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By Sam Youngman
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Posted: 06/14/07 07:41 PM [ET] |
White House hopeful Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) yesterday adjusted his campaign tactics, aiming withering fire at his rivals in an apparent effort to mute recent stories that his campaign is in trouble.
Campaign officials issued a statement attacking GOP rival ex-Gov. Mitt Romney (Mass.) for changing his position on abortion. McCain also called a press conference to attack Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), the Democratic frontrunner.
The more aggressive assault on rivals came shortly after a close friend and supporter of McCain told The Hill that the campaign is “in the doldrums.”
Until now, McCain had not explicitly attacked Romney’s position on abortion, keeping such a move as an ace up his sleeve.
His decision to play the card now, days before his rival is due to address the National Right to Life Convention, suggests the Arizona senator sees the need to hit hard without delay.
McCain’s campaign e-mail to reporters was entitled “Mitt vs. Fact: Shifting Positions on Abortion,” and it outlined a number of apparent inconsistencies in Romney’s views on the issue.
Minutes after the salvo at Romney, McCain called a press conference in Los Angeles and criticized Clinton for including 26 earmarks worth about $148.4 million in the defense authorization bill, as reported by The Hill yesterday.
In both instances, the rival campaigns’ rapid-response teams cranked out literature, the harshest of which came from Romney.
Romney spokesman Kevin Madden, calling McCain’s campaign “faltering,” sent out a list of excerpts detailing what he sees as the former governor’s commitment to opposing abortion, saying the McCain documents are full of “calculated distortions.”
“The McCain campaign’s motives are obviously borne [sic] of desperation,” Madden said in an e-mail. “Their actions are both sad and unfortunate.”
McCain spokesman Danny Diaz said Romney’s response “sounds to me like a campaign that’s incapable of addressing the abortion issue.”
“From day to day, their candidate’s story changes on the issue,” Diaz said.
Clinton’s staff also responded quickly, though not as severely, by pointing out that McCain himself praised the defense authorization bill after its passage late last month.
“Maximizing the transparency of members’ requests is fundamental to good governance,” McCain is quoted as saying. “As stewards of taxpayers’ dollars, it is our duty to spend the people’s money responsibly, and to do it in an open and honest fashion. I am pleased that the committee has accepted that responsibility. This year’s bill proves that a strong national defense and saving taxpayers’ dollars are — as it should be — bipartisan priorities. I thank [Senate Armed Services Committee] Chairman [Carl] Levin (D-Mich.) for his leadership and support.”
Levin had the most earmarks in the bill with 45, at an estimated cost of $210 million.
But McCain spokesman Matt David said the senator was only voicing his support for a provision he included in the bill requiring transparency for earmarks.
When asked to clarify McCain’s comments about “a strong national defense,” David said Republican voters would appreciate both the political realities of Washington and McCain’s “lonely fight” to get rid of earmarks.
“What Republican primary voters have to know is that we’re in the minority right now,” David said, adding that the only way to rid legislation of pork-barrel spending is to elect Republicans.
David added that any attempts by Clinton to argue with McCain over earmarks is “a losing battle for the Hillary campaign.”
McCain’s camp hasn’t shied away from questioning Romney’s commitment to conservative issues in the past, most notably on immigration.
And following the Iraq supplemental funding vote just before the Memorial Day recess, McCain didn’t hesitate to say that senators, including Clinton and candidate Barack Obama (D-Ill.), were proposing surrender with their “no” votes. The
Arizona senator even took it a step further in criticizing Obama’s limited Senate experience and his campaign’s spelling of the word “flak.”
McCain’s campaign yesterday scoffed at the notion that the back-to-back hits had anything to do with a new strategy or what is widely perceived as a campaign in trouble.
“What we’re doing is highlighting Sen. McCain’s consistent conservative record,” Diaz said. “That’s something we have done and something we will do.”
Dan Schnur, McCain’s communications director during his 2000 presidential run, said any perceived problems McCain’s campaign is facing, particularly with fundraising, stem from the senator’s defense of staying in Iraq and any conventional wisdom that the campaign is in trouble.
“The biggest obstacle he [has] faced with fundraising has been with broader concerns about his candidacy,” Schnur said.
“People are giving or not giving based on the polls, which are being driven by the war.”
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