Saturday, December 15, 2007
McCain Calls For a Stop to Push Polling
White House hopeful John McCain on Saturday called on Republican rival Mike Huckabee to end push polling in New Hampshire tied to his presidential campaign's supporters, but Huckabee denied any involvement.
McCain said he learned Saturday afternoon of calls made Friday on Huckabee's behalf in New Hampshire.
If an ally of his was doing that, "I would ask him to stop it immediately and take those things down. And I hope that Mike Huckabee will do the same," McCain said by phone as he traveled between campaign stops in South Carolina.
McCain said his campaign had told him Common Sense Issues had been making calls on behalf of the former Arkansas governor. He described it as nonprofit "supporter of Huckabee's for soft money."
"I don't have that hard information, but that's what I've been told it is," McCain said. It "is one of those organizations funded by Huckabee supporters and I would ask him to have them take it down just as if somebody was doing those things on my behalf I would have them take them down."
Huckabee said Saturday he has had no involvement with push polling and deplores the practice.
"Anybody who's doing this probably must doing this for another campaign, not for mine, and trying to blame me for it," he said.
At an event in Littleton, N.H., Huckabee said he had great respect for McCain and found such criticisms despicable. "I would never be party to any kind of attack upon him," he said.
McCain's New Hampshire campaign vice chairman Chuck Douglas said Saturday the campaign heard about the calls Friday night and that they were paid for by a pro-Huckabee group. In a prepared statement, Douglas said the calls were "designed to disparage John McCain in an effort to advance Governor Huckabee's campaign."
McCain supporter Bernie Campbell said he got a call from a Virginia number Friday night and was asked about his positions on gay marriage and abortion through an automated voice response system.
When he said he supported McCain, "they continued to ask me a number of questions regarding negative aspects of my candidate and asked if they changed my opinion," Campbell said. "Things like, 'You know, Senator McCain's campaign finance reform limits the ability of right to life groups to get their message out. Does that change your opinion about Senator McCain?"
Campbell said he was also asked whether he knew McCain didn't support a federal amendment to the Constitution banning same-sex marriages.
At the end, Campbell said the message said it was paid for by "Common Sense something."
McCain's campaign said Common Sense Issues is a nonprofit group that is financed and run by Huckabee supporters and is waging a pro-Huckabee campaign in Iowa.
A month ago, McCain asked the New Hampshire attorney general to investigate calls to voters that raised questions about rival Mitt Romney's Mormon faith but sounded favorable for McCain.
In push polling, people get calls that sound like an objective poll trying to measure public opinion. However, the questions end up casting candidates in harsh light in an attempt to persuade voters to support other candidates. In Romney's case, the callers were asked if they knew Romney was a Mormon; that he received military deferments when he served as a Mormon missionary in France; that his five sons did not serve in the military; that Romney's faith did not accept blacks as bishops into the 1970s and that Mormons believe the Book of Mormon is superior to the Bible.
McCain, who said his campaign had nothing to do with that round of calls, said it was disgraceful and broke New Hampshire law.
An investigation by the New Hampshire attorney general's office is continuing, but the agency said earlier this week it was not ready to release findings.
Meanwhile, in New Hampshire, McCain's campaign sent a mailer, in response to a previous mailing from the Romney campaign, that asks voters if they agree that Romney has flip-flopped on immigration, taxes and abortion rights.
"Like so many times before, Mitt Romney advocates totally inconsistent policy positions," the ad reads. "That's why voters don't trust Mitt Romney. No wonder Mitt Romney is trying to cover up his own mixed-up record by smearing straight talker John McCain."
Romney's campaign, which already is running an ad criticizing Huckabee in Iowa, denounced the negative mailer from McCain.
"Senator McCain's weak approach to illegal immigration should be the last issue that he tries to use when attacking and distorting the strong record of Governor Romney," Romney's New Hampshire director Jim Merrill said.
White House hopeful John McCain on Saturday called on Republican rival Mike Huckabee to end push polling in New Hampshire tied to his presidential campaign's supporters, but Huckabee denied any involvement.
McCain said he learned Saturday afternoon of calls made Friday on Huckabee's behalf in New Hampshire.
If an ally of his was doing that, "I would ask him to stop it immediately and take those things down. And I hope that Mike Huckabee will do the same," McCain said by phone as he traveled between campaign stops in South Carolina.
McCain said his campaign had told him Common Sense Issues had been making calls on behalf of the former Arkansas governor. He described it as nonprofit "supporter of Huckabee's for soft money."
"I don't have that hard information, but that's what I've been told it is," McCain said. It "is one of those organizations funded by Huckabee supporters and I would ask him to have them take it down just as if somebody was doing those things on my behalf I would have them take them down."
Huckabee said Saturday he has had no involvement with push polling and deplores the practice.
"Anybody who's doing this probably must doing this for another campaign, not for mine, and trying to blame me for it," he said.
At an event in Littleton, N.H., Huckabee said he had great respect for McCain and found such criticisms despicable. "I would never be party to any kind of attack upon him," he said.
McCain's New Hampshire campaign vice chairman Chuck Douglas said Saturday the campaign heard about the calls Friday night and that they were paid for by a pro-Huckabee group. In a prepared statement, Douglas said the calls were "designed to disparage John McCain in an effort to advance Governor Huckabee's campaign."
McCain supporter Bernie Campbell said he got a call from a Virginia number Friday night and was asked about his positions on gay marriage and abortion through an automated voice response system.
When he said he supported McCain, "they continued to ask me a number of questions regarding negative aspects of my candidate and asked if they changed my opinion," Campbell said. "Things like, 'You know, Senator McCain's campaign finance reform limits the ability of right to life groups to get their message out. Does that change your opinion about Senator McCain?"
Campbell said he was also asked whether he knew McCain didn't support a federal amendment to the Constitution banning same-sex marriages.
At the end, Campbell said the message said it was paid for by "Common Sense something."
McCain's campaign said Common Sense Issues is a nonprofit group that is financed and run by Huckabee supporters and is waging a pro-Huckabee campaign in Iowa.
A month ago, McCain asked the New Hampshire attorney general to investigate calls to voters that raised questions about rival Mitt Romney's Mormon faith but sounded favorable for McCain.
In push polling, people get calls that sound like an objective poll trying to measure public opinion. However, the questions end up casting candidates in harsh light in an attempt to persuade voters to support other candidates. In Romney's case, the callers were asked if they knew Romney was a Mormon; that he received military deferments when he served as a Mormon missionary in France; that his five sons did not serve in the military; that Romney's faith did not accept blacks as bishops into the 1970s and that Mormons believe the Book of Mormon is superior to the Bible.
McCain, who said his campaign had nothing to do with that round of calls, said it was disgraceful and broke New Hampshire law.
An investigation by the New Hampshire attorney general's office is continuing, but the agency said earlier this week it was not ready to release findings.
Meanwhile, in New Hampshire, McCain's campaign sent a mailer, in response to a previous mailing from the Romney campaign, that asks voters if they agree that Romney has flip-flopped on immigration, taxes and abortion rights.
"Like so many times before, Mitt Romney advocates totally inconsistent policy positions," the ad reads. "That's why voters don't trust Mitt Romney. No wonder Mitt Romney is trying to cover up his own mixed-up record by smearing straight talker John McCain."
Romney's campaign, which already is running an ad criticizing Huckabee in Iowa, denounced the negative mailer from McCain.
"Senator McCain's weak approach to illegal immigration should be the last issue that he tries to use when attacking and distorting the strong record of Governor Romney," Romney's New Hampshire director Jim Merrill said.
