Did you know that Mitt Romney spent the years of the Vietnam War trying to persuade the French to give up wine and convert to Mormonism? If you live in New Hampshire, you probably do now. The New Hampshire attorney general is investigating reports that someone has launched an illegal “push poll” in the state, using phone calls to spread negative information about Romney without identifying the campaign or entity behind the calls. The fake “poll,” which raised issues about Romney’s Mormonism, also included positive questions about John McCain, making it appear as though the calls came from the McCain camp and thus, that McCain was engaging in dirty politics.
McCain, who was the victim of push polls in his race against George W. Bush in 2000 in South Carolina, has adamantly disavowed any role in the calls. So has Rudy Giuliani, who would stand to be the biggest beneficiary of the mudslinging between Romney and McCain. However, the calls in New Hampshire were made by a Utah-based operation called Western Wats, which has previously been linked to the Tarrance Group, a GOP polling firm that works for Giuliani. The push poll certainly makes for a nice distraction from say, the Kerik indictment, but of course, that’s just a coincidence.
