Mitt Romney for President My Man Mitt: Anti-Mormon-Gate

UPDATE: Just spoke to my Western Wats source (a senior employee at the firm).

He said the notion that this is Romney-driven is “nonsense” and “ridiculous”.
He did not confirm or deny that the calls came from his firm.
His company employs 1500 people with centers is Idaho, Nebraska, Utah, and numerous other states.
He also indicated that this is being blown way out of proportion. He thinks if the details came out people would scratch their heads wondering what the big deal was.

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OK. So, let's review the last 24 hours:

Jonathan Martin of Politico and others get wind of research calls going out to Iowa and New Hampshire voters inserting some anti-Mormon rhetoric along the way.
Philip Elliot of the AP runs with the story and points to Utah firm Western Wats as the calling center source for the alleged phone survey.
Hugh Hewitt notes that whoever the campaign is behind this effort will catch some serious flack.
Other blogs start to catch on and Martin updates his post to note that Rudy's research team have used Western Wats in the past
McCain denies it. Rudy follow suit.
Questions begin to surface as to why an opposition candidate would risk such a venture and why they would use a Utah firm to do so
Romney calls the efforts "un-american" and points to Mcain Feingold as one of culprits
The NH Attorney General says he will investigate.
Liz Mair, David Freddoso and others start poking around and find out that there are numerous donors to Romney's campaign who work at Western Wats.
I contact some sources and finally get in touch with a senior employee at Western Wats willing to talk anonymously about some details.
Soren Dayton takes the conspiracy implications further by noting that the founder of Western Wats has ties to Romney.
Hewitt calls the bluff on those touting Romney did it theories and they back off a bit

That's where we are. In short,


	6 Comments: He thinks if the details came out people would scratch their heads wondering what the big deal was. How would he know this if his company wasn't involved? Isn't this a tacit admission that they made the calls? By Joe Carter, at November 16, 2007 at 9:58 PM My guess is that a campaign (Huckabee?) hired Western Wats to conduct a legitimate survey (not a push poll) of message testing. I'm thinking he's gauging whether he ought to more overtly go after Romney and his religion. This will prove to be a misstep by him, but not dirty politics. It will still reflect badly on him even if it is just message testing. Just the fact that he his thinking about having a 527 attack Romney about his religion is a killer for his campaign. By Anonymous, at November 17, 2007 at 1:16 AM I'm so glad you are on top of this. When sites like Hot Air & others are running with speculation, getting to the truth quickly is imperative! http://crotchetyoldbastard.com/blog/2007/11/somebody_has_some_splaining_to.html Off to check out HH's post. Thanks! Donna L. By Anonymous, at November 17, 2007 at 8:49 AM what a propagandist website this is! what a joke! ... i called an unnamed senior person! LOL~! they told me what i wanted to hear! P.U. By Anonymous, at November 17, 2007 at 12:23 PM You really think a rival candidate is going to hire a Mormon-owned firm to do anti-Mormon push polling? This whole think sounds like a classic piece of political theatre aimed at making Romney look like the victim of religious bigotry. Romney knows that the Mormon issue is killing him, and he's increasing desperate to get it off the table. This gambit not only didn't work, it's going to backfire. By Anonymous, at November 18, 2007 at 4:20 AM Mitt Romney is a racist, nationalist, and homophobic person who will set back our country to the ages of pre-civil rights. If he gets elected- i'm moving to Canada. Vote Obama or Hillary to save our country. By Anonymous, at December 2, 2007 at 2:27 PM Post a Comment