This is by no means scientific but from the research I’ve done and the details I’ve gathered it appears that Romney has a serious edge in public endorsements (for what its worth). Yes its early in the campaign… but that’s the point.

The tally: Romney 171; McCain 93; Rudy 16. These numbers were taken from official press releases and other public endorsements. We’ll have a detailed list available on Tuesday.

we produced this chart

I always have to preface any comment I make about McCain with these two statements:

John McCain is a great American.
John McCain is not a great conservative.

Harry Reid has decided to pull a stunt to gather some press airtime over the weekend by scheduling a vote on Iraq on Saturday. Note: this is blatantly politically motivated. That being said… where is John McCain going to be on Saturday? Hazard a guess?

According to ABC here’s what the rest of the field is going to be doing:

• Hillary?: “…had planned to spend a full day in New Hampshire. Instead, she will host a town hall meeting in Dover, N.H., in the morning and then return to Washington to vote.”
• Joe Biden?: “…in Iowa on Friday and will return to Capitol Hill on Saturday. He will head back to Iowa after the vote to attend a dinner in Davenport.”
• Chris Dodd?: “…was supposed to be in South Carolina on Saturday, but his campaign was considering sending a surrogate.”
• Brownback?: “…had planned to be in Florida to attend the National Religious Broadcasters’ convention but is cutting short his visit even though he doesn’t plan to side with Reid.”
• Barack O?: “… will be able to fit the vote into his campaign schedule.”

And how about John McCain? “…he plans to stick to his itinerary of three town hall meetings in Iowa, the early voting state in the primary process.”

John will not be voting on the Iraq issue. It’s no skin off my back John. Just more grist for my mill. But in all seriousness I wish he would show some muster and be a Republican Senator. Who knows… his vote might make all the difference for a few Senators. (It certainly would help his cause with conservatives)

Yesterday it appears that the McCain camp attempted to lure unsuspecting bloggers under the beguiling glare of John McCain. (Or was that just the glare off his head?).

OK, OK… so putting aside the ad hominem attacks… McCain has some mending to do. So Patrick Hynes, blogger extraordinaire, puts together a conference call for prominent bloggers to repair these fences. Oh…. wait. Bad analogy. John doesn’t like those damned fences.

Hey, wait a minute, why wasn’t I invited? Do they think I’m bias or something? Can’t I be won over?

Here are some summaries. First, the intrepid Mary Katherine Ham:

Some of the answers were good, but I didn’t feel like conservative bloggers’ real, politely presented, substantive issues with McCain were taken as seriously as they could have been. I mean, we’ve got some deep-seated issues, here, that have developed over many years for some of us. There were only a few of us on the call, and I wish we could have gone longer.

David All, live-blogged the even, liked the call a bit more:

This was a very smart move by Team McCain. They had a cadre of key bloggers on the call and the folks who weren’t on the blog call will be able to figure out what was said from spaces like this and others. The entire tone of the discussion was dead-on. This was not a “Team McCain giving us the Jack Bauer interrogation to support his candidacy…” It was rather a, “hey we know we don’t agree on all the issues, but we respect your contribution to the process, want to know how you’re feeling, and want to include you in our kitchen-cabinet to help us make better decisions next time.”

Capn’s Quarters makes a larger point:

Bloggers have their best opportunity yet to shape and influence the debates that make up a presidential campaign. We have to remain vigilant about remaining credible if we want to make the most of it. If we want a campaign about issues and philosophical direction, then we have to have the discipline to focus on those topics, and to eschew anything that detracts from it. If successful, we can make this the most transparent and responsible election in memory.

Listen, the short of it is McCain has some chasms, gaps, gapping black holes to fill. This is a good first step… but methinks the breach is too big.

Today the Romney Campaign announced that James Bopp, Jr. Esq., has endorsed Mitt Romney for President and that he will serve as a special adviser on Life issues.

This is a major pickup for Romney. Let’s take a look at it:

WHO IS JAMES BOPP, JR. ESQ. (View full Bio here)

• General Counsel to National Right to Life Committee (1978-present)
• General Counsel to James Madison Center for Free Speech(1994-present
• Special Counsel to Focus on the Family(2004 – present)
• President of National Legal Center for the Medically Dependent and Disabled, Inc(1984-present)
• Practice area: Constitutional Law; Civil Litigation; Non-Profit Corporations Law; Election and Campaign Finance Law; Civil Appeals; Administrative Agency Practice
• RNC member

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT

This is important on two levels. First, James Bopp is a trusted figure in the Pro-life movement. Hundreds, if not thousands of local pro-life leaders have used James Bopps legal memos in their activism. He has spoken at many pro-life events and conventions, including three that I’ve been at. This will go a long way in gaining the trust of the pro-life movement.

It is also important on another level. James Bopp is one of the leading opponents of Campaign Finance Reform Laws, or put another way: McCain-Feingold.

Consider the following:

Bopp’s actions at the RNC Winter Meeting:

Members of the Republican Nat’l Committee passed on Thursday a
strongly-worded resolution rebuking a signature accomplishment of their party’s
frontrunner, Sen. John McCain — his Bipartisan Campaign Finance Act, known as
McCain-Feingold.

The 13-paragraph resolution, sponsored by RNC member and campaign finance
litigator James Bopp Jr, urges Congress to “adopt common sensereforms of BCRA“

Bopp’s latest legal actions:

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to take another look at the federal ban on
naming specific candidates in “issue ads” immediately before elections.

The ban, which applies 30 days before primaries and 60 days before general
elections, is a key provision in the 2002 McCain-Feingold Act. The court
upheld the act three years ago, when Sandra Day O’Connor was still an
associate justice.

She has since retired and has been replaced by Samuel Alito.

FINAL ANALYSIS:

Giuliani is completely unacceptable to Pro-Life issue voters. McCain, though, isn’t as obvious in his threat to the Pro-Life movement. Romney’s latest endorsement gives him a forceful, pro-life voice to remind the movement why McCain has been a threat to the movement.

It’s a two-for-one deal for the Romney Campaign: burnishing Romney’s pro-life credentials and tarnishing McCain’s.

From LIFENEWS.COM:

“I have great respect for John McCain and Mitt Romney, and at this time I’m deciding where my loyalty will go,” he said, according to the AP story.

Read the full story at LIFENEWS.COM!

Technorati Tags: Mitt Romney, 2008, Presidential Election, Election 2008.

… of all people Patrick Hynes from Ankle Biting Pundits . I “made use” of his bookmarking bar (see bottom right of each post) for the various viral tools that people can use to log their favorite items.

I’m asking his permission after the fact

I’m sure that we’ll be having some great conversations with Patrick over the next months and years!

Is America Ready to Elect a Mormon President? That is a question that the media keeps bringing up, and loves to talk about. I think that if you change the question to:

In the 2008 Presidential Election, would you vote for a Mormon by the name of Mitt Romney?

I think that the answer would be yes among these categories:

People that would say or vote yes:

1: Conservative Evangelicals would say yes to a president Mitt Romney as he is the most conservative, both “Fiscally” and “Socially” of the republicans “Big 3″.
2: Conservative Politicians who are not afraid of a backlash and/or threats from a certain Republican that resides in Arizona and his allies.
3: People that are Socially Moderates, but yet are Fiscally Conservative and looking for some one to clean up the Federal Governments “Super-Sized” spending.
4: People that want “Roe vs. Wade” overturned and the abortion issue sent back to the States (where it should have originally been).
5: People that want a Constitutional Amendment passed Defining marriage as between “1 male & 1 female”. Of the “Big 3″ only Mitt Romney can be counted on to to support a conservative Federal Marriage Amendment. While Mitt Romney sent a letter to the Senate pleading with them to vote “yes” on the FMA John McCain voted no on the FMA, and Rudy Giuliani is socially liberal.

And a “no” among these categories:

People that would say or vote no:

1: The Clinton’s.
2: Pro-choice advocates.
3: Supporters of Same Sex Marriage.
4: John McCain.
5: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who is also a Mormon.
6: A few “Liberal” Mormons.
7: Liberals & Democrats.

In conclusion I believe that America is ready for a Mormon president, that is if his name happens to be “Mitt Romney”!

Technorati Tags: Mitt Romney, 2008, Presidential Election, Election 2008.

A very detailed article from The Hill about the “behind the scenes” workings of McCain and Romney to shore up support among the members of the House and Senate in DC. Definitely worth a read. An exerpt below:

“I’ve spent some time with Gov. Romney and I like what I have seen,” said Rep. Tom Feeney (R-Fla.), a prominent RSC member who heads up the PAC. “He seems to be a Ronald Reagan, supply-side Republican.”

Feeney’s positive reaction is proof that Romney’s talks are producing results. Madden said most of the discussions with House Republicans revolve around Romney’s commitment to fiscal discipline. Shadegg, meanwhile, said McCain and House conservatives have had their differences in the past, but they largely agree on national security issues.

. . .

Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), who chairs the RSC, said he has known McCain personally for a number of years but didn’t know Romney until he spoke at the fundraiser for the RSC’s PAC. He too has not committed to either candidate.

“House Republicans will certainly be a part of any presidential strategy, and my guess is we’ll end up having a pretty healthy dialogue about who to support,” he said. “House conservatives will be looking for the candidate that most closely resembles conservative values to take up our banner into November and capture the hearts and minds of the American public. That’s what we’re going to be looking for.”

Sounds like he’s describing Romney!!!

Jeff

Hugh Hewitt had a great interview with Mark Steyn last night in which he said:

Well, there’s Newt Gingrich, who everybody says, and I think they’re right, has been making terrific speeches on terror. He gave a terrific appearance in New Hampshire, in which he called, he said that those six imams in Minneapolis causing the trouble on the plane should actually have been arrested. He’s absolutely terrific, but he carries way too much personal baggage. And all four of these candidates, I think, are defective in some ways. Mitt Romney I like, but in many ways, because I think his kind of Mormonism is the least problematic baggage of the major candidates.

Not a ringing endorsement but absolutely true at this point in time.

Of course, McCain can just keep the love coming as he steps in it again and again. Take this quote for example: “I think the fence is least effective. But I’ll build the goddamned fence if they want it.”

Just keep it coming Senator!