Romney Tracker

GOP Gay Advocacy Group Slams Romney in New Ad Over 'Mitt-Flops'

A Republican gay rights advocacy group accuses Mitt Romney of "Mitt-flops" in a new radio ad that criticizes the former Massachusetts governor on his tax record.

The ad by the Log Cabin Republicans notes that Romney signed legislation in 2003 that increased taxes on New Hampshire residents who worked in Massachusetts. It also says Romney raised taxes on businesses, a point Romney disputes by saying he was merely closing tax loopholes.

"Mitt Flops -- sounds like something you'd wear to the beach, but they could cost you," the ad states. "Let's see. Running for governor, Mitt Romney said he'd balance the budget without raising taxes. So what'd he really do? He raised taxes on some New Hampshire residents who worked in Massachusetts, taxing their income and their pensions."

The ad represents yet another anti-Romney campaign by an independent political group that is hitting the airwaves with six weeks before the New Hampshire primary. This weekend, the Republican Majority for Choice, a group that advocates abortion rights, is running television and newspaper ads in New Hampshire and Iowa accusing Romney of flip-flopping on abortion.

The radio ad represents the second effort by the Log Cabin Republicans to cast Romney as a flip-flopper. Last month, the group aired an ad in Iowa and on national cable that sought to undercut his support among social conservatives.

Romney spokesman Kevin Madden said it was no surprise that a gay rights group would oppose Romney because he has supported a federal amendment that would declare marriage to be between a man and a woman.

"This negative attack and gross distortion of the governor's record was launched and paid for by a group recognized as having Mayor (Rudy) Giuliani as their 'favorite' candidate," Madden said. Giuliani has had the support of some gay rights groups in the past and has backed limited legal recognition for same-sex couples.

"Gov. Romney has a stellar record of fiscal responsibility, having cut wasteful spending and worked to lower taxes as a chief executive focused on pro-growth economic policies," Madden said.

The criticism from the Log Cabin Republicans is similar to criticism of Romney contained in Giuliani's Web site, and in some cases the two camps cite the same sources.

But Log Cabin President Patrick Sammon said there was no coordination between his group and the Giuliani camp.

"We are not endorsing any candidates in this race," he said. "We have members who are working and supporting different candidates. Gov. Romney is, as usual, trying to attack the messenger instead of responding to the message."

GOP Abortion Rights Group Raps Romney

By JIM KUHNHENN
Associated Press Writer

A Republican group that backs abortion rights will start an ad campaign this weekend in Iowa and New Hampshire portraying Mitt Romney as a flip-flopper and drawing attention to a questionnaire he filled out in 2002 endorsing legal abortions.

The ads by the Republican Majority for Choice suggest Romney's current anti-abortion stance is politically motivated. The group will spend more than $100,000 to air a 30-second television spot in Iowa and New Hampshire and run full page ads Sunday in the Des Moines Register, the Concord Monitor and the New Hampshire Union Leader.

"He's an opportunist," Jennifer Blei Stockman, national co-chair of Republican Majority for Choice, said in an interview. "It's important for voters to know who they are voting for."

Stockman and other members of the group's board have donated to the presidential campaign of former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, an advocate of abortion rights. Stockman contributed $2,300 to Giuliani's campaign last May.

But Stockman said the group itself has not endorsed a candidate in the presidential contest. She stressed that the Republican Majority for Choice and the Giuliani campaign have had no discussions regarding the ad campaign.

Earlier this month in Iowa, Giuliani expressed disapproval of any outside advertising effort that might surface on his behalf akin to the one John McCain's supporters have launched in South Carolina. McCain has asked his donors not to bankroll such campaigns.

Asked whether he would make the same request of his backers, Giuliani said: "My donors aren't, so that's not really a fair question. No one has suggested that there's any such thing going on on my behalf. I would not want to see such a thing going on on my behalf. I would never ask anybody to do that, and I would ask people not to do that because all it does is confuse your race."

Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, has won the backing of some key religious conservatives but is still dogged by suspicions about his stance on some social issues. He has said he changed his view on abortion in 2004 during debates over stem cell research. He said he became convinced he could not publicly support abortion rights while being personally opposed to abortion.

Romney spokesman Kevin Madden said Wednesday, "The political group that is attacking and distorting Governor Romney's position is desperately trying to destroy the Republican Party's position on the issue of protecting life, while also supporting Mayor Giuliani and his pro-choice position that is at odds with grass-roots conservative Republicans."

"Governor Romney will not back down from his pro-life position, despite this group's attempts to weaken the party platform and promote Mayor Giuliani's pro-choice candidacy," Madden said.

The ads come as Romney is facing a serious challenge in Iowa from former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a favorite among many religious conservatives and a critic of abortions. At the same time, Giuliani is ramping up his campaign in New Hampshire and would benefit from Romney stumbles in Iowa.

In 2002, Romney sought and obtained the endorsement of the Republican Majority for Choice. Stockman said the group decided to run the ads during a board meeting in October in New York.

"If we weren't so betrayed by the dishonesty of Mitt Romney's actions, we would not be running ads," Stockman said.

The ad is the second by a group opposed to Romney to cite his record on abortion. Last month, the Log Cabin Republicans, a group that advocates gay rights, aired an ad in Iowa and national cable that sought to undercut his support among social conservatives.

The new TV spots will air in Iowa during Sunday morning talk shows, including NBC's "Meet the Press" and ABC's "This Week" and during other news programs Sunday and Monday.

In 2002, while Romney was running for governor of Massachusetts, he sought the endorsement of the Republican Majority for Choice and filled out their one-page questionnaire and submitted his own attachment. In the questionnaire he checked off "yes" to a series of questions, including: "Do you support a woman's constitutional right to a safe and legal abortion without government interference, as defined by Roe v. Wade?"

He also checked off "yes" when asked if he backed "state Medicaid funding for abortions for poor women" and "yes" again when asked if he supported removing "anti-choice language form the National Republican platform."

Asked in the questionnaire if he considered himself pro-choice or anti-choice, Romney added an attachment that stated: "I prefer not to use labels pro-choice or pro-life as they are overly simplistic. My position is clear. I will preserve the right of a woman to choose as provided under current Massachusetts law."

The television ad shows images of Romney during his 1994 race for the U.S. Senate voicing support for abortion rights, followed by a 2001 quote in the Salt Lake Tribune where Romney stated that "I do not wish to be labeled pro choice." The ad then shows Romney in a 2002 gubernatorial debate stating his support for a woman's right to choose and then in 2007 stating that he would like to see the landmark abortion case, Roe v. Wade, overturned.

"Take a stand Mr. Romney," a narrator says. "On behalf of the Republican Majority for Choice, ask Mr. Romney to flip-flop just one more time. And stay there."

Stockman said the campaign is likely to expand. "This is not the end of it," she said.

Romney Says Giuliani Praised Clinton's Health Care Plan

By BRENDAN FARRINGTON
Associated Press Writer

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Tuesday said rival Rudy Giuliani "had nothing but praise" when then-First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton proposed a universal health care plan.

Romney's campaign cited a 1994 New York Times article quoting the former New York mayor as praising the Clinton plan for "doing some pretty good things." The plan was never enacted.

"When Hillary's plan first came out, Rudy Giuliani had nothing but praise for Hillary's plan. Why the change? Why the change in attitude? When it first came out, he was all roses and petals for Hillary's plan. All full of praise. Now I'm running for president, he's decided it's not such a good idea," Romney said during a news conference after touring a children's hospital.

The exchange is the latest in a series of attacks between the GOP candidates. Giuliani recently criticized the health care plan Romney passed as Massachusetts governor to provide health insurance for all residents, saying "he sort of did Hillary's plan in Massachusetts."

Clinton is now a New York senator and a Democratic presidential candidate.

"Romney is once again standing in a glass house with a bunch of stones in his hands," Giuliani spokeswoman Katie Levinson said in an e-mail Tuesday. "Romney passed a mandate and tax hike-laden health care plan in Massachusetts which Hillary Clinton's own legislative director said was just like Hillarycare."

Romney said that Giuliani has been untruthful in remarks he's made about Romney's record on crime, taxes and state spending.

"What Peter says about Paul usually tells you more about Peter than Paul," Romney said. "Mayor Giuliani has a fact problem, meaning that he makes them up."

Romney indicated that he is prepared to continue the fight during a CNN/YouTube debate Wednesday night.

"I've got to point out that facts are stubborn things and that the mayor needs to check the facts before he launches attacks."

Romney Calls on Judge to Resign

By DENISE LAVOIE
Associated Press Writer

A Massachusetts judge was just doing her job when she freed a convicted killer now charged with murdering a newlywed couple, the chief judge of the state Superior Court said Monday in a case that has become enmeshed in the presidential campaign.

Republican Rudy Giuliani has cited the case to criticize former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's record on crime. Romney, who appointed the judge, has called on her to resign.

On Monday, Chief Justice Barbara Rouse said Judge Kathe Tuttman applied the law to the facts that were before her when she made the decision to free Daniel Tavares Jr.

"Today, unfortunately, she is living every judge's nightmare: that a principled decision based on the law and the information provided to her was followed by tragic events over which she had no control," Rouse said.

In June, Tavares completed a 16-year sentence for manslaughter for killing his mother, but prosecutors tried to keep him in prison for alleged assaults on two prison guards.

A district court judge approved bail of $50,000, but in July Tuttman overturned the decision and freed Tavares on personal recognizance. Tavares, 41, fled to Graham, Wash., and was arrested last week and charged with shooting to death Brian Mauck, 30, and Beverly Mauck, 28, who lived near him.

While still incarcerated in Massachusetts, Tavares threatened to kill Romney and other state officials in a letter that was intercepted by prison officials in February 2006, Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom said. Massachusetts State Police suspected Tavares might be living in Washington state and, based on the earlier threat, warned Romney before his campaign appearance there last week, Fehrnstrom said.

In response to Rouse's defense of Tuttman, Fehrnstrom said in an e-mail: "Gov. Romney appointed Judge Tuttman based on her long record both as a prosecutor and as an advocate for victims. Judge Tuttman's entire experience as a prosecutor suggested she would be a law and order judge. Her actions in this case are inexcusable."

During the hearing before Tuttman, prosecutors underscored Tavares' history of violence and asked that if he were to be released, he be monitored with a GPS device.

Tuttman declined to order a monitoring system, saying she was presented with no evidence that he was a flight risk. She ordered him freed on the condition that he call probation officers three times a week, live with his sister and work.

Romney Pessimistic About Mideast Summit

By STEPHEN FROTHINGHAM
Associated Press Writer

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said Sunday he does not expect much to come from this week's Middle East peace talks in Annapolis, Md.

"I always like people to talk to each other and I'm hopeful, but I'm not terribly optimistic about it," Romney, a GOP presidential hopeful, said in answer to an audience question.

Romney said progress at Annapolis was unlikely because Palestinians are fighting each other and have not shown they have the ability to form a stable and secure government.

"It's very difficult to establish peace when you don't have somebody across the table who has responsibility and can manage their side of the table," he said. "My expectations are modest because of (the Palestinians') inability to really follow the road map."

Romney went on to say that the wider challenge is to control "jihadist extremism" around the world, from the Philippines to Nigeria.

"I think our efforts are going to be broader than in that one hot spot as we help the Muslims themselves reject the extreme within them," he said.

Romney spent much of the Thanksgiving holiday engaged in a debate -- conducted via press statements -- with former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani about their relative economic records, health care strategies and electability. In a fitting end to the weekend, the last question that Romney took was to the point: What would he say to someone who wanted to support Giuliani because the former mayor was more likely to defeat Hillary Rodham Clinton in a general election?

"I don't think he can, and I think I can," Romney answered to applause.

"I think to beat Hillary you got to be different than Hillary. ... You have to be pro-life, and you have to be anti-illegal immigration, and you have to be pro-family and you have to have high ethical standards in the history of your administration. You have to stand up and say you are different. I just don't think we can win the White House and defeat Hillary Clinton by acting like Hillary Clinton."

Giuliani Harks on Romney's Record on Health Care, Economy in N.H.

By CHARLES BABINGTON
Associated Press Writer

The back-and-forth backbiting between Republican presidential rivals Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney spilled over into Sunday as Giuliani contended that the former Massachusetts governor has fumbled on health care and economic matters.

Asked by a diner patron about Romney's health care program while governor, Giuliani said Romney "made a mistake" by mandating coverage for all Massachusetts residents. "When you mandate it, it ends up costing you much more money," said Giuliani, a former New York mayor.

"He sort of did Hillary's plan in Massachusetts," Giuliani said during the second day of a bus tour of New Hampshire.

New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the Democratic front-runner for president, pushed for universal health coverage in the mid-1990s when she was first lady.

Romney's Massachusetts program denies a tax credit, worth about $200, to residents who fail to obtain health insurance, which the state subsidizes for lower-income families. Romney defends the program, saying such incentives nudge more people into getting insurance, which benefits individuals and society in general.

The customer at Suzie's Diner, who identified himself as a bus driver and former Massachusetts resident, made clear that he did not like Romney's record and gave Giuliani an opening to take on his rival. Giuliani, who trails Romney in polls in New Hampshire as the Jan. 8 primary approaches, obliged before a crush of news cameras. Romney, he said, "had one of the weaker records of any governor on economics."

Romney, also campaigning in New Hampshire, says he had a strong economic record, leaving Massachusetts with a hefty "rainy day fund."

Giuliani fielded a more hostile question at the diner from Roger Latulippe, a Democrat who said he did not expect to run into a GOP candidate during his breakfast. Latulippe, 67, called for an end to the Iraq war, saying young Americans are dying for an insufficient cause.

"I disagree with you," Giuliani said calmly. "I think it would be a very big mistake to pull them out while the general there thinks they can still be successful."

The two candidates had gone at it on Saturday, too. Each tried to characterize the other as a wasteful spender while claiming himself a champion of fiscal restraint.

Romney Calls on Judge He Appointed to Resign After Wash. Murders

Mitt Romney has called on a Superior Court judge he appointed to resign after she released a convicted killer without bail, and the man allegedly killed a newlywed couple in Washington state.

In a statement, Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom said Judge Kathe Tuttman's decision to free Daniel Tavares Jr. "represented an inexplicable lapse in judgment and was inexcusable."

"Unless there are facts unknown to us, Gov. Romney believes Judge Tuttman should resign," Fehrnstrom said.

Tuttman has declined comment on the case.

In June, Tavares completed a 16-year sentence for manslaughter for killing his mother, but prosecutors tried to keep him behind bars for allegedly assaulting two prison guards while he was nearing the end of his sentence.

Fehrnstrom said Tavares, 41, had also threatened in a letter intercepted by prison officials in February 2006 to kill Romney and other state officials.

A district court judge approved bail of $50,000, but Tuttman in July overturned that decision and freed Tavares on personal recognizance.

Tavares fled to Washington to live in the town of Graham with a woman he met while in prison. On Monday, Tavares was arrested for allegedly shooting to death Brian Mauck, 30, and Beverly Mauck, 28, who lived near him. Also on Monday, Romney was in the Seattle area and was warned that Tavares might be in the Washington state area, Fehrnstrom said.

Romney, who is seeking the Republican nomination for president, appointed Tuttman in April 2006. Fehrnstrom said Tuttman, a career prosecutor, had a reputation that suggested she would be a "law-and-order" judge.

"Otherwise, she never would have been appointed," Fehrnstrom said.

Thompson Aiming at Romney, Giuliani with Trip to S.C. Gun Show

By JIM DAVENPORT
Associated Press Writer

When Republican presidential hopeful Fred Thompson walks down the aisles of a gun show Saturday in Charleston, the game he's hunting won't be hard to spot.

The former senator and actor is looking to differentiate himself from rivals Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney -- and use his appeal as a "country boy from Tennessee" who knows NASCAR and hunting to portray the city slickers as out of step with this early voting state's residents.

There is little doubt gun rights are a tough issue for the front of the GOP pack.

Former New York Mayor Giuliani has supported federal handgun owner registration and advocated that handgun buyers "demonstrate good moral character and a reason to have the gun." It's a contrast to his more recent call for state-by-state gun controls.

As Massachusetts' governor, Romney signed one of the nation's toughest laws against assault-style weapons. And one of his earliest campaign stumbles came when he was described as a lifelong hunter. It turned out he never held a hunting license. Romney later said he had hunted small game numerous times.

A spokesman for Thompson said the former Tennessee senator should be the choice for people who think gun rights are important.

"Gun owners would know they're with one of their own in the White House if he gets elected," said spokesman Jeff Sadosky, who said he did not know how frequently Thompson handled guns either hunting or otherwise.

But not all gun supporters are totally enamored by Thompson. The Gun Owners of America criticizes him for missing the mark while in the Senate.

In the 33 votes it counts, the group said Thompson was on the wrong side of gun rights, including supporting laws allowing minor offenses to cost people the right to own a gun and supporting campaign finance law changes that crimped the group's ability to get involved in elections.

"Fred Thompson has been there about two-thirds of the time. When you put that in a letter-grade form, that comes out to around a 'D' -- and that's not very impressive," Gun Owners of America spokesman Erich Pratt said.

The group does give Thompson credit for protecting gun manufacturers from lawsuits and supporting legislation affecting private gun sales at gun shows, Pratt said.

Thompson isn't the only presidential candidate seeking out South Carolina sportsmen and sports fans. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is visiting the state fresh off a poll that has him among the front-runners in Iowa. Polls in South Carolina have Huckabee well off the pace, but also show a number of undecided voters.

Huckabee will tailgate Saturday with World Wrestling Entertainment star Ric Flair before the Clemson plays South Carolina in the biggest football game of the year in the state. The Arkansas governor will then make a number of stops Sunday, ending at a skeet shoot in Spartanburg.

Both the NRA and Gun Owners of America expect gun rights to become an even bigger issue in the 2008 elections after the U.S. Supreme Court decided to hear a case that could determine whether a gun ban in Washington, D.C., is legal.

NRA chief lobbyist Chris Cox warns candidates they can't try to fool gun owners, recalling Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry donning hunting gear as the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004 when his voting record wasn't as staunchly pro-gun as some wanted.

"Thirty minutes in a goose pit 16 days before an election wasn't going to make up for 20 years of stabbing gun owners in the back," Cox said. "Some of us wear camouflage not to be seen and other wear camouflage to be seen."

Romney disagrees with Gregg on Iowa

Republican Mitt Romney said he disagrees with New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg and his assessment of Iowa's presidential caucuses.

Gregg, a Romney supporter, told CNN that he wasn't worried about Gov. Mike Huckabee's standing in Iowa polls. He said Romney remained strong where it counts: New Hampshire.

"I've always, being from New Hampshire, viewed Iowa as being a place where they pick corn and New Hampshire being a place where we pick presidents," Gregg said.

When asked about the comment on Wednesday, Romney said he disagreed and said he doesn't "subscribe to (Gregg's) comment."

Romney Celebrates Thanksgiving, 11th Grandchild

Mitt Romney has something more than turkey to celebrate today.

The presidential hopeful welcomed his 11th grandchild, Nathan, into the world.

Romney's son Matt and his wife had their fourth child on Wednesday. The rest of the Romney family is spending the Thanksgiving holiday at its summer home on Lake Winnipesaukee.