McCain camp hits Romney on abortion

The campaign of Senator John McCain launched a new broadside against Mitt Romney yesterday over Romney's reversal on abortion, but Romney's campaign quickly hit back by saying McCain's move was borne out of desperation.

The back-and-forth began when the Arizona Republican's aides, trying to stir up controversy before Romney's address to the National Right to Life convention in Kansas City tomorrow, sent an e-mail to reporters questioning Romney's rhetoric on abortion. The e-mail, under the header "Mitt vs. Fact," included a link to a YouTube video of Romney saying in May 2005 that he was committed to maintaining the "status quo" on Massachusetts abortion laws.

McCain's campaign tried to equate those remarks with an endorsement of abortion rights and argue that they contradict Romney's assertion that he became an opponent of abortion rights after an epiphany months earlier during a debate over stem cell research.

"Mitt Romney's biggest challenge in this election will be convincing Republicans he has principled positions on important issues," McCain spokesman Matt David said in a statement.

Romney's campaign responded by saying the video had been edited selectively. His aides released a fuller transcript of Romney's remarks that day, in which he explains his ethical objections to a certain kind of embryonic stem cell research.

"It's very troubling that the McCain campaign would attack the governor's pro life stance by trying to alter the context of a statement made at a news conference where he also made a passionate case for his veto of stem cell legislation that showed a level of disregard for the sanctity of human life," Romney spokesman Kevin Madden said in a statement. "The McCain campaign's motives are obviously borne of desperation."

Abortion is the latest issue over which McCain and Romney have tangled. They have also been engaged in a heated debate over immigration -- McCain helped craft the Senate's new immigration overhaul bill, and Romney has attacked it as effectively providing amnesty for illegal immigrants.

Romney also announced yesterday the members of his "National Faith and Values Steering Committee," including prominent antiabortion activist James Bopp Jr., public relations guru Mark DeMoss, and Lou Sheldon, president of the Traditional Values Coalition.

SCOTT HELMAN

Tommy Thompson wants you to know: He's not dropping out of the presidential race.

In a conference call with reporters yesterday, Thompson guessed that the media, after being invited to the call, thought he might be ending his campaign.

"I wanted everyone to know that I am very much involved in this campaign," said Thompson, a former four-term Wisconsin governor and Bush Cabinet secretary.

The real point of Thompson's call was to announce that he was going to participate in a straw poll this summer in Ames, Iowa. (Thompson, like some of his competitors, had been reassessing whether to compete in the poll after McCain and former mayor Rudy Giuliani of New York said last week that they would not.)

Meanwhile, Giuliani and Mitt Romney have accepted invitations to participate in a presidential debate in Iowa on Aug. 5 in Des Moines, just days before the straw poll.

The Iowa straw poll, an early test of strength of the GOP candidates, is Aug. 11 in Ames.

"This is in every way a good thing for our country, for Iowa, and certainly for the Republican Party," Thompson said. "I believe it is a mistake to skip the straw poll. . . . Let's start the race."

Thompson, who has raised comparatively little money and barely registers in most polls, has staked his campaign on doing well in Iowa, and, more specifically, coming in at least second place in Ames.

SCOTT HELMAN

NEW YORK -- Senator Hillary Clinton, Democrat of New York, has won the endorsement of film producer and director Steven Spielberg, ending a tug of war between Clinton and Senator Barack Obama for the Hollywood heavyweight's support.

"I've taken the time to familiarize myself with the impressive field of Democratic candidates and am convinced that Hillary Clinton is the most qualified candidate to lead us from her first day in the White House," Spielberg said yesterday in a statement released by the Clinton campaign.

Spielberg has been a supporter and contributor to Clinton in the past, but his support for her bid for the White House wasn't always certain.

In February, he co-hosted a Beverly Hills fund-raiser for Obama with his DreamWorks production partners David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg that brought in more than $1.3 million.

Katzenberg is backing Obama, an Illinois Democrat, as is Geffen, a former Clinton ally-turned-critic. (AP)