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The mailing is Romney's first to single out rivals by name. |
The colorful brochure from Mitt Romney's presidential campaign looks like many of the political fliers flooding Iowa mailboxes this time of year.
But there is a difference. The piece is Romney's first to single out his rivals by name, a shift that shows him becoming more aggressive in the final weeks before the Jan. 3 caucuses.
The mailing juxtaposes photos and quotes from Romney showing his support for a federal constitutional amendment to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman with photos and quotes showing that Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, and Fred Thompson all oppose such a measure.
But it makes no mention of Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor and Baptist preacher whose website says he has consistently supported a federal marriage amendment and led successful efforts to pass such an amendment at the state level in 2002. Huckabee has surged from the back of the pack to a virtual tie with Romney for first place in the Iowa polls.
Kevin Madden, a Romney spokesman, said yesterday that the mailing was designed to contrast Romney with other candidates who are leading in the national polls - a group that does not include Huckabee.
The Giuliani campaign, which has been feuding with Romney's camp, harshly criticized the brochure, which was apparently the first by any of the Republican candidates to directly go after a rival in Iowa. "After spending months attacking, distorting, and misrepresenting his Republican opponents' positions, and spending tens of millions of dollars to see his poll numbers continue to slide, it's not surprising Mitt Romney has taken his negativity to a new low," spokesman Jason Miller said in a statement. "We fully expect Romney's negative attacks to soon be up on television, as his campaign continues to make clear they will do anything to distract voters from the fact their candidate is a phony with a liberal record."
The brochure is aimed at social conservatives who make up a powerful constituency in Iowa, where Romney has run TV and radio ads on his opposition to gay marriage. He also was the first candidate to criticize a judge who ruled Iowa's gay marriage ban unconstitutional.
The mailing touts Romney's opposition to the 2003 Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruling that legalized gay marriage and his congressional testimony in support of a federal marriage amendment and says, "His position has been consistent from the beginning - no to discrimination, but yes to a federal amendment protecting marriage."
It does not mention that Romney pledged to be a better advocate for gay rights than Senator Edward M. Kennedy when he unsuccessfully challenged the Massachusetts Democrat for his seat in 1994. Nor does it state that Romney struck a more moderate stance on gay rights in his campaign for governor in 2002, when he supported domestic partnership benefits.
Michael Levenson can be reached at mlevenson@globe.com.
© Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.
