New Orleans, LA:

Though Hillary Clinton’s big win over Barack Obama was THE story out of Pennsylvania, there were candidates on the GOP ballot too.
John McCain has long since clinched the Republican nomination so the Keystone primary results are basically irrelevant as evidenced by the 800 thousand votes that were cast in the Republican race, as compared to the more than 2.2 million Democratic ballots cast BUT….

McCain got 575,000K votes or 73 percent. Ron Paul, who did a little campaigning in Pennsylvania received 125,000 votes or 16 percent. And Mike Huckabee won 90,000 votes for 11 percent.

Huckabee endorsed McCain weeks ago and will campaign publicly for John McCain starting Friday in Little Rock.

Paul raised surprising amounts of money last year, and still has plenty to spend but has given no indication that he intends it.

McCain has used this uncontested time to work on GOP unity, self definition, and expanding his party with gutsy visits to Selma, Alabama to court black voters and Youngstown, Ohio to give unemployed blue-collar manufacturing workers some straight talk about the need to retrain for new jobs that will last and compete in the new economy.

The fact that McCain, without serious competition, only got 3/4ths of the GOP votes in a key general election bellweather swing state may cause some to speculate that he’s still having trouble unifying his party…but from the moment his major rivals dropped out major polls including Gallup have said more than of 80 percent of GOP voters are comfortable with McCain.

There is little doubt that Republicans will rally around McCain (and against Democrats) in the general election…if he is to win however it will require Independents and Reagan Democrats. It is his efforts to court THEM that may matter most…

Until he clinches the nomination John McCain’s campaign can’t formally discuss co-opting the Republican National Committee into his general election plan

Look for that to change tonight and the party takeover to begin immediately.

If McCain goes over the top the campaign will move as soon as tomorrow to refocus the RNC on McCain’s candidacy. There is no shortage of emphasis on, or rather against, the democrats - the GOP national party has mountains of opposition research at the ready. The BIGGER task is getting the RNC synched up with McCain.

Unifying conservatives and the GOP is different from taking over the administration of the party apparatus.

The McCain camp will want his people in key positions. The McCainiacs will want to tailor and manage the party message to fit and compliment the candidate’s style and substance.

That is step one. Its starts Wednesday, assuming McCain clinches Tuesday with Oh, TX, VT and RI.

Any talk of McCain making an early VP pick is wrong. While the senator and insiders are happy to discuss prospects and ruminate aloud, all that has been done is to have one aide research the selection process other candidates have used. Nothing more.

They have not even begun seriously considering who will head the search team. They have not begun compiling the long and short lists. They have not discussed who will run the vetting process.

They have months to think it through and will unveil the selection only at the most opportune time possible.

The running mate is a major ace in the hole for presidential candidates and they never want to play them too soon.

Back in March of 07 at the CPAC convention in DC several former Fred Thompson Congressional staffers told me Fred Thompson was thinking about a run. Some of his Tennessee cronies had been talking him up too.

I reported first that he was eyeing a White House bid. At the time several insiders told me OFF THE RECORD that it was largely a trial ballon to guage his popularity and float his name as a possible vice presidential nominee. I was sworn to silence.

Those insiders have now lifted the conditions on our conversations. From March to August of 07 through postponed announcement days, staff changes, firings, resignations and general disarray the Thompson camp was stunned by the incredibly positive response and didn’t really know how to manage it. The trial balloon soared mighty high and he found himself being dragged into a race that he was not even sure how to run.

He took third in Iowa and Third in South Carolina, after which his aides openly suggested the #2 slot on the ticket. The circle has been closed, and Fred Dalton Thompson is waiting to see if he gets the call from the eventual nominee.

He has not said who he will endorse. He is friends with John McCain. But if he doesn’t throw his support behind anyone …it makes it easier to be picked by everyone.

In Florida on Sunday following the univision debate I interviewed the governor. Afterward he and his staffers heavily advertised a big news making endorsement Friday in NH.

It’s a national figure. They were very excited. They have been telling reporters ever since so its likely to leak…interesting way and time to raise expectations.

After Mitt’s immigration ad hitting Huck, the new Iowa frontrunners aides couldn’t wait to roll out the endorsement by the founder of the Minutemen. But the organization went out of it’s way to criticize Huckabee’s illegal immigration record and say the founder was not speaking for the group.

No question Chuck Norris and Rick Flair brought Huck’s name ID up…Oprah didn’t hurt Obama.

It’s rally and get out the vote time so anything that draws cameras is a boon. Todays Huck backer will be unveiled in Concord NH.

Per Jake Gibson, Fox News Political Field Producer

So I’m hanging out with some political types in the hotel bar after the debate tonight and who do I see? Brigadier General Kerr, the man who posed the question CNN ended up apologizing for at the end of the broadcast.

CNN STATEMENT at 1:03 AM
Following the debate, CNN learned that retired brigadier general Keith Kerr served on Clinton’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender steering committee.

CNN Senior Vice President and Executive Producer of the debate, David Bohrman, says, “We regret this incident. CNN would not have used the General’s question had we known that he was connected to any presidential candidate.”

Prior to the debate, CNN had verified his military background and that he had not contributed any money to any presidential candidate.

Following the debate, Kerr told CNN that he’s done no work for the Clinton campaign. He says he is a member of the Log Cabin Republicans and was representing no one other than himself.

CLINTON CAMPAIGN OFFICIAL @ 1:17 AM

“HE IS NOT A CAMPAIGN EMPLOYEE AND WAS NOT ACTING ON BEHALF OF THE CAMPAIGN.”

After criticism that videos of talking snowman dumbed down the first YOUTUBE debate for democrats, republicans now get their turn. Wednesday’s GOP youtube debate in Fla is likly to focus on MIKE HUCKABEE. The frmr Ark Gov is NOW 2ND IN THE SUNSHINE STATE!

In recent weeks the darkhorse Huckabee has also surged into a first place tie with Mitt Romney in the lead off caucus state of Ia. IN FLORIDA Huckabee is also gaining steam according to Insider Advantage/Majority Opinion Research poll taken 11/25&26 among 675 likely voters w/ MOE +/- 3.5%

Rudy Giuliani (26%)
Mike Huckabee (17%)
John McCain (13%)
Mitt Romney (12%)
Fred Thompson (9%)

The GOP nomination is up for grabs, no question.

Giuliani’s national frontrunner status is at risk if he loses too many early states.  His campaign considers Fla a must win. When it comes to being the conservative “anti-rudy” his rivals can each say they have a shot at winning one of the lead off early races.

-Huck is moving in Ia & Fl.
-Mitt still leads in Ia&NH & has $!

-Fred’s up in SC-1st test in south
-McCain’s strong in NH

All that makes Fla MORE important to Rudy. He is counting on the states diversity and large number of NY transplants to make the sunshine state his firewall. Florida votes January 29th. After Ia, NH, SC, NV and MI, but before the huge Feb 5th Super Tuesday primaries.

With 37 days to the first votes the GOP backbiting now resembles 3 dimensional chess, with 5 players… And it HAS turned personal. The candidates use immigration, crime, taxes and spending, and social issues to attack one anothers’ honesty, judgement, experience, truthfulness, principle and trustworthiness.

Each candidate is simultaneously involved in skirmishes with 3 or 4 rivals at a time. While Huckabee’s likely to take heat from several rivals Wednesday, Rudy remains a target as the national frontrunner and Romney is in everyone’s sites as the leader in Ia and NH.

David Borman says CNN received 5,000 You Tube entries. They are culling it to 70 or so you tube questions. All of the candidates supplied their own 30 sec video, each of which will be played during the debate as pacers. Asked if there will be questions from hotdog or a lego person a smiling Borman hedged: “We’re not ruling out questions that are from non-humans.”

He went on to say there will be a few “good songs”, some good production, and then strongly emphasized there are “some VERY HARD questions” on issues of importance to the GOP nomination. Another well placed CNN insider says Anderson Cooper wants to see lots of videos and does not plan to pretend he is an expert. They hope to “carve an editorial path thru the questions” without using a timer or warning lights. Anderson Cooper will handle it and the candidates will be on an “honor system.”

One other Florida point: It is IMPORTANT too that Florida is the only major winner-take-all state before Super Tuesday 2/5. Fla has 113 GOP nomination delegates…the first really big delegate prize toward the nomination. But only half of Fla’s delegates are currently expected to be awarded at the RNC convention. The national GOP plans to dock several states half their delegates for jumping ahead on the calendar. Other states currently at risk of being docked 50% of their delegates: Ia 40, NH 24, SC 46, NV 32, Mi 61. But all of those early states’ delegates are also awarded proportionately. Fla is the first winner-take-all state, so it holds more delegates for its’ winner than IA, NH and SC combined (after thier delegates are apportioned.)

In the end all the early states are expected to have all of their delegates seated. Technically the rules say they are out of compliance and should be penalized, but generally such spats are resolved before the roll call. Democrats are in a similar situation but (unlike republicans who refuse to let their party prevent them from talking to voters) several democratic candidates have signed pledges to NOT campaign in states that are frontloading in violation of DNC rules.

Florida (home of the 2000 recount in which democrats chanted “count every vote”) is essentially being boycotted by democratic candidates because the national party wants to be able to dictate to the state when it may hold its’ primary.

Giuliani is trashing Romney for a weak record on crime based on an increase in homicide and robbery during Romney’s administration. Romney says crime went down when he was Governor of the Bay state. Each campaign points to published reports ir prefers and FBI crime statistics to call the other misleading.

Rudy likes this article excerpted below

Crime Up During Romney Tenure ; FBI stats show spike in violent crimes, robberies
Dave Wedge
Boston Herald - 26 September 2007

The newly released figures show that murders were up 7.5 percent in the Bay State and 25 percent in Boston from 2002 to 2006 while Romney was governor.
… Under Romney, robberies were up 12 percent and burglaries 6 percent while assaults were down 14 percent and rapes down slightly. Car thefts and larcenies also were down, in line with national trends, and helped contribute to an overall 8 percent decline in crime during Romney’s four years, according to the FBI stats.

As Romney was leaving the State House in 2006, the statistics showed a slight improvement with all violent crime down 2 percent, compared to a nationwide increase of 1.9 percent.
—-

ROMNEY LIKES THIS TAKE BETTER

Romney Camp: Rudy Wrong About Mass Crime
AMERICAN SPECTATOR BLOG
Posted By: James Antle
Monday, November 26, 2007 @ 1:22:57 PM

http://www.spectator.org/blogger.asp?BlogID=9365

While on the ground in New Hamsphire, Phil sent me a response from Mitt Romney’s campaign to his Rudy Giuliani column on today’s main site. Specifically, the Romneyites dispute Giuliani’s assertion that “[v}iolent crime went up… while he was governor.” They cite <http://www.mittromney.com/News/Press-Releases/Romney_Record_Reducing_Crime> FBI statistics showing a decrease in violent crime of over 7 percent.
—-
The Media Research Center’s Newsbuster blog has also disputed <http://newsbusters.org/blogs/howard-nemerov/2007/11/25/who-s-tougher-crime-romney-or-giuliani> Giuliani’s numbers, pointing to a 7.8 percent reduction in Massachusetts’ overall violent crime rate between 2002 and 2006. Additionally, they contend aggravated assault decreased by 14.8 percent during Romney’s term. Newsbuster’s Howard Nemerov concludes, “No matter the comparison — total incidents or rates per 100,000 population — Giuliani was wrong to state that Massachusetts saw a violent crime increase while Romney was governor.”
—-

Here’s the FBI link, it appears they are both right!

http://www2.fbi.gov/ucr/ucr.htm

The Texas Republican with a Libertarian streak astounded the political world when he raised $5M last quarter… so what’s the right adjective to describe what he did yesterday, when supporters contributed more than $4 million in just 24 hours?

In New Hampshire, GOP officials marvel at Ron Paul’s organization in the Granite State and his ability to raise money. These officials say they would not be suprised at all if Ron Paul took 3rd or 4th in the primary and meant the death knell for at least one top tier candidate. It speaks to the power of independents in NH; Bush beat McCain in 2000 among republicans but Indies put McCain over the top.

Ron Paul himself talked about his big day on Fox News Radio.

“It is amazing, it’s even surprising to me, but of course very pleasant to know that people were spontaneously coming to us,” he said. “Because it was not organized by the campaign. I have not yet talked to or met the individual that organized this, but yesterday’s fundraising was all done on the internet, and it was all done spontaneously. So something significant must be going on out there in the countryside.”

Asked why people donated in such numbers, Paul said “I don’t think anybody has a full explanation. I think it’s a message that people were starved for, in that people are very upset with what’s happening. They’re upset with the war, they’re upset with the economy, they’re upset with the future. The young people don’t look forward to paying into Social Security, and I come up with answers that are plausible and reasonable. And I think this is what has stirred their interest.”

Read the rest of the interview after the jump.

(more…)

Jake Gibson, Fox News Campaign Producer

takes a look behind the scenes at the Fox News GOP debate in Orlando, Fla… what were the candidates talking about backstage just before the debate? It wasn’t politics! Take a listen.

It is the weekend of the Republican Party of Florida’s PIV, well over 3,000 party loyalists are attending.

John McCain, Mit Romney, Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson go before the eager and energized Republicans the day before the Fox News GOP debate.

Also, Check out what is going on behind the scenes as Fox News prepares the stage for the GOP debate Sunday night at 8pm.