Subject: '08 Election Daily News Clips - 12/05
From: Andres Moreno <[email-masked]>
To: Andres - DC <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 5 Dec 2007 09:16:44 -0500

'08 Election Daily News Clips
December 5th, 2007

Candidate Tracking:

8:15am   Thompson: Meet and Greet in Pickens, SC
- Tracking Scheduled
10:30am   Thompson: Meet and Greet in Anderson, SC
- Tracking Scheduled
12:30pm Thompson: Meet and Greet in Anderson, SC
- Tracking Scheduled
3:30pm Romney: Fundraiser in New Orlans, LA

5pm   Romney: Fund-raiser in New Orleans, LA

5:30pm Thompson: Meet and Greet in Lexington, SC
- Tracking Scheduled
7:30pm Romney: Event in Houston, TX
- Tracking Scheduled

News Clips:

Giuliani:

Hillary, Rudy May Know Life After Death (Real Clear Politics, 12/5/07)
It now seems possible, and some would say probable, that both front- 
runners for their party nominations will be wiped out in the early  
caucuses and primaries. It may well be that neither Hillary Clinton  
nor Rudy Giuliani win anything before the Florida primary on Jan. 29.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/12/hillary_rudy_may_know_life_aft.html

Giuliani No Longer Heads Consultant (AP, 12/4/07)
Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani has stepped down as head  
of his consulting firm, Giuliani Partners, after months of refusing to  
disclose the firm's clients or the role he played.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jj8Aed7dLKKa-I_deDwVpCnZTXcQD8TAS59O0

Giuliani Steps Back From Firm (NY Times, 12/4/07)
Will Rudolph W. Giuliani's decision to pull back from the direct  
management of his consulting and law firms insulate him from questions  
about the firms' activities? His presidential campaign has repeatedly  
faced questions about the firms' work for its clients.
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/04/giuliani-steps-back-from-firm/

Giuliani's stock dropping (Boston Globe, 12/4/07)
Enduring the worst week of his presidential campaign, Rudy Giuliani's  
stock is beginning to plummet in national polls, none more than the  
Rasmussen Reports daily tracking survey, which today reported that  
Giuliani has dropped from clear-cut national leader to a tie with  
surging Mike Huckabee.
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2007/12/giulianis_stock.html

Romney:
Romney Faces New Questions on Illegal Workers at Landscaping Firm (NY  
Times, 12/5/07)
Mitt Romney, who has relentlessly wielded the issue of illegal  
immigration against his rivals for the Republican presidential  
nomination in the past few months, is facing an embarrassing new  
revelation that the landscaping company at his home in Massachusetts  
was found for a second time to be employing illegal immigrants.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/05/us/politics/05romney.html?_r=1&ref=politics&oref=slogin

Poll Shows Romney with Wide Lead in New Hampshire (Washington Post,  
12/5/07)
Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney holds a wide lead over his  
Republican rivals in New Hampshire, where he is seen as the strongest  
leader and most electable presidential candidate in the field, but the  
GOP race there remains unsettled a month before the nation's first  
primary, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2007/12/05/ST2007120500052.html

Mitt Romney Is No Jack Kennedy (NY Times Op-ed, 12/5/07)
Inevitably, Mitt Romney's long-awaited speech on faith and religious  
freedom tomorrow at the George Bush Presidential Library at Texas A&M  
will be compared to John F. Kennedy's 1960 speech to Protestant  
ministers in Houston, just 90 miles away. Also like Kennedy, Mr.  
Romney realizes — and polls demonstrate — that a sizable number of  
voters (again, mostly Southern white Protestants) oppose him because  
of his religion.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/05/opinion/05woodward.html

Authenticity is Romney's biggest hurdle, poll suggests (LA Times,  
12/5/07)
With a massive marketing effort, Mitt Romney has tried to introduce  
himself as a family man with a solid marriage, five wholesome sons and  
the moral values desired by the Republican Party's most conservative  
voters.
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-romney5dec05,1,1754675.story?coll=la-politics-campaign

Silent on religion, Romney sticks to budget (Concord Monitor, 12/5/07)
***Tracker video available for this event
Two days before a long-awaited speech on religion, politics and his  
Mormon faith, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney spent a  
low-key lunchtime yesterday at Concord's Cat 'n' Fiddle restaurant  
touting his call to cut taxes and spending.
http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071205/FRONTPAGE/712050304

Romney to walk fine line in Mormon speech (Reuters, 12/4/07)
 From baptism of the dead to a ban on coffee, Mormonism's doctrines  
are alien to many Americans and that is unlikely to change when  
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney gives a long-awaited  
speech on his faith this week, religious scholars say.
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN0453249420071205

Romney used ad group behind Huckabee (AP, 12/4/07)
The political ad company that Republican Mitt Romney's presidential  
campaign says is violating the law with phone calls in support of  
rival Mike Huckabee is the same firm Romney employed in August to  
place calls on his behalf before the Iowa straw poll.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/P/PRO_HUCKABEE_GROUP?SITE=MABED&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Former Mass. Governor Backs Romney (AP, 12/4/07)
WINDHAM, N.H. (AP) — Republican Mitt Romney sought to deflect Rudy  
Giuliani's criticism of his economic record Tuesday with a two-fer — a  
former Massachusetts governor now living in New York.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ht8AHZLQSv4fbYdGXck9kmOOPiQD8TAR0381

Poll: Romney, Huckabee even in Iowa (AP, 12/4/07)
Huckabee has rocketed into contention on the strength of his support  
from the state's white evangelicals, who comprise 38 percent of its  
Republicans. He leads Romney among evangelicals by nearly two-to-one -  
the same margin by which Romney leads him with everyone else.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/P/POLL_2008_IOWA?SITE=MAQUI&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Romney: Religion address won't be 'a JFK speech' (CNN, 12/4/07
Mitt Romney is brushing off comparisons between his upcoming speech  
about religion and John F. Kennedy's famous 1960 address, but the  
White House hopeful says the subject is an important one in the  
campaign.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/12/04/romney.speech/index.html

Thompson:
Thompson and Social Security (Washington Times, 12/5/07)
With the caucuses and primaries fast approaching, presidential  
candidates are beginning to focus on policy. Former Sen. Fred Thompson  
spoke recently on Social Security reform. And he should be commended  
for offering a solution — but not for the solution he offered.
http://washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071205/COMMENTARY/112050024

Poll: GOP Presidential Race Tied in SC (AP, 12/4/07)
The Jan. 19 South Carolina contest stands as a three-way tie - and one  
or more other candidates could be in contention, too. It is the best  
of the three important early voting states for Thompson, who has a  
modest lead among men and less-educated Republicans.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/P/POLL_2008_SOUTH_CAROLINA?SITE=VACUL&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Huckabee:
In Iowa, They Like Mike (Washington Post, 12/5/07)
With evangelicals expected to comprise four in 10 Republican  
caucusgoers, voters such as Williams hold the key to a Huckabee  
victory -- and they could deliver it. In the latest Post-ABC News poll  
of likely GOP caucusgoers, the former Arkansas governor led Romney 44  
percent to 22 percent among evangelical Protestants.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/04/AR2007120401668.html

Huckabee bristles at creationism query (AP, 12/5/07)
***Tracker video available for this event
Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, a Southern Baptist  
preacher who has surged in Iowa with evangelical Christian support,  
bristled Tuesday when asked if creationism should be taught in public  
schools. Huckabee - who raised his hand at a debate last May when  
asked which candidates disbelieved the theory of evolution - asked  
this time why there is such a fascination with his beliefs.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/H/HUCKABEE_RELIGION?SITE=ORROS&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Documents Expose Huckabee's Role in Serial Rapist's Release  
(Huffington Post 12/04/07)
As governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee aggressively pushed for the  
early release of a convicted rapist despite being warned by numerous  
women that the convict had sexually assaulted them or their family  
members, and would likely strike again. The convict went on to rape  
and murder at least one other woman.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/12/04/documents-expose-huckabee_n_75362.html

Huckabee inches toward Giuliani, poll shows (LA Times, 12/4/07)
Mike Huckabee, the ascendant Republican presidential candidate in  
Iowa, is enjoying a surge of support across the country -- and Rudolph  
W. Giuliani seems to be paying the biggest price, a new Los Angeles  
Times/Bloomberg poll has found.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na  
poll5dec05,1,33691.story?coll=la-headlines-nation

Huckabee: Built for both the pulpit and politics (CNN, 12/4/07)
When you sit down with Mike Huckabee and his inner circle, as I did  
the other day, you know at once that his is a tough, savvy crew – fast  
becoming as potent in the pews of the evangelical churches as George  
W. Bush's was in 2000 and 2004. Having vaulted to the lead in Iowa,  
Huckabee now is aiming for his next big score: an endorsement from Dr.  
James Dobson, the king of Christian radio.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22101888/

Huckabee: Restore U.S. ties around world (Des Moines Register, 12/4/07)
***Tracker video available for this event
Newton, Ia. – Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said at a campaign  
stop today that America has to work to re-establish relationships with  
other countries. Huckabee, the new front-runner in Iowa seeking the  
Republican nomination for president, said if he were to be elected  
president, there would be a "real sense of cooperation."
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071204/NEWS/71204025

Huckabee denounces supporters' push-polling in Iowa (CNN, 12/4/07)
Mike Huckabee boasts about running an above-the-mud campaign that does  
not smear his GOP rivals, but a group founded by some of his  
supporters appears to be doing just that.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/12/04/huckabee.push.polling/index.html

Huckabee's optimism belies challenges (AP, 12/4/07)
Mike Huckabee, who has surged from the back of the Republican  
presidential pack to challenge longtime leader Mitt Romney in Iowa, is  
campaigning with a spring in his step and an ear-to-ear grin. His  
optimistic air, however, belies a thicket of hurdles in Iowa and beyond.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/H/HUCKABEE_IOWA?SITE=MABED&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

McCain:
McCain says intelligence report shows need for improvements (AP,  
12/5/07)
Republican John McCain says the latest intelligence reports on Iran  
and its alleged quest for nuclear weapons raises questions about  
America's intelligence program.
http://kvoa.com/Global/story.asp?S=7452562&nav=menu216_3

McCain Turns a Weakness Into a Strength With First Younger and Then  
Older Voters (Wall Street Journal, 12/5/07)
The technology seemed to baffle Arizona Sen. John McCain during his  
appearance at an MTV-MySpace-sponsored meeting with New Hampshire  
students, but it gave him a new laugh line among the generally older  
voters who show up at the diners and town halls where he does most of  
his campaigning.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119682265215314007.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

McCain explains what he would have done (NH Union Leader, 12/4/07)
Were John McCain President over the last seven years, Donald Rumsfeld  
wouldn't have had the President's ear, federal spending wouldn't have  
mushroomed, and China would be shamed for not doing enough to stop  
genocide, the Arizona senator said last night.
http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=caucus

McCain's MTV Moment (NY Times, 12/4/07)
The room was done up MTV style: flashy graphics, loud colors and the  
kind of soft lighting more befitting a late-night lounge than a policy  
forum… But when Senator John McCain appeared at the third presidential  
forum hosted by MTV and MYspace, foreign policy dominated the hour- 
long session…There was a condemnation of the Bush Administration's  
failure to address the issue of climate change and promise to make it  
a top priority.
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/04/mccains-mtv-moment/?hp

General Election News:
Poll: GOP Race in Early States Unsettled (AP, 12/4/07)
In-depth polling by The Associated Press and the nonpartisan Pew  
Research Center shows that in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina,  
no one is a shoo-in.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iVr3cBdbqri65toeoy9WNwsMkFVwD8TAS3000

New Tancredo ad links illegal immigrants, gang violence (Des Moines  
Register, 12/4/07)
The latest television ad from U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo's presidential  
campaign draws a link between illegal immigration and Central and  
South American gang violence that has come to the United States.
http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071204/NEWS/71204031