Huckabee vs. Romney on Immigration
December 11, 2007
Mitt Romney is out today in Iowa with a campaign ad attacking Mike Huckabee on immigration. Watch it here. Huckabee has his own immigration ad out in Iowa. Watch it here.
Read below from The Boston Globe:
Overtaken by Mike Huckabee in the Iowa polls despite vastly outspending him, Mitt Romney is launching today the first side-by-side contrast television ad in the state's GOP presidential campaign, a spot that directly criticizes Huckabee's record on illegal immigration.
The ad features stark piano music, photos of Romney and Huckabee, and a voiceover calling them "two former governors, two good family men, both pro-life, both support a constitutional amendment protecting traditional marriage."
Then the message shifts.
"The difference?" the announcer asks.
As Massachusetts governor, Romney had vetoed in-state tuition benefits for illegal immigrants and opposed giving illegal immigrants driver's licenses, the ad says.
It says Huckabee, on the other hand, supported giving in-state tuition rates to illegal immigrants and making children of illegal immigrants eligible for merit scholarships while he was governor of Arkansas.
"On immigration, the choice matters," the announcer in the ad says.
The ad does not mention that Romney is a relatively recent convert to the antiabortion cause and had struck a more moderate stance on gay rights during his run for governor in 2002.
Yesterday, Huckabee started his own TV ad on illegal immigration that, along with a plan he unveiled on Friday, seeks to toughen his stand.
The ad - airing in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina - emphasizes building a fence on the Mexico border and shows him saying no to amnesty and to "sanctuary cities."
Romney has no other choice. He can’t go after Huckabee on marriage or life so immigration is pretty much his only play that could resonate. But Romney is in danger of not playing “Iowa Nice”. The Huckabee campaign tells me privately that they have no desire to go negative. That’s not what they plan to do. Having said that, will it be enough for Huckabee to fight back on TV talk shows when the onslaught from Romney and other rivals becomes too much to bear? It’s a decision the campaign will need to make fast.
Comments?
THE BRODY FILE Main Page >>
A caring friend will be there to pray with you in your time of need.
