Rough and tumble. Hammer and tongs. That’s why they’re now using the birther card; not because they think there’s anything to it, but because they just don’t have anything else to work with, which tells you everything you need to know about the establishment’s morals. One such spot is the Red Arrow Diner in Manchester, New Hampshire, where candidates are expected to stop by and greet customers. Given that Henry Winkler, the actor playing that role, has been cutting reverse-mortgage ads aimed at seniors, perhaps that’s an attempt to subliminally contrast the 69-year-old billionaire with the 45-year-old Texas senator.
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Matt Strawn, a former chairman of the Iowa Republican Party, said that a candidate who can consolidate the sizeable swath of center-right voters “may not end up in the winner’s circle on caucus night, but they would certainly enter New Hampshire’s more favorable electorate with quite a head of steam”.
Marco Rubio and Chris Christie have embarked on their own private television battle, as the two GOP presidential hopefuls try to make inroads in the crucial early primary state of New Hampshire.
The Rubio video that was borrowed for the ad was released ahead of the October GOP debate. Another slams Christie for the “Bridgegate”, the Fort Lee lane closure scandal of 2014.
The second commercial, titled “Look at Me”, meanwhile, rips Christie’s record in the Garden State. The reasons given: high taxes, slow job growth, the indictment of two Christie aides over Bridgegate.
“We’re about to embark on a pretty aggressive effort here in Texas to improve just that”, said state Rep. Larry Gonzales, (R-Austin) and Rubio’s Texas co-chair. “Our credit has been strengthened; their credit has been downgraded”. But boy are we getting a lot of coverage about a pair of boots! I want people to come back. The video highlights Rubio’s recent turn to attacking Christie, juxtaposing the change with words of praise Rubio has formerly poured on Christie. But were they made for campaigning? “They’re not high heeled”, he noted. But negative campaigning is legitimate if it is accurate, fair and relevant.
New Hampshire, on the other hand, can act as a springboard for more mainstream candidates to prove their mettle to big donors and more moderate voters. Vanity Fair magazine speculates they may be $995 Italian boots from Maison Margiela – or ones from Tom Ford, costing a whopping $2,000.
On Laura Ingraham’s radio show today, Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz said he’s not surprised by John McCain’s dishonest birther attacks.
Ted Cruz: Variable due to apparent alignment issues.
The problem facing all these candidates is that, in a multi-candidate contest, negative attacks by Candidate A can reduce support for Candidate B but may end up hurting Candidate A, as well, and helping Candidate C or D or E. Thus negative volleys between Dick Gephardt and Howard Dean ended up helping John Kerry and the now-forgotten John Edwards in the 2004 Iowa caucuses.
In the first, titled “Favorite”, the Rubio PAC directly goes after the New Jersey governor’s conservative credentials.
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