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Rockin' Huckabee
Archive for 200712 ( return to current blog )
Thursday December 20, 2007
New poll data out today shows John McCain creeping up in Iowa and one national poll. Despite all the attack ads, the deceptive blogging, and condescending articles by national pundits, Gov. Huckabee is holding steady and even overtaking the lead in some polls. The man's message does resonate with voters, and most people are tired of elitist bashing and nitpicking of Huck's campaign.
poll data via realclearpolitics.com
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REPUBLICAN NOMINATION |
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RCP AVERAGE |
GIULIANI 20.9 |
HUCKABEE 19.6 (2) |
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FOX NEWS |
GIULIANI 20 |
HUCKABEE 19 (2) |
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NBC |
RUDY/MITT 20 |
HUCKABEE 19 (3) |
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BATTLEGROUND |
HUCKABEE 24 |
GUILIANI 22 |
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RASMUSSEN |
HUCKABEE 21 |
MITT/McCAIN 15 |
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ARG |
HUCKABEE 21 |
GUILIANI 21 |
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ZOGBY |
GUILIANI 23 |
HUCKABEE 22 (2) |
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IOWA |
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RCP AVERAGE |
HUCKABEE 30.0 |
ROMNEY 24.3 |
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AM RES GRP |
HUCKABEE 28 |
McCAIN 20 |
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RASMUSSEN |
HUCKABEE 28 |
ROMNEY 27 |
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CNN |
HUCKABEE 33 |
ROMNEY 25 |
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NEW HAMPSHIRE |
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RCP AVERAGE |
ROMNEY 31.0 |
HUCKABEE 10.4 (4) |
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AM RES GRP |
MITT/McCAIN 26 |
HUCKABEE 11 (4) |
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RASMUSSEN |
ROMNEY 31 |
HUCKABEE 11 (4) |
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SOUTH CAROLINA |
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RCP AVERAGE |
HUCKABEE 26.3 |
ROMNEY 19.5 |
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CBS |
HUCKABEE 28 |
ROMNEY 20 |
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RASMUSSEN |
HUCKABEE 23 |
ROMNEY 23 |
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FLORIDA |
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RCP AVERAGE |
GUILIANI 25.7 |
HUCKABEE 16.3 (2) |
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FIELD |
GUILIANI 25 |
HUCKABEE 17 (2) |
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QUINNIPIAC |
GUILIANI 28 |
HUCKABEE 21 (2) |
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CALIFORNIA |
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RCP AVERAGE |
GUILIANI 25.7 |
HUCKABEE 16.3 (2) |
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FIELD |
GUILIANI 25 |
HUCKABEE 17 (2) |
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GENERAL ELECTION |
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FOX |
CLINTON 47 |
HUCKABEE 38 |
UND 15 |
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FOX |
OBAMA 44 |
HUCKABEE 35 |
UND 21 |
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NBC |
CLINTON 46 |
HUCKABEE 44 |
UND 4 |
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NBC |
OBAMA 48 |
HUCKABEE 36 |
UND 7 |
| | Posted by postaldog at 3:44 PM - | |
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Wednesday December 19, 2007
FactCheck.org has done a nice job ripping up Mitt Romney's attack ad on the Gov. Nice to see someone's looking out for the truth in the blogosphere:
Romney attacks Huckabee again with false and misleading claims.
Romney launched another negative ad in Iowa this week, where the Republican presidential candidate has been battling the new front-runner, Huckabee. This time, Romney attacks Huckabee's record on methamphetamine laws and the clemencies he granted as governor of Arkansas. We found that:
1) The ad says Romney "got tough on drugs like meth" while governor of Massachusetts, but the legislation he supported never passed, and his state's laws are much weaker than Arkansas'. Convicted meth dealers face both minimum and maximum prison terms in Arkansas that are four times longer than those in Massachusetts.
2) The ad misrepresents news articles, implying that they supported Romney's actions as governor when that's not what the news organizations said. One article, in fact, gave critical views of Romney's refusal to issue a pardon.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney announced that the ad would begin airing in Iowa Dec. 17. It's a sequel to an earlier Romney attack on former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee that we reviewed here, and it begins with the same misleading description of similarities between the two before going on the attack with new material.
Injecting Meth into the Campaign
The ad says Romney "got tough on drugs like meth" while Huckabee "even reduced penalties for manufacturing methamphetamine." But wait: While Romney did submit legislation in 2005 that would have broadened state laws against meth production, such as setting sentencing guidelines for possessing various methamphetamine precursor ingredients, this effort to get "tough" failed. That bill died in committee in Jan. 2007.
The legislation Huckabee supported, meanwhile, did shorten the amount of time a convict would have to serve before being eligible for parole from 70 percent of the sentence to 50 percent. But Arkansas has strict meth laws that remain on the books, and they are far tougher than those in Massachusetts. A convicted meth dealer can be sentenced to 40 years in Arkansas, but in Massachusetts the maximum term is 10 years. The mandatory minimum in Arkansas is 10 years in prison, but it's only a two-and-a-half-year state prison term in Massachusetts. And, in fact, the bill this ad criticizes was drafted with the help of Arkansas state prosecutors to help alleviate overcrowding problems in the state penal system.
Here are the details of the state laws: In Arkansas, offenders found guilty of intent to distribute or manufacture while in possession of less than an ounce of meth face a minimum sentence of "not less than ten (10) years nor more than forty (40) years, or life" and a fine "not exceeding twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000)." In Massachusetts, the penalty for a person convicted of manufacturing, distributing or possessing with intent to manufacture or distribute a substance that contains any quantity of methamphetamine is "a term of imprisonment in the state prison for not less than two and one-half nor more than ten years." A fine of no more than $10,000 may be imposed as well. The legislation Romney backed would not have increased the mandatory minimum, even if it had passed.
One possible reason that Arkansas has far tougher meth laws than Massachusetts is that it has a far larger meth problem: The federal Drug Enforcement Agency counts 407 methamphetamine "lab incidents" in Arkansas in 2006, compared with only one in Massachusetts. The DEA says methamphetamine is Arkansas' "primary drug of concern," while in Massachusetts the drug is "available in limited quantities" and "rarely abused." However, meth is a huge problem in Iowa, where this ad is airing. In 2006, there were 318 meth lab incidents, according to the DEA, down from a high of 1,370 in 2004. Iowa enacted a tough law in 2005 that made it illegal to sell non-prescription pseudoephedrine to a minor or to keep it anywhere but behind a pharmacy counter. Pseudophedrine is found in common over-the-counter medications such as Sudafed and has been widely used to make meth.
Print Your Own Newspaper!
The ad uses news clippings to borrow the independent credibility of newspapers and bolster Romney's claims. However, in several instances, the ad reconstructs the words of the newspapers to distort the original reporting. For instance, it lists the Berkshire Eagle as saying "tough on drugs like meth" on Aug. 15, 2005. But the paper didn't exactly say that. What the paper did say was:
Berkshire Eagle: Legislation filed by Gov. Mitt Romney would heighten the penalties for the possession of methamphetamine as well as toughen penalties for the possession of the chemicals used to produce it.
The newspaper is clearly reporting on the legislation filed. Romney's ad changes the words to make it appear the newspaper is endorsing his effort. Filching the credibility of news organizations is an old trick we've found in past elections , here and here.
Pardonable Offenses
In another example of skewing the news in his favor, the ad shows a June 12, 2007, Associated Press tagline under the headline "never pardoned a criminal." But the closest the AP article comes to saying that is this:
AP: During the four years Romney was in office, 100 requests for commutations and 172 requests for pardons were filed in the state. All were denied.
The language from the ad appears nowhere in the news article, which is certainly no endorsement of Romney's policies. It actually portrays the governor as unreasonably stubborn. The article focuses primarily on Romney's refusal to pardon National Guard Lt. Anthony Circosta, who had been convicted of assault at age 13 for "shooting another boy in the arm with a BB gun, a shot that didn't break the skin," according to the AP. After returning from duty in Iraq, Circosta wanted to become a police officer but needed to have his childhood charge pardoned first. Romney refused twice, despite the recommendations of the state Board of Pardons.
We're not passing judgment on either governors' record on clemencies, but we take issue with Romney's misleading attempt to claim this news article endorsed his actions. It didn't.
– by Justin Bank and Lori Robertson
Just taking a quick look
. . . .
Nope, no mention of this deception at that bastion of investigative blogging HotAir
Why am I not surprised?
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Tuesday December 18, 2007
New poll data out today for Iowa, So. Carolina, Florida and California. Biggest news is Mitt's resurgence in SC where Rasmussen has him tied with Huck. The jackals at HotAir are beside themselves hoping that this is the end of the Gov's surge in the polls.
Sorry boys, just a blip.
poll data via realclearpolitics.com
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REPUBLICAN NOMINATION |
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RCP AVERAGE |
GIULIANI 22.4 |
HUCKABEE 19.9 (2) |
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HOTLINE/FD |
GIULIANI 21 |
HUCKABEE 17 (2) |
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USA TODAY |
GIULIANI 27 |
HUCKABEE 16 (2) |
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IOWA |
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RCP AVERAGE |
HUCKABEE 32.2 |
ROMNEY 24.2 |
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INSIDER ADV |
ROMNEY 28 |
HUCKABEE 23 (2) |
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SOUTH CAROLINA |
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RCP AVERAGE |
HUCKABEE 24.0 |
ROMNEY 17.4 |
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RASMUSSEN |
HUCKABEE 23 |
ROMNEY 23 |
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FLORIDA |
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RCP AVERAGE |
GUILIANI 25.8 |
HUCKABEE 20.8 (2) |
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STRATEGIC VIS |
GUILIANI 25 |
HUCKABEE 21 (2) |
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SURVEY USA |
GUILIANI 29 |
HUCKABEE 24 (2) |
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CALIFORNIA |
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RCP AVERAGE |
GUILIANI 25.7 |
HUCKABEE 12.0 (4) |
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SURVEY USA |
GUILIANI 28 |
HUCKABEE 20 (2) |
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GENERAL ELECTION |
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USA TODAY |
CLINTON 53 |
HUCKABEE 44 |
UND 1 |
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USA TODAY |
OBAMA 57 |
HUCKABEE 42 |
UND 2 |
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Monday December 17, 2007
Anyone who's followed this blog or has seen my posts on Huck's website knows that I've been saying we should take a page out of the Ronbot's playbook in terms of online support.
Well, the guys at HucksArmy.com have stepped up big time. The Gov. is trying to raise a total of $5 million by year's end to give him his biggest quarter yet. They've launched a website to promote the donation push:
http://www.dec27th.com
The banner above is from that site. I've linked it to my Ranger account, so you can have a secure donation link. I am going to donate on that day. I'd like you to do the same. Go to Huck's site, the 27th site, or use my blog, but donate something. It's tough this time of year, I know it as well as anyone, but even a single dollar will help.
If you believe in the man and what he stands for, please pitch in on the 27th. And again, if you donate through my Ranger link, I'll match your contribution until my goal is reached.
Thanks | | Posted by postaldog at 9:35 PM - | |
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Here's some fresh poll data for ya.
As you can see, a new poll in New York shows Huck in third place. Pretty astonishing considering the east coast bias I've seen so far. Also a new poll came out over the weekend from Illinois that has the Gov. hot on Rudy's heels.
poll data via realclearpolitics.com
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NATIONAL |
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RCP AVERAGE |
GIULIANI 22.8 |
HUCKABEE 20.3 (2) |
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USA TODAY |
GIULIANI 27 |
HUCKABEE 16 (2) |
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RASMUSSEN |
HUCKABEE 23 |
GIULIANI 18 |
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AM RES GRP |
HUCKABEE 21 |
GIULIANI 21 |
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IOWA |
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RCP AVERAGE |
HUCKABEE 34.0 |
ROMNEY 23.3 |
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QUAD CITY TIMES |
HUCKABEE 31 |
ROMNEY 22 |
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HOTLINE |
HUCKABEE 36 |
ROMNEY 23 |
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RASMUSSEN |
HUCKABEE 30 |
ROMNEY 25 |
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SOUTH CAROLINA |
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RCP AVERAGE |
HUCKABEE 24.4 |
THOMPSON 16.8 |
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CNN |
HUCKABEE 24 |
THOMPSON 17 |
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ILLINOIS |
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USA TODAY |
GUILIANI 23 |
HUCKABEE 21 (2) |
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NEW YORK |
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QUINNIPIAC |
GUILIANI 34 |
HUCKABEE 12 (3) |
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NEW HAMPSHIRE |
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RCP AVERAGE |
ROMNEY 32 |
HUCKABEE 11 (4) |
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FOX NEWS |
ROMNEY 33 |
HUCKABEE 11 (4) |
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CONCORD MTR |
ROMNEY 31 |
HUCKABEE 9 (4) |
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RASMUSSEN |
ROMNEY 33 |
HUCKABEE 14 (4) |
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EDWARDS v HUCKABEE |
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RASMUSSEN |
EDWARDS 49 |
HUCKABEE 37 |
UND 14 |
| | Posted by postaldog at 7:51 PM - | |
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