Monday’s political round-up

November 12, 2007

Today’s installment of campaign-related news items that wouldn’t generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers:

* Edwards strikes the right note on Veterans’ Day: “John Edwards will announce today a $400 million plan to increase awareness and treatment for veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Edwards’ plan would enable veterans to seek counseling outside the Veterans Administration, increase the number of counselors within the VA system, and even employ family members to help spot signs of PTSD.”

* Mitt Romney, who already has a big lead in Iowa, continues to look strong in New Hampshire, too. The latest Boston Globe poll of Granite State Republicans shows Romney leading the field with 32%, followed by Giuliani at 20%, and McCain at 17%. (No other candidate reached double digits, and Thompson has dropped like a rock to just 3% support.)

* On a related note, the latest Marist Poll among New Hampshire Republicans offers very similar results: Romney 33%, Giuliani 22%, McCain 13%.

* Apparently unmoved by the new polls, John McCain guaranteed yesterday that he would win the New Hampshire Republican primary. “A lot of people haven’t made up their minds,” McCain said on Fox News Sunday, before making his guarantee. “I can tell you right now I will win New Hampshire.” And if his prediction is wrong, will McCain drop out? He said yesterday he would not.

* John Edwards’ criticism of Hillary Clinton continues to get more aggressive as the campaign unfolds. “I mean, she says she’s for ending the war, but she’ll continue combat missions in Iraq,” Edwards said yesterday. “She says she’s for standing up to Bush on Iran, and she votes with Bush on the Iranian Revolutionary Guard…. [She] said that she was not for doing anything with the taxes for social security, and then apparently she told somebody in private that she was. I mean I don’t know.”

* Clinton, meanwhile, continues to earn support from high-profile Dems in key states. On Friday, Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland endorsed Clinton, calling her “the strongest candidate our party can bring forth.”

* In the latest good news for the DSCC, Rep. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) reversed his earlier dismissal and has agreed to run for the open Senate seat in New Mexico. He will still face Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez in a Democratic primary, but recent polls show Udall as the frontrunner.

* Mitt Romney seems to have a very quirky sense of humor: “At one young couple’s house, Romney remarked at the large leaves on their tree, quipping, ‘Adam and Eve would not have looked as promiscuous if they had had leaves this big.'” ABC’s Jake Tapper added, “Asked what he meant, a Romney spokesman told Stuart he meant what he said.”

* Speaking of Romney, the former Massachusetts governor was gracious in brushing off anti-Mormon comments from John McCain’s mother. “Mrs. McCain’s comments? Oh I give a pass to anybody that’s over 90. They can say whatever they want,” Romney told reporters with a smile.

* WaPo: “On the heels of his record online fundraising haul this week, GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul is reserving air time in Iowa next week, according to sources familiar with the ad traffic. The candidate appears to be readying a $100,000 ad buy.”

* And finally, DiversityInc.com studied the staffs of the top presidential candidates in both parties. Joe Biden has the least diverse staff of the Democratic candidates, but his staff was still twice as diverse as Giuliani. The former NYC mayor’s staff is 100% white.

McCain said on Fox News Sunday, before making his guarantee. “I can tell you right now I will win New Hampshire.” And if his prediction is wrong, will McCain drop out? He said yesterday he would not.

It’s fun watching McCain struggle like this.

Mitt Romney seems to have a very quirky sense of humor: “At one young couple’s house, Romney remarked at the large leaves on their tree, quipping, ‘Adam and Eve would not have looked as promiscuous if they had had leaves this big.’” ABC’s Jake Tapper added, “Asked what he meant, a Romney spokesman told Stuart he meant what he said.”

Yeah, so what.

  • Clinton, meanwhile, continues to earn support from high-profile Dems

    That sounds like an endorsement of Edwards or Obama, given the approval numbers for Democratic “leadership” amongst the Democratic voters.

  • “A lot of people haven’t made up their minds,” McCain said on Fox News Sunday, before making his guarantee. “I can tell you right now I will win New Hampshire.” And if his prediction is wrong, will McCain drop out? He said yesterday he would not.

    Why would he? If there’s one thing we’ve learned over and over about the Republicans in the past six years, it’s that failure and completely wrong predictions are the best way to succeed in the party.

  • I say go Ron Paul, because he’s cementing in the mind of Republicans the fact that Bush lied us into the war. They’re the only ones left who don’t understand what that fact really means. (Them and Nancy Pelosi, that is)

  • If Hillary is “the strongest candidate we can get” then we are in deeeeeep trouble. Triangulatin’ Tilly is not going to be the next President no matter how many pinstriped pimp “Democrats” endorse her. We’d best be concentrating on veto-proof majorities in the Senate and House to deal with President Giuliani.

  • Romney remarked at the large leaves on their tree, quipping, ‘Adam and Eve would not have looked as promiscuous if they had had leaves this big.’”

    Um Mitt, just because they were naked doesn’t mean they were fucking around. Because really, there weren’t any other people in the Garden so being promiscuous would mean Adam and Eve were far more perverted than the Bible leads us to believe. There’s a snake joke here somewhere, but I’m not going to go there.

  • Of course Clinton is going to get the support of big time politicians. They want to keep the status quo of corp money flowing and the established powers that be to remain seated. She will do nothing to rock the boat.

  • Shalimar wrote:

    Um Mitt, just because they were naked doesn’t mean they were fucking around. Because really, there weren’t any other people in the Garden so being promiscuous would mean Adam and Eve were far more perverted than the Bible leads us to believe. There’s a snake joke here somewhere, but I’m not going to go there.

    Don’t you think he just meant they would be less naked if they wore big leaves in the fanciful pictures people used to make of Garden of Eden scenes?

    Mitt is not known for understanding aving the higher registers of English vocab down pat. Remember his line about a ‘null set’?

    I think he could’ve done better with another word, like ‘racy’ or something, but ‘promiscuous’ was kind of the same to him, so it was good enough for him. It’s probably going to communicate what he meant to everyone he meant to reach without them thinking he meant Adam and Eve were having orgies or getting together with other partners. If anybody is confused by it or thinks it’s weird humor, it’s probably only going to be pedants. You could make that joke to anybody who is a native English speaker and probably 97% of them would get it and not think you were saying anything like ‘Adam and Eve were little sluts.’

  • …the former Massachusetts governor was gracious in brushing off anti-Mormon comments from John McCain’s mother…

    Gracious, or do you think he’s generally dismissive of what the elderly think? I guess he doesn’t know they vote.

  • Doubtful, @11,

    To be fair, Mrs McCain’s remarks about Mormons were a wee bit “unglued”. I read them and thought: “like mother, like son”.Though I was far too amused with the *idea* of mama defending her 70-something “baby”, to concentrate, seriously, on the content of her “message”.

  • Both the Boston Globe poll and Marist polls agree.
    Ron Paul has 7%. He’s in a solid 4th place behind McCain.
    Can we stop pretending he’s a joke now? Libertarianism SELLS even if it’s from a questionable champion like him. When can we see some stronger commitment to fiscal conservatism that’d attract Paul fans to the Democrats? The Dems already have a hammerlock on personal freedom. Take care of the money side and it’d be Game Over.

    Also in the Marist poll.

    43% of Barack Obama supporters would defect to Clinton.if he dropped out.
    Just 18% to Edwards.

    Wonder why Edwards is gunning for Clinton?
    He needs Barack to stick around until her can convince them Hilary is not a good choice.

  • aside from the fact that i loathe mitt romney, i like the way he handled the comments from mrs mccain. his staffers were a little less courteous, though, so i guess that’s how he could justify letting the whole thing go without a big fuss. i watched the deal on msnbc, and even though she was a little offensive, it was totally worth it to watch mccain go from “what a great idea i had…now everybody can see how young-at-heart i really am” to “what the hell was i thinkin bringing her here?” but regardless, she was hilarious and i loved her!

    that being said, mitt and mccain and all the other republicans can suck it in ’08.

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