Regarding the Push Poll on Romney's Religion

Has Karl Rove come out of retirement?

Mysterious phone calls to New Hampshire and Iowa voters that harshly questioned Mitt Romney's Mormon faith and praised John McCain's military service prompted new attacks in the Republican presidential race yesterday and an investigation by New Hampshire Attorney General Kelly A. Ayotte.

The questions were:

• 'Are you aware he is a Mormon?'
• 'Did you know that they didn't allow black people to be bishops until the 1970s?
• 'Did you know he got a military deferment for being a missionary?'
• "Some people say the Mormon Church is a cult, would that make you more or less likely to vote for Mitt Romney?" (link)

Romney's flip flop on abortion—his move to a pro-life stance when it was clear he wanted run for President—was also mentioned. Frankly, I'm surprised no one asked the callers if they knew as a Mormon Romney is required to wear magical underwear as a "'shield and protection' against the powers of evil" (link).

While the push poll discredited Romney, it praised John McCain:

'If you knew that John McCain was a Navy pilot, would that make you more or less likely to vote for him? If you know he had 300 carrier landings would that make you more or less likely to vote for him? If you knew he was prisoner of war in Vietnam, would that make you more or less likely to vote for him?' " (link)

Having experienced a devastating push poll himself widely believed to have been orchestrated by Karl Rove in the 2000 Presidential race, McCain was quick to denounce the calls:

McCain described the calls as "especially shameful" because they impugned Romney's religion and he asked all candidates to reject such "despicable tactics." The Arizona senator noted that he was victimized by similar push polls in the 2000 campaign in South Carolina that suggested he had an illegitimate black child. (link)

Never one to miss an opportunity to wax sappy, Romney mixed his anger at the affront with the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday:

"The attempts to attack me on the basis of my faith are un-American," he said. "This is a time when we're preparing for Thanksgiving, a time when we're going to celebrate the fact that this nation was founded in part to allow people to enjoy religious freedom." (link)

So who did it? It's pure speculation at this point, but I don't believe McCain did it because the questions about him are too obvious a giveaway.

I believe Giuliani is perfectly capable of doing it. After all, the push poll would enable him to kill two birds with one stone. He can get the word out about Romney's religion and implicate McCain as the culprit in the process. In any case, the Giuliani camp also issued a denunciation:

Giuliani spokeswoman Katie Levinson said in a statement, "There is no room for this sort of thing in politics." (link)

But don't discount the possibility of Romney push-polling himself. McCain has been gaining in the polls lately and the push poll has had the effect of making Romney seem like a victim of dirty politics. It also appears the push-poll originated within Mormon country, from a Utah based research firm named Western Wats. Finally, the push poll provided Romney an opportunity to illogically go after one of his pet peeves, one which interestingly bears McCain's name:

Romney used the calls to attack the McCain-Feingold law, the 2002 measure coauthored by McCain that limits campaign contributions.

The monster is this McCain-Feingold bill and it has to be repealed and it just points how in infective it has been in removing the influence of money and underhanded politics," Romney said. (link)

Of course, it's absurd to think that repealing the prohibition against soft money contributions to national party committees will somehow magically stop push-polling, a point not wasted on the McCain campaign team:

Jill Hazelbaker, McCain's spokeswoman, said push polling was, "regrettably, alive and well," for years before the McCain-Feingold law was passed. "It is appalling, but not surprising, that Mitt Romney would seek to take advantage of this disturbing incident to launch yet another hypocritical attack," she said. (link)

But then Romney loves money. Among other positions that favor wealthy elites he wants to completely eliminate the capital gains tax, a transparent indication that Romney's candidacy is all about preserving and enhancing the domination of big money over US politics and government. And Romney never misses an opportunity to smack McCain for McCain-Feingold. He calls it "one of the worst things in my lifetime," another Romney flip flop Republicans are inclined to overlook.

I seriously doubt a push-poll about Romney's religion in Iowa and New Hampshire would devastate his chances in those states. If the push poll had occurred in the South, however, I'd be inclined not to suspect Romney push-polling himself.