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?