Disagreement Over Romney, Agreement Over Sali

By Ryan Grim

(The Politico)  As Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has pondered his choice for vice presidential running mate, there’s been no shortage of unsolicited advice. One of those advisers, the Government Is Not God PAC, has given him $2,000 along with the strong suggestion that he had better not pick former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

The group sprung for an ad this spring calling on social conservatives to sign a “No Mitt” petition, sponsored by Troy Newman of Operation Rescue, Sandy Rios of Culture Campaign and Paul Weyrich of the Free Congress Foundation.

The small expenditure ginned up a bunch of free media and a backlash from Mormons, who accused it of religious bias. The PAC responded with a some-of-our-best-friends-are-Mormons post on its website, saying that it doesn’t oppose Mormons in general, just Mitt Romney.

The target of the PAC, Romney, has now set up his own committee, Free and Strong America PAC, and is doling out campaign cash. Both PACs support McCain, but Rep. Bill Sali (R-Idaho) also appears to be a beneficiary of the Romney/anti-Romney tug of war. On June 30, just in time for the quarterly report, Sali pocketed $1,500 from Romney’s PAC. That’s after he had all ready taken $1,000 from the anti-Romney folks.

“Bill has a lot of support form a lot of different groups and a lot of different people who aren’t always going to agree all the time,” said his spokesman Wayne Hoffman. “Bill’s grateful for the support he’s received from Mr. Romney and his PAC and all the other organizations that have given to his campaign.”