Call it Jane Swift's revenge.
The former acting governor of Massachusetts, who was rather unceremoniously elbowed aside by Mitt Romney, a fellow Republican, in the 2002 governor's race, twists the knife in an opinion piece yesterday.
She tells the voters of New Hampshire that Romney's "flip flops" on abortion and other issues to make himself more palatable to conservatives make him an easy target for Democrats.
"Today, Mitt Romney is campaigning on his record as governor; yet he has become unrecognizable to the citizens who voted him into office," Swift wrote in the New Hampshire Union Leader.
And in the unkindest cut for a Massachusetts Republican, she mentions Senator John F. Kerry, whose equivocations were exploited by President Bush in 2004. "Kerry's ability to convincingly connect with average Americans was undermined by their suspicion that today's press release was tomorrow's fish wrap," she argues.
Drawing an obvious contrast, Swift says she is supporting John McCain for the GOP nomination, in part because "he sticks to his beliefs, even when they are not politically popular." She plans to stump for him today in Portsmouth and Greenland, N.H.
FOON RHEE
Huckabee would lose to all 3 top Democrats, poll says
Mike Huckabee might be all the rage among Republicans, but party members might look askance at some poll numbers released yesterday that show that if the former Arkansas governor wins the GOP nomination, he would lose to all three leading Democrats.
Interestingly, the CNN/Opinion Research Corp survey suggests he would be drubbed worse by the Democrats trailing in the national polls.
In a hypothetical matchup with Hillary Clinton, Huckabee would lose 54 percent to 44 percent, according to the poll. He would lose 55 percent to 40 percent to Barack Obama, with whom he shares a campaign message of optimism and hope. And Huckabee would lose 60 percent to 35 percent to John Edwards, with whom he shares economic populism and Southern roots.
The poll of 912 registered voters was conducted Thursday through Sunday and has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
FOON RHEE
Clinton gains union's nod; Shea-Porter backs Obama
Hillary Clinton received backing yesterday from the 100,000-member International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees.
The union, which represents workers in the movie, theater, and TV industries, settled a strike last month that shut down more than two dozen Broadway shows.
Meanwhile, Democratic rival Barack Obama yesterday officially picked up the endorsement of New Hampshire's second member of Congress, first-termer Carol Shea-Porter.
Obama's approach for grassroots grass-roots campaigning is what impressed her the most, Shea-Porter said.
GLOBE STAFF
Ads challenge candidates' stance on global poverty
WASHINGTON - Members of the bipartisan ONE campaign are encouraging people to ask the presidential candidates what they would do about the world's poorest people in $1.8 million worth of television ads to be shown in the weeks before the nation's first presidential contests.
ONE Vote '08 is the group's effort to get President Bush's successor to commit to concrete steps to combat hunger and disease while improving access to education and water across the globe.
The 30-second television spot is scheduled to air Friday in Iowa and New Hampshire, and on network cable, organizers said yesterday.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
