11 AM ET today--IC call

*IC Meeting 11:00 AM Eastern* **This will be a short meeting just to update on items we skipped yesterday.** DIAL IN NUMBER: 877-699-4804 PASSCODE 202 478 8300 Agenda 1. Tracking Update 2. Research Update 3. George W. Bush SOTU planning 4. Check-in on items for this week: timelines, creative briefs, polling memo (See tracking update on what the R candidates have been up to below.) *Re: Tracker Program Update 12/13* *Candidate Highlights* Rudy Giuliani …………………………………………………………………………… 1 Mitt Romney ……………………………………………………………………………. 2 Mike Huckabee …………………………………………………………………………. 5 Fred Thompson …………………………………………………………………………. 7 John McCain ……………………………………………………………………………. 8 * Rudy Giuliani * *Event Details: * - Giuliani held two events in IA, two events in IL, two events in FL, two events in CA and one event in Texas 12/6-12/12. This pattern evidences a "Feb. 5th State" strategy. - He attended the GOP Univision Debate in Miami on 12/09/07. - He appeared on NBC on 12/09/07 (transcript below). - He attended the GOP Iowa debate on 12/12/07. - While in TX for Romney's religion speech, one of our trackers was denied entry into a Giuliani fundraiser in the area. - While in Florida on 12/06/07, Giuliani hosted a Web "House Party" event. - In Cedar Rapids, IA, Giuliani hosted a town hall where approximately 130 supporters showed, but our tracker noticed several of empty seats. * * *Key Quotes from Web "House Party":* *On Health Care: * "I don't want Hillary's bureaucrats to run your health care, I want *you* to run your health care. That's the thing that makes America great. America is not great because of it's central government; America is great because of its people." *On Iran:* "We should increase the sanctions. *Obviously the pressure worked in 2003, if the national intelligence estimate is correct.* The pressure worked in 2003 to get them to back off their nuclear program. And what happened in 2003? What big thing happened in 2003? We deposed Saddam." "The main sponsor or biggest sponsor of international terrorism." "The end result is we should consider Iran a country that is an irresponsible regime." *On the Economy:* "If you can hold down the growth of government, you can reduce taxes. If you can reduce taxes, you can put a lot more people to work. I see lower taxes as more jobs." *On Meet The Press:* Giuliani played "defense" on Meet the Press on 12/09/07. View Article Here: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2007/12/10/2007-12-10_rudy_giuliani_plays_defense_on_press.html Transcript Here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22170668/print/1/displaymode/1098/ Video Here: http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?mkt=en-US&brand=msnbc&vid=e10461f7-89e1-415c-aa58-80d1b6f8066e * * * Mitt Romney * *Event Details: * - Romney held four events in FL, four events in IA, two events in MI, one event in NY and four events in TX 12/6-12/12. In terms of sheer number of events and the scope of their geography, Romney's team is the most organized and hard-working of all the campaigns. - He attended the GOP Univision Debate in Miami on 12/09/07. - He appeared on ABC on 12/09/07. - He attended the GOP Iowa debate on 12/12/07. - Romney spoke to packed houses at his events in IA this week. One event in Cedar Rapids attracted over 700 people. - One of our trackers was able to get into and record Romney's big speech on faith on 12/06/09. This was no easy feat. Our tracker had to get passed the Secret Service to get in. We have the full video in house and in the process of being categorized and uploaded to a viewer-friendly site. * * *Results from Romney's 'Faith in America' Speech:* *Poll: Romney speech fails to sway voters' opinions on Mormons (Salt Lake Tribune, 12/11/07)* Despite Mitt Romney's passionate plea for voters to look beyond doctrinal differences between his Mormon faith and other Christian religions, a new [Gallup] poll shows virtually no change in Americans' willingness to cast a ballot for a Mormon candidate. http://www.sltrib.com/ci_7692437 *Romney released an attack ad against Huckabee this week:* *In New Ad, Romney Attacks Huckabee on Immigration (New York Times, 12/11/07)* Mitt Romney <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/r/mitt_romney/index.html?inline=nyt-per>'s presidential campaign plans to begin running a negative television advertisement today in Iowa<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/national/usstatesterritoriesandpossessions/iowa/index.html?inline=nyt-geo> highlighting Mike Huckabee<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/h/mike_huckabee/index.html?inline=nyt-per>'s record on immigration<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/i/immigration_and_refugees/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier>, escalating the warfare between the two Republican candidates as they scramble for support in the nation's first nominating state. Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/11/us/politics/11huckabee.html?ref=politics Transcript of the ad: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/11/us/politics/11adbox.html?ref=politics Link to the ad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hei8iDK61do *Romney runs campaign's inaugural TV attack ad (LA Times, 12/11/07)* In a sign of the rapidly shifting dynamics of the Republican presidential contest, Mitt Romney on Monday became the first candidate to run a TV attack ad, slamming Mike Huckabee on immigration in a bid to brake his rival's sharp rise in the polls. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/la-na-romney11dec11,1,5902015.story?coll=la-news-politics-national&ctrack=2&cset=true * * *On the draft:* *Q: * "When is Congress and all the candidates gonna realize that our American army is spread out as thin as mayonnaise on a hamburger sandwich, or ham sandwich, and we need to reinstate the draft. We need to reinstate the draft to make sure, to send a strong message to the terrorists all around the world, from all walks of life, that we maintain our army and uh be free…" *A:* " …Let me respond to your question on the draft. And that is, *I do not believe we should have draft or we need to return to the draft to have a strong and able military*. And I believe, I believe that in part because I've seen the experience of what happens if we, if we provide to our military the kind of benefits and rewards that America should provide. In my state we had, we saw every-year we saw about 6% of our enrollments in our National Guard going down; down 6% a year. And then the legislature and I passed something known as the 'Welcome Home Bill'. And it said that if you signed up for the National Guard you'd get four years tuition and fee-free at any Massachusetts public institution of higher learning. And our enrollments went up 30%. Men and women said 'Yeah, I want that. I want to be able to have that, that uh military career and I want that education.' And so I want to make sure that we provide the benefits to our young men and young women which make it a good deal and an interesting opportunity for them to be able to serve in the military. And so that's, in my view, how we'll be able build the troops from our current 1.5 million approximately, active duty, to about *1.6million, which I think is the number that we need. I also think we're gonna have to increase our military funding from about 3.8% of our economic activity to about 4%.* That doesn't sound like a lot; but that little change in percent takes us up about 40 or 50 billion dollars a year, will allow us to build new equipment, to buy new equipment for our soldiers to be safe and to be successful, and also allow us to take better care of our veterans." ("Strategy for a Stronger America" event; Des Moines, IA 12/07/07) *Clip Available *On illegal immigration and his personal ties to it: * *Question from Dana Bash of CNN:* Governor, both in the mail and on the stump, and even on television, you talk about how tough you are on immigration. And yet you allowed contractors to be at your house who clearly had illegal immigrants working for them. Do you see a paradox there? *A:* What I see is that we have a country where there is not an employment verification system, that allows contractors, that allows companies to know who's in the country legally and illegally. And I certainly have never proposed that homeowners have a responsibility, when they hire a contractor or a company, to then go out and inquire of the company's employees whether they happen to be illegal or not. That's not the, that's not the course of this country, it's actually… potentially even against the law. So its not something that as a, as a homeowner, I'm able to do, its not something that's available under our current system in this country. *And that's why I proposed that instead we have an employment verification system, to identify which aliens are here legally which are not here legally*. On that basis companies that do the hiring would be able to do the assessment. But the individuals at my home were not my employees. They were hired by a company, *the company made a fault, made a mistake in judgment*, and that's why I terminated the relationship with them. *Q:* If I may follow up sir, you're running as someone who is a CEO, who is really focused on issues like this. Like judgment, not an average everyday citizen; so, should people look to you as someone who would have the judgment or perhaps take the extra mile to make sure that no illegal… *A:* And what's, and what's the extra mile? * Q:* To make sure… especially if you're trying to be president. *A:* Tell me how you would do that in this country? So for instance, let's say I go to a restaurant. Should I make sure that all the waiters there are all legal? How would I do that?" *Q:* You knew that this company had illegal immigrants before…" ("Strategy for a Stronger America" event; Des Moines, IA 12/07/07) *Clip Available *His wife on the stump:* "…what is the most important thing in life. It certainly has been our children and making sure that our boys have good values and understand what's the most important thing in life. I cannot say as a mother *how proud I am of my sons because they have married well*, and they are good fathers too. And um, *that to me is really the greatest honor I can give Mitt*, really…" (Post Debate Party; Johnston, IA 12/12/07) *Clip Available * * *On Reagan:* "The *right course for America, is to follow the course that Ronald Reagan outlined*. Ronald Reagan when he faced the Soviets in the Cold War said the right way for us to win this battle is to strengthen ourselves, to have strong confidence in ourselves, strong values, strong families…" (Christmas Party; Marion, IA 12/12/07) *Clip Available * Mike Huckabee* * * *Event Details: * - Huckabee held one event in IA (three events were cancelled due to the ice storm), one event in NC and two events in SC 12/6-12/12. - He attended the GOP Univision Debate in Miami on 12/09/07. - He also appeared on Fox News on 12/09/07. View Transcript Here: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,316253,00.html - He attended the GOP Iowa debate on 12/12/07. *On Energy and Terrorists: * "It is secondly important that we can fuel ourselves. One of the most urgent tasks of the next president had better be to lead this country to energy independence not in twenty… not in thirty years… (inaudible). *I am no longer willing to pay for both sides of the war on terror. Having my tax dollars fund the military to fight it, but the gasoline and oil dollars pay for the other side to send the terrorists against us*." (Meet and Greet; Greenville, SC 12/08/07) *Clip Available * * *On previous statements on AIDS:* "*I have to stand by what I said*. And the fact is it wasn't unusual for us to do something unlike the medical protocols. Medical protocol typically says that when you have a disease for which there is no cure, and you are uncertain about the transmission of it, that the first thing you do is quarantine or isolate the carriers." (Press Conference; Asheville, SC 12/08/07) *Clip Available *Citing Progressive Leaders:* "In my lifetime I've seen four major cultural shifts, which is what we're talking about here, a cultural shift not a programmatic shift. Four cultural shifts in my lifetime, litter, seat-belt use, smoking, drunk-driving. Go all the way back to the mid-60s. Litter was a huge problem. *Lady Bird Johnson said that 'we need to keep America beautiful.' And so we started a campaign to do that*… The same thing happened with seat belts. I remember when seat belts didn't exist in cars and they were an after-market device. Nobody had a seat-belt… *And Ralph Nader kept pushing it. Next thing you know, we put the seatbelts in the car by congressional mandate in the late 60s…*" Note: He did NOT mention Reagan at this event. (Healthcare Forum; Des Moines, IA 12/12/07) *Clip Available *On Health Care/'Socialized Medicine':* *Q:* Why are all Republican candidates frequently misusing the term "socialized-medicine" when they refer to any Democratic candidates' healthcare plans? *A:* "*Cause we want to win*," (laughter). I think the idea, to be fair, I think Republicans and Democrats both somewhat have it wrong. The Democrats say we want the government to run your healthcare system, *frankly some of the Republicans, their only answer is we want the insurance companies to do it*. My position has been neither of those; *I don't trust the insurance companies, I don't trust the government, I trust me. *I don't want a third party person making the decision on whether or not I get surgery, or what kind of test is going to be run. You know why? They're not looking after my interest, they're looking after their own. And whether its an insurance company or a government don't ever think you're gonna be better off if you turn your basic healthcare needs over to someone who doesn't love you as much as you need to love yourself… An insurance company ought to be a provider but not necessarily the personal decision-maker. And so that's why I believe in personal ownership of your plan that has portability…" (Healthcare Forum; Des Moines, IA 12/12/07) *Clip Available * * *On Mormonism:* *Q:* Would you like to take the opportunity to clarify your recent statements on whether Mormons are Christians? *A: * Well, today, after the uhh debate*, I personally went to Mitt Romney. I apologized for the comment that was in the, I guess it was all over the news, all over the place*. It was excerpted out of an article that is going to appear this week. And it raised the question, it said, I asked a question about Jesus and Satan. The conversation, and we talked to a reporter at the New York Times, who was I think as shocked as we were that even became this news story. It was in a discussion that lasted over several hours… He was asking me about the whole issue of my faith and then it drifted to what I think about Mormonism. I said I don't want to talk about someone else's faith, I can barely keep up with being a Baptist, and I sure don't know much about being a Mormon. And I simply didn't go there, and I haven't gone there. And so then he was saying, but there are some different things about Mormonism. He obviously knew more about it then I did. In the course of that conversation, honestly, I raised the question, I asked, is this part of their beliefs. The next thing I know, I mean it was in the story, and it was even quoted in the story as an innocent question. But no-one believed it was an innocent question, they thought I was trying to throw something out there. I was horrified when I read that. *And I apologized to Mitt Romney because first of all, I don't think his being a Mormon or not being a Mormon has a thing to do with being president. * And I would never say that a person should for or against anybody because their of any faith. Umm, *I don't think people should vote for or against me because I'm a Baptist*… *Mitt Romney's Mormonism is not an issue, as far as I'm concerned, in his qualification to be President*…." (Healthcare Forum; Des Moines, IA 12/12/07) *Clip Available *Huckabee apologizes for comments on Mormons (CNN, 12/12/07)* Republican Mike Huckabee Wednesday personally apologized to rival Mitt Romney for comments he made in an upcoming New York Times Magazine article that appear to disparage the Mormon faith. http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/ 12/12/huckabee.mormons/?iref=mpstoryview<http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/12/12/huckabee.mormons/?iref=mpstoryview> * Fred Thompson* *Event Details: * - Thompson held two events is IA 12/6-12/12. - Thompson's wife held one event in SC this week as well. However, the event lasted only a few minutes. - He attended the GOP Univision Debate in Miami on 12/09/07. - He attended the GOP Iowa debate on 12/12/07. - The media's characterization of Thompson as 'lazy' is not inaccurate. His events are often very short and a very few. In fact, it looks like he'll be narrowing his campaign stops to even fewer places – NH is not longer part of his strategy: *Thompson Rules Out N.H. (CBS, 12/11/07)* The Thompson campaign confirms to *CBS News *that Thompson will not campaign in New Hampshire before January 3rd to concentrate on Iowa. On Friday night, he * hinted *<http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2007/12/08/politics/fromtheroad/entry3594424.shtml>at this but the campaign made it official today. http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2007/12/11/politics/fromtheroad/entry3607951.shtml * * *On Taxes:** * "…People oughta have the option to pay a much simpler, much flatter tax. I have proposed a 10% rate and a 25% rate. The cut off is 100k a couple. Above 100k you pay 25%, plain and simple. You could fill it out on that right there and send it in…" (Meet and Greet; Davenport, IA 12/07/07) *Clip Available *On Energy:* Q: With oil around 90 dollars a barrel would you be willing consider drilling in ANWR or the Gulf…? A: "Well I like the way you think. Um, first question has to do with ANWR, absolutely." (Meet and Greet; Davenport, IA 12/07/07) *Clip Available * John McCain * *Event Details: * - McCain held one event in IA, one event in FL, eight events in NH and six events in SC 12/6-12/12. - He attended the GOP Univision Debate in Miami on 12/09/07. - He also appeared on Fox News on 12/09/07. View Transcript Here: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,316254,00.html - He attended the GOP Iowa debate on 12/12/07. - At two separate events, our campaign staff was able to get questions asked. (see transcript below) * * * On Iran and the NIE:* Questioner Tim Lisewski: "Senator, General Petraeus today said that the Iranians have stopped arming the insurgents in Iraq and you have been pretty tough, like President Bush has, on Iraq and you seem to be (McCain: "you mean Iran"), well I mean Iraq and Iran. I just wondered what your opinion is on the latest NIE. McCain: "Well, um, I'm interested that General Petraeus said that today, if he did, I did not see the report because uh, when I saw him last week, he said that they didn't know and so I would have to also check it out. I think he said there were some indications of reductions of some of these explosive devices coming across the border, but they were still coming across and I think that is what it was. I believe that the Iranians are not acting in the national security interest…" …. "So, um *I would be willing to have a dialogue with Iran* if it's necessary to do so. I wouldn't necessarily do it with the President of Iran. Blackberries work, communications work, intermediaries work, ambassadors work, uh, but* I don't believe that Iran has abandoned in any way shape or form their ambition to exert Persian influence in the region*. That has been the case for thousands of years and I don't think it's changed and I believe that they are oppressive and repressive(?) and unfair government and everybody I have talked to whose word I trust says the same thing. There is always an element in America, it was there when we thought Hitler was a nice guy, we thought, it was there when we thought Stalin was a nice guy. And there have been many times where we thought that some of these foreign countries and their leaders, uh, shared our values and our principles. I don't think the Iranians do, not that government. Go ahead, give him back the microphone. Go ahead" Tim: "So, do I understand you would use diplomacy rather than a military, you know, viewpoint on Iran." McCain: "No leader in the world, hold on to the microphone, no leader of the United States of America would say they would use a military option. *But to completely remove the military option is not something I would do*. I would certainly, certainly exercise sanctions, exercise any effort that I can, because when we send our young men and women into harms way that's the most difficult decision of all. Okay? Thank you very much." (Town Hall; Raymond, NH 12/06/07) *Clip Available *On 527's:** * "We do have, unfortunately, the 527s, the MoveOn.orgs. Those are not a violation of our law. Perhaps they, we should have been more specific on that, but the '74 law, the 1974 law applies to these people, and, uh, if I could just quote it very quickly, it says any organizations that, that engage in partisan political purposes to influence the outcome of elections are subject to campaign contribution limits. So the Federal Elections Commission, the commission that's set up to enforce this, basically has not enforced this, and if they did it was on a case-by-case basis rather than prohibiting all of it. *This is how you get MoveOn.org and George Soros, uh, spending hundreds, I'm told, hundreds of millions of dollars to affect the outcome of political campaigns. It's got to be stopped. It's got to be stopped*. And by the way, again, I don't mean to, to continue on this, but I'm sure you all know about the full-page ad that MoveOn.org took out in the New York Times with a picture of General Petraeus and said 'General Petraeus or General Betray Us. You know, there's, there's no place in America for that, for that kinda thing. *And so I want it stopped, I will try to get the 527s stopped*." (Town Hall; Atkinson, NH 12/07/07) * * *More on MoveOn (and Iraq):* "This is an organization that a couple of months ago, took out a full-page ad in the New York Times, with a picture of General Patreus on it. And it said: 'General Patreus or General Betray Us.' A disgraceful attack on a patriotic American… Well the same organization today said that the Democrat senators that are running for president have to pledge to filibuster the bill that funds the young men and women and their mission in Iraq today… *We are winning in Iraq. And we can win. And we will win*." (Town Hall; Leesville, SC 12/10/07) *Clip Available * * *Cost of war:** * "If the Democrats have their way and we set a date for surrender, we will pay a horrendous cost in American blood and treasure in the future." (Town Hall; Bedford, NH 12/07/07) *On military families poll:* Questioner Tory Brown: "I've read a poll today that said that 60%, I believe, of military families, don't believe that the Iraq War justifies the cost. How do you expect to justify sort of the tough talk you give about Iran, especially in light of the NIE findings that they have suspended their nuclear weapons program." McCain: "…I don't except that or believe it. In all due respect, ma'am, I know the military, I hear from them by the thousands, I know them. I just came back from spending Thanksgiving with them in Iraq. So, I categorically reject that assertion and I will not accept it…They know they're succeeding." Tory: "It was a poll that was taken." McCain: "*I* *don't care if it's a banana. I don't believe it.* I know them too well. I've spent too many years in the military and associated with the military. We just have a disagreement with the poll…" Tory: "…The costs have been enormous…they don't believe the war is justified by the costs. How can you go about justifying the future cost of a war…I just don't understand." McCain: "…Nobody hates war more than a veteran…*But there are worse things than war*, unfortunately, and we found that out with the rise of Hitler and we found out in other times in history that there are times when tragically it is a necessary action we take. But no one understands better than a veteran." (Town Hall; Bedford, NH 12/07/07) *Clip: ** http://youtube.com/watch?v=IK-AQFNIwIE*<http://youtube.com/watch?v=IK-AQFNIwIE> * * *On destroyed CIA tapes:* "Today we see, on the front page of the New York Times and other newspapers, that the CIA decided to erase some interrogation tapes of interrogations of some al Qaeda people… bad people, bad, bad people. But they decided against the recommendation of members of Congress, and, uh, a lot of other people and organizations not to erase those tapes. What does that do? That confirms suspicions of people who are our enemies that, that we, that we engage in interrogation techniques which are illegal, it causes, uh, others to be encouraged, and it erodes the credibility and confidence of the American people in their government. *And I'll tell ya, as president of the United States, we will never torture another person in the custody of the United States of America. That's not what America is supposed to do*. [applause]" (Town Hall; Nashua, NH 12/08/07) *Clip Available Question: Sen. Biden called for a special counsel to investigate the destruction of the two CIA tapes. Do you think it's an appropriate measure? A: "I think it's a partisan measure… We oughtta at least first wait and see while the Justice Department preliminary investigation is going on before we 'jump' to a 'special counsel.' Why don't we what the new Attorney General of the United States has to say?" (Meet and Greet; North Augusta, SC 12/10/07) *Clip Available *On Climate Change and Bush:* "I was deeply *disappointed in the Bush Administration's failure to recognize the reality of climate change *and to seriously address it… For a long time, we got no cooperation on the issue of climate change." (Speech at the Center for Hydrogen Research; Aiken, SC 12/10/07) *Clip Available * * *On his experience and National Security:* "My friends I've had the experience, I've had the knowledge and the background that I have the judgement to handle these challenges to national security. Unlike 2000, we are in two wars. Unlike 2000, we have had an attack on the United States of America that killed more than 3000 of our innocent civilians. Unlike 2000, we are facing this challenge of radical Islamic extremism, which will be with us for a long time. I think I'm prepared to beat it. [...] In the toughest times when I supported the surge, Sen. John Edwards called it 'the McCain surge.' 'McCain strategy.' He doesn't say that anymore, but he used to. A lot of political pundits are saying that 'John McCain's political ambitions are at an end.' *I will tell you right now that I'd rather lose a campaign than I would lose a war.*" (Meet and Greet; Greenville, SC 12/12/07) *Clip Available