Mitt Romney for President My Man Mitt: Mitt Romney: The Week Ahead FAQ

(UPDATE: SEE APOLOGY TO PHILIP KLEIN HERE)

OK... taking a page from Dean Barnett I'm going to answer the gambit of questions I received from readers, friends and family.

Q. Where is Mitt going to be this week?

This week the focus is simple: fundraising:

Mitt starts out the week on Monday in Texas with fundraising events in Dallas an Houston
Tuesday, the campaign heads to California (which is proving very generous in their contributions) for fundraisers in Palm Desert and Los Angeles
Wednesday the Governor jets across the country for a luncheon in Baton Rouge and northward for a dinner in in Charleston, SC
Thursday the Romney camp awakens to the beautiful SC dawn for a luncheon in Greenville
Finally, Friday finds Mitt in Palm Beach for the final fundraiser of the 1st Quarter

Q. What's up with the fundraising for the various candidates?

Of course the real buzz around town is the anxious nail biting push for dollar donations which will probably be revealed at the end of the week. While the full reports won't be published by the FEC until April 15th, the campaigns will likely give a good weekend update just in time for the Sunday shows.

So, who will be the winner. I wouldn't count Mitt out but here's the reality of the contest:

Rudy is the rock star with wide (but shallow) support across the country
McCain is the long-timer maverick, loathed by many in the GOP base, but has built up the best mailing list in the business
Romney is the underdog who has hired the A-team but lacks the name recognition, relying instead on the ground game
What about the others... If they garner more than a few million each... i would be surprised

Q. OK spill it... What are the numbers?

Despite what McCain wants you to believe the no one (including the Romney camp) is going to raise $30 million. McCain's people are expectations spinners and it simply won't fly. Romney will probably come in under $20 million. McCain will top him and Rudy? Really I have no idea but it could top them both - I dunno.

Q. Did you hear about the Evangelicals for Mitt liars?

Frankly, this is silly. In my mind the folks at EFM have been maligned by Philp Klein and the AmSpec folk (who are inexplicable vehement in their opposition to Mitt Romney). Here's the short version: Nancy French (a native of Tennessee) opined that she thought Thompson was pro-choice in his original incarnation for the Senate. Philip Klein and (see apology here)other people in the blogosphere then accused them of being liars. EFM co-blogger comes to Nancy's defense:

This was, of course, in response to Nancy's very temperate post pointing out several news accounts that either refer to Senator Thompson as pro-choice during his Senate runs--or discuss Senator Thompson calling himself pro-choice. She didn't attack Senator Thompson--she said he'd be a "great candidate"--but she did continue to make the point David and I have also made, namely that the "True Conservative Watch" currently enveloping our movement is a bit much. She simply pointed out that he appears to be just as imperfect as Governor Romney.

David French (Nancy's husband) chimes in with his own response:

There's no doubt that Fred Thompson was less pro-choice than his Democratic opponent in 1994, but there is also little doubt that he was less pro-life than Bill Frist (the other Republican running for Senate at the time). I was practicing law in Nashville, and I have distinct memories of the race because Fred Thompson was the first pro-choice politician I ever voted for. In fact, I can remember having guilty pangs as I pulled the lever--breaking a vow I made in college to never vote for a pro-choice candidate.

Yesterday, I suspect that Philip Klein (who I gather to be Anti-Romney-esque) fed some items into the Prowler Column on Spectator.org. The gist of the article is confusing. They claim:

EFM is taking funds from the Romney campaign but isn't
Mark DeMoss was the guy who started the EFM website only he didn't.
EFM is using Romney research which the Prowler doesn't cite.
EFM is attacking Thompson using this research by quoting the opinions of other people?

In short, it's a pathetic attack with little evidence

more to come later today

Labels: abortion, Amspec, charles mitchell, david french, EFM, evangelicals, McCain, mitt romney, nancy french, rudy, thopmson