McCain asks New Hampshire AG to investigate anti-Romney calls

[truthpusher]

Source: AP

CONCORD, N.H. --Republican John McCain is asking the New Hampshire attorney general to investigate phone calls to voters that pretend to be polls but raise questions about rival candidate Mitt Romney and his Mormon faith -- and make favorable statements about McCain.

McCain's campaign says it had nothing to do with the calls but fears voters will think it did.

The telephone effort "was made to appear to be friendly to Sen. McCain, but we had nothing to do with the poll at the state or national level," campaign vice chairman Chuck Douglas wrote in a letter asking the attorney general's office to investigate and tell the callers to stop.

McCain himself said Friday at a campaign stop in Colorado, "It is disgraceful, it is outrageous, and it is a violation, we believe, of New Hampshire law." He urged other candidates to join him in the legal action and referred to Romney as a "decent man."

Western Wats, a Utah-based company, placed the calls that initially sound like a poll but then pose questions that cast Romney in a harsh light, according to people who received the calls. In politics, this type of phone surveying is called "push polling" -- contacting potential voters and asking questions intended to plant a message, usually negative, rather than gauging attitudes.



Read more: http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/11/16/mccain_asks_new_hampshire_ag_to_investigate_anti_romney_calls/

[TwilightGardener]

1. See how McCrazy operates? It helps him in the primary to stay silent in the face of

a terrible slur of Hillary by his supporters, so he laughs along and doesn't rebuke the old bitch for calling Hillary a bitch. It might HURT McCain in the primary to look like he's slandering fellow GOPer Romney for his religion, so now he's all over it. What a pandering fucker. And I'll bet he's behind the swiftboating, anyway--he has no honor left.

[Supersedeas]

2. when will McCain get with the Republican Elitist program

[golddigger]

3. McCain needs to go home...

And stay there. He's a washed-up old man who sold his soul to the neo-cons.:nopity:

[Lone_Star_Dem]

4. N.H. probes anti-Romney "poll" calls

Source: AP

CONCORD, N.H. - New Hampshire's attorney general is investigating phone calls to voters that pretend to be opinion polls but then undercut presidential contender Mitt Romney and his Mormon faith — and make favorable statements about Republican rival John McCain.

McCain says they're not his doing and he wants them stopped. Romney says it's a religious attack and "un-American."

McCain said of the phone calling, "It is disgraceful, it is outrageous, and it is a violation, we believe, of New Hampshire law." His campaign asked the attorney general to investigate, and McCain, campaigning Friday in Colorado, asked other candidates to join in the request.

One McCain adviser, Chuck Douglas, said "we believe it is being done by one of the other campaigns. We don't know which one."

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071116/ap_po/republicans_push_polling;_ylt=A9G_R3In_j1HDggALxSs0NUE

---

Say it isn't so! Republicans using push-polling against their own. I'm shocked, shocked I tell you!

[orleans]

5. rove did it against mccain for the fuckhead. now mccain can pass it on. n/t

[Lone_Star_Dem]

6. Did you catch the little dig Romney shot at McCain in the article?

Whoever is behind the calls, Romney said part of the blame must go to the 2002 McCain-Feingold law that limits campaign contributions. The phone campaign, he said, "points out how ineffective it has been in removing the influence of money and underhanded politics." He added, "I have seen over the last several weeks more and more reports of e-mails, of literature being passed out and now push polls which attack me on the basis of religion, and I think that's very disappointing and un-American."

[yellowcanine]

7. But yet McCain says a question referring to Hillary as a b*tch is a "great question".

Will the real McCain please show himself before we conclude that he is just not a serious person.

[rcsl1998]

8. 'Poll' was conducted by a 'Utah based company' ???

...things that make you go hmmm...

[Endangered Specie]

9. Sounds like someone learned some lessons from the 2000 South Carolina Primary...

course you have to ask yourself, which does a Republican hate more: black babies or Mormons?

[defendandprotect]

10. Steny Hoyer commenting on this --- ??? Will it hurt the GOP . . . ???? Doubt it!!!

[creeksneakers2]

11. Chicago Tribune links calls withTarrance Group

Tarrance group was also mentioned as a possible source of calls this week in Iowa about Democratic candidates.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/chi-pushpoll17nov17,1,6830952.story

(snip)

Previous news reports have linked calls by Western Wats to the Tarrance Group, which works for former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Ed Goeas, the head of the Tarrance Group, told The Associated Press that there is no connection between Giuliani and Western Wats.

[zanne]

12. Okay.. I confess. I made the phone calls.

You should see my phone bill! NH looks like a small state, but just try calling every Republican. It takes hours.

[SoxFan]

13. Looks like it's Giuliani

The company that placed the calls has been tracked back to the Tarrance Group, Giuliani's polling firm.

McCain should save his breath and forget about asking the NH Attorney General to do anything. She's a case study in suckupsmanship. If a high profile political or business figure runs afoul of the law, you can count on Kelly Ayotte finding a reason to sweep it under the table. last winter, the chair of the NH Democratic Party was accused of possesing child porn by a former roommate. Ayotte never searched his computers. If you are influential, she looks out for you.

[progressivebydesign]

14. It worked so well against McCain that he couldn't resist.

When all is said and done, McCain is truly the candidate that will do anything, and say anything, to get elected. Hands down.