Starting Gate: 'Tis The Season
We've seen hints of what's to come -- phone calls raising questions about Mitt Romney's religious affiliation, whispers about Barack Obama and Islam that end up on the front page of a national newspaper and the latest attempt to resurrect Willie Horton. Allegations that Rudy Giuliani charged the city of New York for protection while he was carrying on an extra-marital affair will certainly be tame compared with what's about to come.
With all the candidates at the CNN/YouTube debate having been invited to submit a video to be aired during the event, Thompson's campaign took the opportunity to hammer Mitt Romney for having changed his public position on abortion and Mike Huckabee for once asking the Arkansas legislature for a tax increase. In today's vernacular, it's on.
This weekend, the Republican Majority for Choice (a pro-abortion rights group) will air an ad calling Romney a flip-flopped on abortion. The ad, airing in Iowa and New Hampshire, points out that Romney has had several positions on the issue and urges voters to ask the now-prof-life candidate to "flip-flop just one more time – and stay there." It's not a dark attack ad and it's an issue Romney has dealt with since the day he entered the race. What it does is help usher in the nasty season.
In Iowa, the Des Moines Register reports on an e-mail making the rounds that appears to be coming straight from Romney's campaign alleging that a supporter of Giuliani is a "pedophile priest." The Romney campaign denies any connection. And this is Iowa, what will South Carolina, a state notorious for bare-knuckled tactics, look like once the focus shifts there?
It's always a risk for campaigns to directly take the negative route. The backlash can be as damaging as the charges unleashed and any funny business, such as connections to shady operators or tactics, can be devastating. This time, the calculations are more complicated because the campaign's most crucial period is taking place during the Holiday season. Will voters respond to negative messages they get in mailings alongside cheerful cards from friends and family or in ads that accompany otherwise uplifting television shows?
Yet despite the risks, there's little hope that we'll avoid it this time around anymore than we have in the past because negative ads work. The next time you hear folks in Michigan or California or anywhere else complain about the inordinate amount of attention paid to Iowa and New Hampshire, you might want to remind them how lucky they are not to be in the crosshairs of the shots to come.
In Full Bloom: Michael Bloomberg says he's not running for president and will recite the exact number of days he has left in his second term as Mayor of New York city whenever he's asked about the possibility. But that doesn't stop him from doing everything he can to keep people talking about it, whether it's magazine covers or high-profile meetings that set tongues wagging.
Bloomberg will have breakfast with Obama this morning, and while nobody knows exactly why, it's another turn in the spotlight for a mayor who seems to love to revel in it. Earlier this week, Bloomberg had dinner with outgoing Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel, a Republican often mentioned as a possible partner for Bloomberg in any independent bid. The mayor's people don't hide the fact that they've explored the possibility but say there won't be any kind of decision until the major party nominees are decided – just about the time there will be plenty of spotlight to spare.
A Purpose-Driven Speech: From CBS News' Fernando Suarez:
Clinton joined hundreds of people at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest California where she addressed the Global Summit on AIDS and the Church. Clinton took the time to to reach out to evangelical Christians during her 30-minute speech where she talked about her own faith saying that she has been "blessed" in her life to have a family who valued religion and faith. She spoke of her mother who "taught Sunday school that made sure my brothers and I were there the moment the church doors opened" and a father "who kneeled by the side of his bed every night of his life to say his prayers."
Clinton has often said that faith has helped her in her life including during the Monica Lewinsky scandal when she was First Lady. She told the crowd "my own faith journey is approaching a half a century and I know how far I still have to go." At one point Senator Clinton joked that people ask her all the time if she is a praying person, to which she responds "I was fortunate enough to be raised to understand the purpose of prayer, but had I not been, probably one week in the White House would have turn me into one."
Mrs. Clinton's visit to Saddleback Church run by Pastor Rick Warren, the best selling author of The Purpose Driven Live, was criticized by many conservative Christians who felt that Clinton's views on abortion and gay rights clash with the message of the church. Despite the criticism, Clinton took the stage to a standing ovation and spoke of her plan to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS. She set an ambitious goal of ending all deaths related to Malaria in Africa by the end of her second term in the White House. Obama spoke at the summit last year.
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