McCain Cranks Up Attacks on Romney as Fla. Polls Put Them in Dead Heat
John McCain, shown here at a national security forum in Tampa, Fla., Friday, has stepped up his attacks on rival Mitt Romney in Florida. Pictured from left to right: former Navy Secretary John Lehman; former Vice Chief of Naval Operations Jerry Johnson; McCain; former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, and Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty. (AP Photo)
Just as the GOP candidates were starting to go easy on each other, John McCain cranked up the volume against his top Florida competitor, Mitt Romney, on Friday, suggesting the former venture capitalist is more of a desk jockey than a president.
Following a mostly cordial debate Thursday night in Boca Raton, McCain called a press conference Friday morning to slap down Romney’s argument that his time in the private sector makes him equipped to handle the economic problems that have Washington scrambling to head off a potential recession.
“I think everybody knows the difference between leadership and management,” McCain said. “You can hire managers all the time … leadership is people who inspire.”
Asked what he was specifically suggesting about Romney, McCain answered, “I’m suggesting Gov. Romney is touting his qualities and his experience and resume as a manager. I am telling the American people, and they know it, that I am a leader.”
McCain still defended his own economic credentials at the Florida debate, saying, “I’m very well-versed in economics. I was there at the Reagan revolution. I was there … after we enacted the first tax cuts and the restraints on spending.”
His new rhetorical tack comes as Romney swiftly catches up to him in Florida polls following McCain’s momentum building victories in South Carolina and New Hampshire. The GOP race has sharply turned from focusing on national security and illegal immigration toward the economy, a twist Romney has used to his advantage.
Even though McCain has tried to look past the primaries and cast himself as the most formidable challenger in the general election, the Tuesday vote is the last major contest before Super Tuesday Feb. 5, making it a critical opportunity to pick up steam on the road to the nomination.
Rudy Giuliani, who’s staked his campaign on Florida, has recently been idling in third in state polls. But poll averages show McCain and Romney just fractions of a point apart.
Romney is sticking to the economic argument, asserting Friday in Miami that “the only way to get America on track economically is to have a president who actually understands how the economy works.”
Promises to turn around the economy and fix a broken Washington have driven his campaign of late and were major themes before he won Michigan and Nevada.
He responded to McCain’s attacks at a rally in Pensacola, Fla., saying, “I guess Senator McCain didn’t think as positively about last night’s debate as I did.”
He ridiculed his competitor as a Washington insider who’s admitted he’s not an expert on the economy.
“That’s straight talk,” Romney said. “Now he’s engaging in Washington talk … And I’ll tell you this — somebody who’s been in the real economy, who’s created real jobs, someone who’s been on Main Street knows a lot more about the jobs and the economy of this nation than someone who’s spent his time in K Street and in Washington, DC.”
Romney headed the 2002 Winter Olympic Games and was Massachusetts governor from 2003 to 2007, but spent most of his career as a business consultant and later founded Bain Capital.
The two Florida frontrunners have started going at it in advertisements, too. The campaigns launched dueling Web ads Thursday night that mocked each other to the backdrop of the waltz “The Blue Danube,” a popular tune among political ad-makers.
Romney’s campaign put out the first hit — an ad showing McCain appearing to take contrasting positions over tax cuts.
Then the McCain campaign put out a response ad, “Mittsurfing.”
The ad shows a man windsurfing with Romney’s head superimposed on another body. It also tries to cast him as a flip-flopper, focusing again on fluctuating positions over tax cuts.
The ad was a throwback to the infamous 2004 ad from the George W. Bush campaign that showed rival John Kerry windsurfing in different directions, as the narrator mocked his allegedly shifting stances on the Iraq war.
“Mitt Romney says he’s a leader, but how do we know which direction he wants to lead? Mitt Romney seems to change positions like the wind,” the McCain ad says.
McCain also picked up the endorsement of Florida Sen. Mel Martinez Friday. Martinez was born in Cuba and his endorsement could give the Arizona senator a boost with the state’s Cuban Americans, a cross-section Giuliani was trying to court.
Giuliani still says he’s going to win Tuesday, and on Friday joined the chorus of criticism. He struck at both McCain and Romney for not supporting tax cuts consistently, and for not fully embracing a disaster relief fund that he’s been promoting.
Mike Huckabee, who won the Iowa caucuses, is polling behind Giuliani in Florida, but says he hasn’t given up on the state.
The winner of Florida’s primary on Tuesday will get 57 GOP delegates; over 1,000 more will be chosen in more than 20 primaries and caucuses a week later.
FOX News’ Shushannah Walshe, Malini Bawa and Carl Cameron and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Mitt Romney will say and do anything to get elected. He is shameless.
I will vote for a democrat or stay home before voting for McCain. He should be running on the dem ticket. For those of us who are unhappy with Washington, why in the world would we vote for McCain? Can you imagine how many favors he will owe by the time he gets into office? I don’t care how McCain or Huckabee spin their dishonest remarks about Romney…Romney is the only TRUE republican candidate and I know many others that feel this same way.
My take on the media coverage and the pushing of McCain is that the Democrats would LOVE to have McCain as the candidate of the GOP. It would almost assure that illegal entry into this country would not be an issue because McCain is one of them when it comes to this issuehence the GOP could not push stopping Illegal immigration as it MUST be addressed in this election. Basically, it would give those of us who are looking for a candidate NO-ONE to vote for, I will not cast a vote for McCain. My prayer is that Romney will prevail but any of the other GOP candidates are better than McCain.
I think that Mitt Romney made a strong showing in the Republican debate Thursday night 1-24-08. Conservative businessman, former governor, family man with good morals, seems to have a good grasp of the situation in Iraq and the war on terror, wants to clean up Washington and is not afraid to speak his mind. He’s smart - graduated in top 5% of his class at Harvard. His religious beliefs (Mormon) is not a factor with me. I plan to vote for Romney in the Florida primary.
Just the facts…Not a Washington Insider, Romney has a sophisticated understanding of the challenges we face in both the national and global economies. He is a highly educated and successful leader in business making money by turning around floundering companies such as Staples and helping to produce thousands of jobs, understands the importance of people, organization, research, planning, communication and direction. He was class valedictorian at BYU, MBA and LAW degree from Harvard. While Governor of mostly Democrat Massachusetts, he brought the fractured constituencies together and they became the first state with a universal health care plan that seems to work. He took no salary at all as Governor because as he said, I have enough. He lowered state taxes. Increased funding for education, Massachusetts students ranked #l in the nation in education. Increased penalties on drunk driving. Never supported the release of criminals convicted of serious crimes. Never was first to bring up religion. He turned around MA’s economy from deficit to surplus, balancing their budget in less than 4 years. How dare he do his job well and for no pay on top of it!!! When the Salt Lake City Olympics crumbled under corruption/scandal and financial disaster he went to Salt Lake, took over for a one dollar salary, saved the Olympics and made it profitable. He led a massive security mobilization at the Olympics in the wake of the 9/11 attack and, as governor, helped build up Massachusetts’ homeland security efforts. He supports a strong military. He is concerned about illegal immigration and what it means to the security of the United States. He wants to retool America and bring the jobs back home. I can certainly understand left wingers hating Romney, after all he’s been married to the same woman. He’s from a close knit family and values family first. Regarding his flip-flopping on big issues? He may have flipped but not flopped! Everyone, and that means everyone in politics makes mistakes, gets to change their mind once after gaining more knowledge, and most politicians seem to change more than once. Stand all of the candidates up next to each other in a direct comparison of what they really have done and then vote for the best person to make good change and run the country in the right direction.
DURING HIS DEBATE WITH TED KENNEDY, OUR BOY MITT ROMNEY SAID
On a third point, Kennedy accused Romney of wanting to be like Reagan.
Romney replied: “I was an independent during the time of Reagan…. I’m not trying to return to Reagan……”
In recent speeches, however, Romney has told conservative groups he admired Reagan and is like him.
WOULD THE REAL MITT ROMNEY PLEASE STAND UP!
ANYBODY BUT ROMNEY IN 08
DURING HIS DEBATE WITH TED KENNEDY, OUR BOY MITT ROMNEY SAID,
“I feel that all people should be allowed to participate in the Boy Scouts regardless of their sexual orientation,” Romney replied.
COME ON ROMNEY, YOU CAN’T HAVE IT BOTH WAYS….LOL
ANYBODY BUT ROMNEY IN 08
ON THE YOUTUBE COPY OF ROMNEY’S DEBATE WITH TED KENNEDY:
Romney is asked about abortion rights and responds: “One of the great things about our nation is we’re each entitled to have strong personal beliefs — and we encourage other people to do the same. . . . I believe that abortion should be safe and legal in this country.”
I GUESS HE KNOWS HIS VIEWS BETTER THAN ME.
ROMNEY SAID HE WAS PRO-CHOICE!! WANTED ABORTION TO BE LEGAL!!!
CAN’T WE FIND A REAL CONSERVATIVE?
ANYBODY BUT ROMNEY IN 08
Isn’t it absolutely hilarious how there are sooooooo many negative blogs about John McCain and yet he’s leading Republicans in practically every national poll? Hopefully the majority of you that think for themselves can figure out what’s constantly going on in these blogs.
McCain is the true electible candidate for the Republicans in 2008.
I would like to comment, following a discussion yesterday on the brainwashing of America on the illegal immigration problem. McCain & others seem to have lead people to believe that if Mitt Romney is elected & becomes the first person to actually enforce the laws & not reward illegals with visa’s, greencards & citizenship, then there will be many service jobs that they are doing, that Americans simply will not do. This type of logic simply is not true for many reasons. Just one of these is that Americans do not understand the LEGAL immigration process. Americans are NOT against people coming here, but they want it done legally so we know who is here. I can tell you that there is a very very long line of people waiting patiently to come here LEGALLY and when there is a person like Romney in the White House, who makes it clear to the world that if you want to come here, after background checks, interviews, going through the legal process, you’re likely to be welcomed. For every person who came here illegally who is deported, there is a replacement in line who will want to come here legally to do exactly the same job. It is both the illegal problem & the legal process which Romney will fix, but he will not reward criminals who have come here illegaly. McCains plan is totally flawed & will make the problem even bigger than it is now.
Last point, it is not just Mexicans. There is no malice towards Mexicans who work hard and are good people. Romney’s no reward policy is directed towards ANYONE who is here illegally, no matter what country they arrived from. There is a big group of non latino’s who have also broken the law & jumped the legal line.
I hope people want to solve the problem Washington refuses to and vote for Mitt Romney who is the only candidate who will fix it.