Romney calls Huckabee "another Bubba"

[Saddle Bronc 124]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml.../wuspols117.xml

Mitt Romney says rival is 'another Bill Clinton'

By Toby Harnden in Washington

Last Updated: 1:31pm GMT 17/12/2007

Just when it seemed that the fight for the Republican nomination could not sink any lower, Mitt Romney has pulled out the ultimate insult - branding his rival Mike Huckabee another Bill Clinton.

But even hardened Republican operatives were surprised by the direct mail he issued as his latest frantic attempt to prevent the Baptist minister from a victory in the first-voting state on January 3rd that could kill off Mr Romney's chances.

Trading on the fact that Mr Huckabee and Mr Clinton are both former Arkansas governors who hail from the town of Hope, Mr Romney sent out a "mailer" to Iowans entitled "Two governors from Hope - one was president, one wants to be."

It asked a series of question about which governor "raised" 21 taxes", "supported amnesty for illegal immigrants" and "granted 1,033 pardons" and that gave the answer to each - "which might surprise you" - as Mr Huckabee.

With the national front runner Rudy Giuliani slipping in the national polls and well behind in most of the crucial early states, Mr Huckabee - now the clear leader in Iowa and second nationally - could be the man standing between Mr Romney and his party's nomination.

In a television appearance yesterday, Mr Romney laid into his rival for an article in "Foreign Affairs" magazine that accused President George W. Bush's administration of an "arrogant bunker mentality" in foreign affairs.

"That's an insult to the president, and Mike Huckabee should apologise to the president," Mr Romney said on NBC's "Meet the Press" programme. While Mr Romney conceded that Iraq was "a mess", he said the comment went "over the line".

Mr Romney has perhaps given Mr Huckabee an opportunity. In 2000, Mr Bush turned on John McCain after the Arizona senator ran an advertisement suggesting that Mr Bush would be "another politician in the White House America can't trust".

Mr Bush immediately accused Mr McCain of bracketing him with Mr Clinton and ran an advertisement stating: "Politics is tough, but when John McCain compared me to Bill Clinton and said I was untrustworthy, that's over the line."

The advertisement was devastatingly effective and helped lead to Mr McCain's defeat.

But Mr Huckabee is lacking in campaign funds and says he will not air attack ads. But after Mr Romney's latest attack, Mr Huckabee hit back forcefully, for the first time repeatedly mentioning Mr Romney by name, highlighting his recent conversion on many issues from liberal Republican to hard-line Right-winger.

"I supported the Bush tax cuts when Mr Romney didn't," he said on CNN. "I was with President Bush on gun control and Mitt Romney wasn't. I was with the president on the president's pro-Life position when Mitt Romney wasn't.

"I was with the president on his position on same sex relationships and marriage when Mitt Romney wasn't. I was with the president on the legacy of the president's dad and Ronald Reagan. Mitt Romney wasn't. So I don't have anything to apologise for."

Chip Saltsman, Mr Huckabee's campaign manager, said that the Romney attack strategy was a sign of desperation and would not work. "They're attacking us in the mail, the phones, on TV. If they could find a way to attack us by carrier pigeons, I'm sure that'll be next.

"As questions come up, we'll respond to them but we're not going to talk about the other campaigns. We're not going to get into the #######-for-tat of negative campaigning."

Good question is (only on the assumption that Huckabee actually is elected) whether Romney will be willing to repeat that statement 1 year from now (eh, Bubba DID serve two complete terms--even if not "uneventfully").

[slim 1,533]

What I find funny about all this election BS is everyone is trying to slander their opponents by comparing them with the previous Pres. from their party.

WHAT DOES THAT SAY ABOUT YOUR PARTY????

If your party's candidate sucked last time, why are you any better? You're in the same party aren't you?

[ivona 0]

Romney and Huckabee are republican..... Clinton was democrat.....

Or am I missing something ?

I can't say I'm following this closely, all candidates are unrealistic; giving people slogans they think they want to hear. The only thing funnier is watching "average Joes" getting their knickers in a twist when someone bashes their candidate....