March 25, 2007
Romney's Campaign: Don't Believe McCain's Hype
When John McCain told reporters yesterday that his campaign's fundraising efforts had been hurt by a late start, was he artfully trying to lower expectations?
A Mitt Romney fundraiser with access to the campaign's daily fundraising tallies tells the Hotline that Romney won't raise more than $20 million -- much lower than the $30 to $35 million figure being floated about Washington by some of Romney's allies.
The fundraiser, who asked to remain anonymous in order to revisit McCain's claims, said that McCain's campaign was engaged in an elaborate game of deception in order to set Romney up. The thinking is that by artificially pumping up the amount of money Romney is expected to raise, the press will dutifully note that Romney "failed" to meet that non-realistic, externally-imposed goal. That'd be a bit of a psychic blow to the campaign.
A Romney campaign aide said last night that "McCain will be in first."
Money comes from three sources: the rolodexes of major "raisers," like Bush pioneers and rich folks; direct mail and e-mail lists; and in-person fundraisers, where major donors and fundraisers are rewarded for their work.
Who's right? Does it matter? Should anyone care?
First, keep in mind that neither side knows how much the other side has actually raised. The daily cash on hand totals are not widely distributed in either campaign. If Romney raises only $18 million, then McCain will eclipse him. If he raises in excess of $25M, McCain might now.
The only number we're getting from the McCain campaign -- unofficially, of course -- is that McCain's haul won't exceed $30M.
Maybe we can answer the questions by asking a different one: who has the most to benefit from exceeding expectations? Romney's had a rough several months, and a higher-than-expected total would let undecided Republicans and donors know that he's still alive. McCain is no longer the numerical frontrunner and has endured weeks of news stories attaching the adjective "floundering" to "campaign." If McCain tops the field by $5 million, it's a show of strength. But the media really won't buy the notion that his fundraising network, which took John Weaver and co. several years to put together, would stumble out of the gate. [MARC AMBINDER]
Posted at 08:08 AM
Comments
Either way, a very nice event going on for Mitt Romney in April:
http://dmc-news.tamu.edu/templates/?a=4343&z=15
And yeah, that McCain deal above seems very suspicious.
RC | 03.25.07 10:06 AM
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oh yeah nice event there
fmr pres bush should be ashamed of romney, the ultimate flip-flopper
Joe | 03.25.07 06:17 PM
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MCCain is pushing his poorer than thou, late start story wherever he can. He got a couple minutes on ABCNews tonight to try and lower expectations.
With a followup on Nightline Monday.
The McCain campaign is pushing this hard.
mikevotes | 03.25.07 06:55 PM
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Well, ya know, a million here, a million there or two or five give or take it ain't that big of a deal.
At the end of the day only one question remains. Do the Republicans want to have the office on Pennsylvania Avenue influenced by the Clintons, some Bishops of a peculiar and small Christian branch,or some preachers of a larger Christian branch, or the New York jet setters, or John McCain. That is the sixty Dollar question. Oh my God now I almost gave my age away.
Horst Kraus | 03.25.07 08:57 PM
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Er, did it occur to you that maybe it's the Mitt Romney fundraiser who you spoke with who is lowering expectations for Romney while also setting up McCain by raising expectations for McCain to a level they don't think McCain will match?
http://www.elephantbiz.com/2007/03/money_man_how_mccain_undercut.html
Bill Hobbs | 03.26.07 01:19 AM
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I think John McCain will continue to lose support across the board as more people share their anti-McCain fever with conservatives.
Mitt Romney is gaining in popularity as the conservative consensus candidate because of his visionary stances on issues of great importance to conservatives, the new influx of hopeful Mittheads spreading Mitt Romneyism around, and because the other two main Republican rivals are opposed by large swaths of the conservative movement.
Go Mitt Go!
Denny | 03.26.07 03:59 AM
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Lets see who outwits the other in the final battle.
Sean Taylor | 03.26.07 05:35 AM
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Its fun to watch the fight between two unprincipled, opportunistic politicians Mitt and McCain.
Romney is as slick as they come. This guy has flip-flopped on almost every single issue. Its shame that he is trying to deceive true conservatives. A true conservative will definitely identify who is a "fraud" and who is real. We rejected Kerry because he flip-flopped on couple of issues. So why we should trust this Mitt who has flip-flopped on every issue? So run away from this Mitt guy. It will be a shame if any true conservative votes for Mitt who loves Rocky Anderson who is a Bush basher liberal.
Regarding McCain, this guy is another phony. He is neither a conservative nor a straight talk express. McCain is simply trying to do anything to get in good books of conservative.
Conservatives will discard color changing chameleons like Romney and McCain. Their millions will go down the drains since they can't change their fingerprints of flip-flops.
We need a true conservative like Thomson, Brownback, Gingrich, etc.
Aaron | 03.26.07 08:59 AM
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Aaron. I think your only realistic shot with the 3 is Thomson. Gingrich is polarizing and Brownback is an unknown. Thomson would be the only candidate with a general election appeal. Unfortunately, this is only because of "I play a president on TV". It wouldn't be because of any political experience and/or visionary ideas. However, is folksy charm might win over independents and "everydayers". I have ruled out McCain and Giuliani and holding out on Romney. I think his experience in and out (business, Olympics) of politics is more appealing than Thomson, however I need to hear more on his ideas and Republican ideals.
Jack | 03.26.07 11:31 AM
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The LA Times has a detailed story on how phony and deceiving Romney is. They give examples of how Romney mislead and tricked environmentalists, gay rights groups, pro-choice groups by saying he believes in their causes as recently as in 2002. Romney is no conservative in any way, here are are some glaring example from LA Times article http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-romney25mar25,0,1242142,full.story?coll=la-home-headlines
- Romney had told NARAL that he would steadfastly support abortion rights. When asked about whether he will change his position Romney had said, "I want to be really careful about not changing my position," and "I will do what I say I'll do."
- Romney also argued that his judicial picks would be more likely to protect abortion rights than would those of a Democratic governor
- When Romney huddled with dozens of gay activists for an endorsement meeting in 2002, at the restaurant attached to the gay bar, some of his appeals were similar to those he had made on abortion.
- Romney promised the Log Cabin Republicans he would push against social conservatives on such issues as domestic partnerships for gays.
- Patrick Guerriero, a prominent Log Cabin member, told the Bay Windows newspaper immediately after the meeting that Romney showed he was in agreement with the gay community on every major issue. "If you go down his list, it's pretty much a check-off of the real hot-button concerns for gays and lesbians," Guerriero said. "I do believe that, and as you know I'm a supporter of gay marriage."
- Romney was such an environmentalist that this is what he said about coal-fired power plant as a governor in 2003.. "I will not create jobs or hold jobs that kill people," Romney said in a heated exchange. "And that plant — that plant kills people."
- Romney also met with religious leaders to discuss his forthcoming plan to combat climate change, a 50-page document that Romney himself had edited, making line-by-line changes.
- Romney told the group he was "terrified" about global warming, a phenomenon he described as "quite alarming".
But Romney changed his positions beginning 2005 when he started thinking about presidential race.
Romney does not have any convictions. He is willing to say whatever it takes to get elected whether that means smooching with left or right.
Romney is no conservative and is the most dangerous candidate for republicans who truly believe in conservative values.
Kelly | 03.26.07 12:59 PM
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Romney isn't a flopper like Kerry. You have to go back a few years to find any flip flopping goin on. And even then, that was a few years ago, it isn't like he flips from one speech to another which I remember hearing Kerry do many times three years ago. The great thing I like about Romney is the fact that he is willing to look at the options and issues, and as he hears additional information, he is willing to change his views to align with what he thinks most correct. This isn't character flaw, this is character strength. To be quite honest, if Bush would say, "you know, things went way wrong, I was wrong, let's do something about this war that would get us out of there" then you wouldn't see his rating dip so low. Just a little humility would go a long way.
I don't know why you all jump on this "Flip-flop" bandwagon any ways. Perhaps that is becuase if you were to look at the real issues, you may be inclined to change your views on the candidates and we all know that we can't do that. Oh no!
Nathan | 03.26.07 02:56 PM
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Anybody calling Mitt a Flip Flopper either can't read or has no interest in the truth. Romney's political evolution is no different than anybody else in the race except Rudy who is so proud of his stance on abortion he said he would pay for his daughter's abortion if she wanted one.
Mitt Romney's ACTIONS were 100% pro-life his entire political career. How can that possibly be a bad thing?
Goldwater | 03.26.07 10:59 PM
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The LA Times did a negative story on Romney? You don't say. GO MITT!!!
Liz | 03.27.07 07:13 PM
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