
Don''t be fooled by the aw shucks exterior of this snake oil televangelist. He will take the widow''s mite and demand more!
Huckster, you are living up to the beliefs of many that the Christian born agains are the truest of hypocrites.
When someone tells me they are a Christian "born again" I expect them to walk on water--they want us to think they are that much better than the "rest of us". UGH
It would be nice if the press would report on where the candidates stand on the issues instead of this garbage. I couldn''t care less about negative adds. I do care how these candidates will deal with Pakistan''s latest crises and how they plan to bring back jobs and get us off of oil.
One would think that someone should support a policy position because one thinks it is the correct one to support, not simply because it is considered to be "right" or "left", so if that is your main criterion for whether or not you support a policy, that is already ignorant enough, but then to have even that baseless decision reversed because someone on a blog thread wrote something you don''t like suggests that you may not even be capable of making an informed voting decision...
Mitt doesn''t say anything about the man, Mr. Huckabee, merely talks about his record.
One ad (huck''s) is negative. It is truly an attack ad.
Mitt''s is an issue ad, no attacks. There is a big difference!
This stunt isn''t ''smart'' it is insulting to the office of the president.
He can not stand up for his own (horrible) positions regarding pardons and his pathetic position on illegal aliens, so he resorts to cheap theatrics.
Fortunately, Iowa voters are smarter than this. He has been running a negative whisper campaign for months. (not so silent considering his bigoted, idiotic comments to the New York Times).
This proves that all of his off-the-cuff comments are actually calculated. I don''t like being manipulated.
Huck is not presidential. Don''t waste your caucus vote on the huckster.
Not only did he apologize for the assassination (what was that about?) and not know that martial law had been lifter weeks earlier, demonstrating that he is not ready to be the commander in chief, he now pulls a political stunt more akin to Howard Stern.
The man would make a great court jester, but not a President of the United States
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