Ad Attacking Romney Ran In Iowa After Huckabee Said He Was Yanking It
Remember that ad attacking Mitt Romney that Mike Huckabee unveiled at a press conference before announcing that he wouldn't be running the ad?
Well, it turns out that the ad, which attacked Romney on a host of fronts, seems to have run on Iowa television anyway -- at least a day and half after Huck promised at the presser he'd pull it, touting his decision as proof of what a noble campaign he's run.
This morning, a reader reported to us that the ad ran last night in Cedar Rapids, on TNT, during a rerun of Law and Order. And a day of run-arounds by the local cable company and unreturned calls by from the Huckabee campaign makes it pretty clear our reader is right.
We've spent a fair amount of time trying to track this one down. First we checked in with a low-level official at the cable provider, an outfit called Mediacom. They put us in touch with the people who do their ad booking, a company called Onmedia. The people at Onmedia were friendly and helpful and went back to check for us -- but once they did, the higher-ups abruptly clammed up and stopped returning our calls.
Then we went to a higher level official at Mediacom. This official, Thomas Larsen, would not confirm or deny that the ad had run. But he did confirm that on Monday they received an order from the Huckabee campaign to yank an ad -- and that the ad hadn't in fact been yanked until today. So was it the ad Huckabee ostentatiously announced he was yanking at his news conference on Monday? Larsen refused to say. To the best of our knowledge there wasn't any other ad the Huckabee folks yanked on Monday. And the Huckabee camp has refused to answer our queries.
So the mystery still remains. Did a bunch of techies forget to yank the ad because of extreme New Year's festivities. Or did Huckabee's media folks fail to put a rush on the yank order? No one's talking.
Comments (10)
Tom Burka wrote on January 2, 2008 7:27 PM:As I predicted.
A spokesman for Huckabee said that Huckabee would continue to run attack ads against his opponents, but noted that they would now conclude with the admonition, "My name is Mike Huckabee, and I strongly disapprove of this ad."
http://tomburka.com/archives2/2007_12.php#001052
Fike *uckabee wrote on January 2, 2008 7:29 PM:oops
Dave wrote on January 2, 2008 7:38 PM:This ad ran on KCRG, the Cedar Rapids ABC affiliate in the middle of last night - D
slouch wrote on January 2, 2008 7:49 PM:Speaking not a Huck supporter, but as an experienced television f@ck-up, this could literally be nothing more than operator error. The job of deleting these things from the "system" is often left to the folks who are willing to work overnight, alone, for little more than minimum wage. In other words, people who often have little reason to give a damn. Happens all the time.
buck wrote on January 2, 2008 8:32 PM:Slouch, I disagree--this is a high-profile ad in the middle of a well-publicized campaign.
Has anyone considered the "sinister" Huck? Yeah, they decided to "yank" the ad, but intentionally left the orders dangling while "processing" paperwork. The logistics are simple--the order is entered in and the stations have no reason to yank the ad on their own just on Huck's public announcement. That would be a clear violation of the contract. And Huck's campaign already paid for the ads, which means that they would lose some money on them anyway, even if they did nor run at all. So they delayed the "yanking" orders until it was clear that at least some stations/cable outlets would ran the ad before yanking. They might have gone further than actually placed the orders for a range of dates, but only yanked for a sub-range.
Given Huck's penchant for mischief, I would not rule this out as an accident.
On a separate note, Mike Huckabee's name lends itself to a number of anti-Huck slogans: 1) the obvious one that I don't even need to spell out, 2) Huckabee--not to be!, 3) Give me a Buck-a-bee!
Make up your own.
On a completely unrelated subject (well, sort of), in addition to McCain suddenly with the lead in NH he seems to be in a virtual tie nationally with Romney, Huckabee and Giuliani. As Giuliani is dropping, Thompson dead in the water, and Romney never gaining traction nationally, McCain is suddenly the only non-evangelical candidate left standing--and the only non-Huck with a realistic chance. Both Pew and Rasmussen put McCain ahead of the other four, even if only by 1%. And McCain has not been more than a standard error off the lead in any poll taken since 12/18. Yes, the ARG polls favor McCain and, yes, the holiday numbers are questionable, especially on the national level. But, if you consider how bluntly pandering and stupid Giuliani and Romney have been and with the non-evangelical conservatives turning on Huckabee, McCain is the only logical choice left, especially since his electability numbers have been the best of the bunch. Josh is still betting on Romney, but he's been bleeding green (to the tune of the highest campaign self-loan in history--and we haven't started the primaries yet!) and all he's got to show for it is a disputed lead in Iowa and now an evaporated lead in his backyard. He's dead in South Carolina and Florida (so is McCain, but he's now the "surging" candidate, so that may change).
Giuliani and Thompson are toast. Romney is not there yet, but he's been showing some serious scorch marks. And between Huck and McCain, McCain will win hands down--the evangelical vote is just not that strong. Of course, all of this is true IF the NH numbers are accurate. If Romney can pull out NH, he may get the national recognition. If not, the race may well be over in an unexpected twist.
nogo war wrote on January 2, 2008 8:41 PM:
The Republicans spent decades building up their evangelical base...and now they cannot control the monster...
"I love the smell of irony in the morning"
Cory wrote on January 2, 2008 9:17 PM:I'm starting to think that Huckabee is the biggest slimeball candidate out there and he is just hoping people won't catch on long enough for him to win in Iowa.
Joshua the Teacher wrote on January 2, 2008 9:50 PM:Ladies and Gentlemen,
Let us take a moment to recognize the person who may have singlehandedly given us this insane Republican race by eliminating George "Maccaca" Allen's political career, and thus his chances for the WH.
Here's to SR Siddarth: wherever you are, buddy, the future of a grateful nation stands indebted to you.
Richard L. Adlof wrote on January 3, 2008 6:11 AM:This is S.O.P. (standard operating procedure) for Huckleberry and his ilk.
They 'pants' Brownback and now Romney. While Brownback is an insane fuck, his religion did not deserve to have been trashed. With Romeny is a lying sack of shit whose each and every breath is athema to mankind, his religion does not deserve to be trashed.
Perverts, bigots and fear-mongers . . . A sad way for the party of Lincoln to die. Perhaps the Goldwater Girl can revive it.
Concerned American wrote on January 3, 2008 10:13 AM:Huck just worked the system to get free advertising. Golly gee, the MSM fell for Republican gamemanship, AGAIN.
