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In one of the references below a quote from a pollster or strategist conveys that push-polls would be something he’d use in a state senate race for example but not a highly scrutinized Presidential election. Besides not saying much for the integrity of state races, it suggests that a move by Romney to push-poll himself for sympathy besides copying an RFK strategy used once would not reflect well on the candidate. All the accolades of Romney’s intelligence, success, values and other positive attributes would then be in question. In other words, the previous criticism of Romney flipping on issues for political reasons would pale in comparison to a sneaky campaign tactic.

That said and the title of the NRO reference notwithstanding it is the opinion at this blog is that at worst Romney would be subject to campaign staffers acting independently and suffer a serious blow to his campaign. Not something you would expect from Romney given other facts and his performance thus far in the 2008 race. And since this blog supports Romney for President, let’s just say it would be extremely disappointing but better to learn now then later.

Some details of the NRO assertion, if accurate, provide compelling reason to be curious. The idea that RFK used a similar tactic when JFK was running for President would not lend any noble status to the practice. But since the NH authorities are investigating the push-poll calls based on the state’s requirement that callers identify the candidate they represent, any success there likely would provide an answer to the mystery.

The excerpt below addresses the story as if opponents are responsible for the anti-Romney push-polls and not surprisingly Romney is on record as denouncing the tactic especially the part about attacking his religion.

Push-polling starts aimed at Mitt Romney; N.H. launches probe

Well, it’s started already. New Hampshire’s attorney general has launched an “expedited investigation” into a spurt of unidentified push-polling calls in his state, where all forms of political communication including phone calls must identify the candidate being supported.

The Associated Press reported late Thursday that residents of both Iowa and New Hampshire had begun receiving the calls from unidentified callers. Push-polls start out sounding like a normal polling survey but in reality are designed to plant and spread distorted, damaging and often untrue information about a particular candidate, in this case Mitt Romney. He happens to be leading Republican polls in both states.

The next excerpt is from the NRO item wondering if Romney push-polled himself for political advantage.

Did Mitt Romney Push Poll Himself?

For its part, Western Wats has issued a statement on its website denying that it engages in push polling although the only source that the company has spoken to about the matter is a blogger on mymanmitt.com.

However, there’s a growing chorus of voices speculating Romney push polled himself. “I smell a dirty trick. I suspect a pro-Romney motive to inoculate against future use of the religious issue and to breed sympathy for Romney … a 20-minute call is the work of an amateur. The long call is designed to get ALL the negatives out, to put them off limits for future attacks,” Roger Stone

I trust Romney because my own early research provided no results indicating he has any significant flaws or skeletons etc. Since he is a Presidential candidate there was an expectation that if any really bad news was out there someone surely would have exposed it by now. Unless they took the view of don’t use it unless it appears he will win the nomination. In any event, I am confident he is an honorable man and that plays significantly in selecting him as my choice for President. So let’s get on with it and solve the mystery so the NRO question can be settled.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 19th, 2007 at 6:16 pm and is filed under Public Affairs, wordpress, Politics, campaign, election, GOP, Religion, disclosure, ethics, romney. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.