Huckabee Criticizes Romney For Changing Positions On Abortion-Rights, Other Issues

Main Category: Abortion
Article Date: 05 Feb 2008 - 6:00 PDT

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Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) on Friday criticized former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) for changing positions on abortion rights and other issues, the AP/Google.com reports. Romney and Huckabee both are running for the presidential nomination. According to the AP/Google.com, Huckabee was defending a comment he made Thursday that Romney did not reach "political puberty" until recently (Jenkins, AP/Google.com, 2/2).

Romney has acknowledged his position on abortion rights has changed since he first ran for the U.S. Senate in 1994. Romney in 1994 said, "I believe that abortion should be safe and legal in this country," adding, "I believe that since Roe v. Wade has been the law for 20 years, we should sustain and support it." When he ran for Massachusetts governor in 2002, Romney promised to "preserve the status quo" on abortion rights in the state and oppose any changes to state laws that restricted or increased access to abortion. Romney in 2004, while studying human embryonic stem cell research, said he experienced an awakening that led him to believe "the sanctity of life had been cheapened" by the Roe decision (Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 8/15/07).

"I think you can't just have a change of opinion on fundamental issues over and over and wait until you're running for president to do it," Huckabee said on Friday to supporters in Oklahoma City, adding, "To say you never thought about the origins of human life until you were nearly 60 years old, I find that hard to believe, even for someone who hadn't run for public office." Romney, speaking to reporters in Denver, said, "Gov. Huckabee is always good for a good chuckle," adding that "while there's occasionally a time of natural humor, I think the presidency is more serious than that comment suggests" (AP/Google.com, 2/2).

Wall Street Journal Examines Influence of Independent Political Groups

The Wall Street Journal on Monday examined the influence of independent political organizations on the 2008 presidential election, including a group supporting Huckabee that has been telling voters about the candidates' stance on abortion rights.

According the Journal, the group Trust Huckabee -- which was created by Colorado Springs, Colo.-based Common Sense -- and other organizations that are 501(C) (4)s have been using a 1986 U.S. Supreme Court ruling to run "aggressive campaigns." The ruling -- which originally applied to small, issue-oriented groups -- said spending on advocacy in which elections are not the "primary purpose" does not have to be filed as campaign finance spending with federal officials.

Trust Huckabee also has run a $50,000 television ad campaign in Iowa criticizing Romney for changing his position on abortion rights. The group also has run a 60-second call in several states that discusses where the candidates stand on abortion and other issues and that asks people to vote for Huckabee in the final seconds of the message. Patrick Davis, campaign manager for Trust Huckabee, said that only about one in 10 people hear the entire call and that he only reports 10% of the costs of the calls to the Federal Election Commission because he believes 90% of the call is educational.

According to the Journal, campaign finance authorities unlikely will review the legality of filings by Trust Huckabee and other groups until after the November election. Huckabee has called Davis to ask him to stop running Trust Huckabee's activities, which are funded by anonymous donors. Independent political organizations are expected to spend $18 million on election communications by Feb. 5, or Super Tuesday, compared with about $1 million in spending for the entire 2000 primary (Mullins, Wall Street Journal, 2/4).

Opinion Piece

"One of campaign 2008's mysteries is Mitt Romney's free ride from antiabortion advocates," Scripps Howard News Service columnist Deroy Murdock writes in a Scripps News opinion piece. According to Murdock, although Romney claims that he "became antiabortion in November 2004," some of his actions as Massachusetts governor since then have shown it "is yet another area where a grand canyon separates Romney's words and deeds." Romney's antiabortion "declarations are eloquent," but his "rhetoric is at war with his record," Murdock writes (Murdock, Scripps News, 1/31).

Broadcast Coverage

NPR's "Weekend Edition Saturday" reported on Republican candidate Sen. John McCain's (Ariz.) stance on abortion rights. According to NPR, many voters "seem to believe, incorrectly," that McCain supports abortion rights. According to NPR, the "misperception is interesting" because McCain has not attempted to keep his opposition to abortion rights a "secret." On NBC's "Meet the Press" last year, McCain said, "I have stated time after time after time that Roe v. Wade was a bad decision, that I support a woman -- the rights of the unborn -- that I have fought for human rights and human dignity throughout my entire political career," adding, "To me, it's an issue of human rights and human dignity." The NPR segment includes comments from David O'Steen, executive director of the National Right to Life Committee, and Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America (Rovner, "Weekend Edition Saturday," NPR, 2/2). Audio and a partial transcript of the segment are available online.

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