Pat Dollard | Young Americans

Bash Here:

We are officially less than two months away from the first primaries and so far I have tried not to post too many stories on the candidates, just a few here and there. But the races are heating up, and decision time draweth nigh.

Louie isn’t too sure who he’s voting for yet.

This story has had me chuckling for a few days now.

If you haven’t heard let me briefly explain: Pollsters made calls in Iowa this week praising McCain and criticizing Romney and his Mormon faith. Call recipients were asked if Romney being a Mormon would have an effect on their vote, and then sort of went downhill from there, to put it mildly.

McCain’s camp has denied they were behind it, and well…you can read the rest below…

Anti-Romney Calls Still Swathed in Mystery
Jonathan Martin for Politico.com

It likely was inevitable.

But that didn’t make the news of phone calls attacking Mitt Romney and invoking his Mormon faith any less explosive.

It’s become the newest “Whodunit?” in the political universe, as the press, campaigns and everybody in between tries to figure out who was behind the calls earlier this week to voters in Iowa and New Hampshire.

And the political dirty trick at the heart of the matter has GOP operatives debating how this cuts for Romney — whether he becomes a sympathetic figure under attack by religious bigots or whether the calls force voters, however unwillingly, to focus on the issue of Romney’s beliefs.

Meanwhile, the investigation gathers steam. Two potential culprits — the campaigns of John McCain and Rudy Giuliani — quickly claimed innocence, with McCain calling for an investigation by the New Hampshire attorney general.

Theories abound. The fact that the company contracted to make the calls, Western Wats, is based in Utah and includes some Romney donors on its payroll has spurred some conspiracy-minded observers to wonder if the former Massachusetts governor himself was involved in a dirty trick.

“That’s preposterous,” shot back Romney spokesman Kevin Madden. Asked if they were involved at all, Madden flatly said “no.”

While few think that any of Romney’s rivals were directly responsible for the calls, another line of thinking goes that a third-party affiliated with or at least sympathetic to McCain, Giuliani or another Republican may have been behind the Mormon-bashing.

The leader of the only GOP third-party group to emerge so far this election cycle, however, says it wasn’t them.

“Of course we have nothing to do with them,” said Rick Reed, a Republican consultant and head of the pro-McCain Foundation for a Secure and Prosperous America, in an-email. “First of all, I consider Mitt a friend. Secondly, neither I nor FSPA would engage in anything negative in a primary.”

Reed, whose group is airing ads in South Carolina in support of the Arizona senator, predicted the calls would backfire. “Incredibly stupid, whoever it was,” he observed.

Chris LaCivita, who worked with the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth in the 2004 presidential race, said he’d be surprised if any of the campaigns were officially behind the mudslinging

“I can’t imagine a presidential campaign sanctioning that type of effort,” LaCivita said. “If they were, then they are the biggest bunch of dumbasses and they have no business being involved at this level of politics.”

The only group who definitely knows, Western Wats, isn’t saying. They issued a statement Thursday night absolving Giuliani’s pollster — who was fingered by a McCain aide yesterday — but cited a confidentiality policy in declining to disclose their client.

So we may never know who was responsible for the calls.

Regardless, they have thrust the issue of Romney’s faith squarely into the center of the GOP contest and provided an opportunity for him to garner sympathy from voters who may view these tactics with disdain.

At a campaign stop in Nevada Friday, Romney sought to do just that, describing the calls as “un-American” and pointing out the irony that they came just before a holiday that celebrates religious freedom.

And at least one Iowa Republican — one who was a recipient of the poll — said he did feel for Romney after hearing the attacks.

“It made me want to support Romney more,” Mark Lundberg, chairman of the Sioux County GOP and a still-uncommitted caucus-goer, said in an interview after alerting Politico that he had gotten the call. “I’ve had some leading questions from different campaigns, but this was way different.”

But there also is a plain downside for Romney in the emergence of the issue.

“The more he plays this up, the more he highlights the issue of his Mormonism,” said Drake University professor Dennis Goldford. “He’s got to be careful because it plays both ways.”

Some evangelical voters could shy away from Romney if this becomes Topic A and the more unorthodox elements of his faith — at least in the eyes of other faiths — are revealed and given heavy coverage.

What is for certain, though, is that this is only the first time that Romney’s religion will be raised, at least behind the scenes, in an increasingly-competitive and fluid GOP race. It won’t be the last.

“They’re all going to be testing competitive and contrasting messages,” said Republican pollster Neil Newhouse, who is not working for any of the candidates. While such traditional survey work may not delve as deeply — or crassly — into the nature of Mormonism as these calls, Newhouse said that asking about the religion as an issue will almost certainly happen again — both by Romney’s pollster and his rivals.

The important question, said Sara Taylor, is whether whoever is behind this week’s calls will strike again.

“How much money do they have and is this a one-hit?” asked Taylor, the former White House political director and Bush-Cheney campaign veteran.

If the calls continue and keep the Mormon issue a dominant one in the Republican contest, the upshot could be that Romney is forced to give the major speech on his religion that he said last weekend his advisers have urged against.

For now, though, Romney’s campaign is hoping that they can get to the bottom of the calls.

They’re directing those in New Hampshire (where there are strict laws requiring such callers to identify who they’re working on behalf of) who received the calls to the state attorney general’s office, which launched an investigation on Friday.

“We’re getting as much information as possible,” said Madden, the Romney spokesman. “Phone calls leave fingerprints.”

Politico.com