Today on the Presidential Campaign Trail

Today on the Presidential Campaign Trail


BOSTON (AP) , His shot at the Republican presidential nomination in jeopardy, Mitt Romney will run a TV ad starting Tuesday against Iowa front-runner Mike Huckabee while weighing how much negative campaigning he can add to the methodical plan he's followed all year.


Romney's campaign said Monday a "contrast ad" on illegal immigration is planned for Iowa on Tuesday. Aides said the ad identifies the former Arkansas governor and characterized it as a reaction to Huckabee's own TV commercial in which he touts his immigration proposal.


Such elevated rhetoric , including the Romney campaign's mass e-mailing Monday of an anti-Huckabee Web column , reflects a growing sense of urgency at Romney headquarters, where the game plan all year has been predicated on bowling over rivals with victories in lead-voting Iowa and New Hampshire.


---Although Romney chose a very outspoken way to try and gain the lead in the presidential race, you have to do what you have to do in order to win. As long as he is only stating facts about Huckabee then I don't see the harm in him making an ad about how Huckabee feels about immigration. Many candidates have done it in the past and many will still continue.

Rudy Giuliani plays defense on 'Press'

Rudy Giuliani plays defense on 'Press'


To the glee of fellow presidential contenders, the Republican front-runner spent nearly an hour playing defense, attempting to deflect a flurry of questions about his relationship with indicted pal Bernard Kerik and Kerik's mistress Judith Regan, controversial corporate clients and his own tangled personal life.


The usually combative candidate was uncharacteristically subdued throughout the grilling. Somberly dressed in a dark suit, white shirt and red tie, Giuliani employed many of the timeworn techniques of damage control. He turned the tables on his inquisitor - "that's a stretch," he politely complained once - and borrowed from the Watergate scandal's signature "mistakes were made" rationale.


"As one of my predecessors, Fiorello LaGuardia, used to say, ‘I don't make many mistakes, but when I make them, they're big ones.'"


---Articles like the one above are just ridiculus in my opinion. Why should the candidates have to deal with everyone in their personal business and lives? This just reminds me of the situation with former president Bill Clinton. Giuliani has his own ife apart from his campaign and it should not matter whether or not he had an affair. Him doing that shouldn't affect what he can do for our country.

Republican Candidates Firm on Immigration

Republican Candidates Firm on Immigration



In front of what will probably be their most pro-immigration audience, Republican candidates toned down their rhetoric but told Spanish-language television viewers in a debate on Sunday that they would take strong measures to close off the country’s borders to illegal immigration.


The candidates were forced into a difficult balancing act by the debate, broadcast on Univision, as they tried to offend neither the Hispanic audience nor the Republican base many of them have tried to appeal to by taking a hard line on illegal immigration. The topic has led to some of the fiercest rhetoric in past debates.


Most of the seven candidates took a softer tone on Sunday, even as many spoke of working to eradicate illegal immigration. Some spoke of trying to send some of the 12million people who are estimated to be in the United States illegally back to their native countries.


---Immigration has been a huge deal as time has passed. Now that it's time for presidential candidates to step up to the plate and campaign, everyone needs votes of course, so they try to sugar coat what they really believe. These Republican candidates tried to mae it seem as though they are pro illigal immigrants coming to the country, with a little extra side note stating how they can stay, but just pay taxes. In my opinion, if you have a belief you should stick to it and stay strong; otherwise people will not trust your word.

Analysis: Romney speech on faith brings risk

Analysis: Romney speech on faith brings risk






Mitt Romney decided to deliver a major speech about his religious faith after concluding attention to his Mormonism would only intensify in potentially unflattering ways in the crucial weeks ahead. But even some of his top aides see the speech as a wildly unpredictable gamble.


The speech, titled "Faith in America," is potentially at war with the campaign's longtime precept that it is not a winning strategy for Romney to be identified primarily as the Mormon candidate in a Republican race dominated by Christian voters.


Just three weeks ago, Romney had said at a house party in New Hampshire that political advisers had told him that such a speech was "not a good idea – it draws too much attention to that issue alone."


---Many politics make religion a bigger deal than what it really is, in my opinion. Just because Romney wants to share his speech about his religion with others doesn't conclude how he will run the country. Everyone is entitled to their own beliefs and tradition for that matter. Therefore, he shouldn't be comdemned for being who he is. It's a free country, is it not?

OBAMA: I'D HIRE HILL'S HUSBAND

OBAMA: I'D HIRE HILL'S HUSBAND

In an interview that hits newsstands tomorrow, the Illinois underdog - asked whether he would hire Bill Clinton for a job in an Obama administration were he to win in 2008 - said, "In a second."

Bill Clinton is an enormously popular figure among Democratic voters, and while his wife's rivals have become less cautious about being critical of him, they have generally stayed positive.

Meanwhile, Sen. Clinton in Ankeny, Iowa, yesterday, accused Obama of flinching from the struggle to provide health care for all Americans and said, "I am not afraid of the Republican attacks" on the subject.

"We've got to put up a candidate who's willing to stand up for it and fight for it," said the former first lady in her most pointed criticism to date of Obama.

---I believe Obama is extremely brave to say that he would hire his rival's husband if he were to be elected president because some might look at that as a down fall, saying he needs his help, where there can just hire Hilary and she has the same views as her husband.

Will GOP voters accept Giuliani's evolution on abortion?

Will GOP voters accept Giuliani's evolution on abortion?



As mayor,Giuliani personally signed a proclamation designating "Roe v. Wade Anniversary Day" on the 25th anniversary of the landmark abortion rights ruling.
Now, as a presidential candidate, Giuliani has said, "I'm against abortion -- I hate it."
Conlin said she never heard anything like that when Giuliani was in office.
"He never seemed to have a struggle with the issue as mayor," she said.
"He was very proudly pro-choice."
But looking back at Giuliani statements and policy positions over the past 20 years, there is clearly an evolution in some of his positions, or in his emphasis, especially when it comes to abortion restrictions.


When he ran for mayor, Giuliani made clear he viewed his oath as an obligation to uphold the right to an abortion, but also said that doing so was at odds with values learned in his Catholic upbringing.

"I have personal views and religious views that are contrary to some of these areas," Giuliani said back then.

As mayor, he offered no such reservations: "I am pro-choice and pro-gay rights."

Now, as a presidential candidate, he embraces abortion restrictions he opposed as mayor.


As mayor, Giuliani supported taxpayer-financed abortions for poor women, a position he reiterated in a 1997 National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League candidate questionnaire and again in an interview with CNN seven months ago.

"If it would deprive someone of a constitutional right, yes -- I mean, if that's the status of the law, then I would, yes," he told CNN.



"He owes the American people an explanation of why he's flip flopped so dramatically," Conlin said.


---I believe this topic is a very important issue because it shows how much a presidential candidate is worthy of his or her word. Abortion has always been a big deal as to oppose it or not. One's thoughts may alter, but Giuliani on the other hand, should just stick to one belief because this situation may change many people's minds about him being their choice.