Mike Huckabee Won’t Run Ad Blasting Mitt Romney on Abortion Change
Email this article
Printer friendly page
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
December 30, 2007
Des Moines, IA (LifeNews.com) — Mike Huckabee made a surprising announcement at a Monday press conference saying he will not run a television commercial his campaign paid to assemble that attacks Mitt Romney on the issue of abortion. Huckabee said the ad, which also addresses other political topics, would have contributed more negativism to the race.
"The conventional political wisdom is that when you are hit and it’s beginning to damage you, the smart play is to hit back," Huckabee said. "And frankly, every bit of advice I was getting said that’s exactly what we should do. So we prepared a television spot."
"About an hour ago, I just decided that’s not the way we’re going to run things," Huckabee said to a room full of reporters.
"If you gain the whole world, but lose your own soul, what does it profit you?" he added, paraphrasing a Biblical passage.
While the ad won’t appear on stations across Iowa, which leads the presidential primary voting this week, Huckabee showed it at the news conference — which caused an uproar among reporters present. Had it aired, it would have come after Huckabee had already criticized Romney and a Romney response.
The campaign spot accuses Romney of flip-flopping on abortion and follows on Huckabee’s comments saying he’s the more consistent pro-life candidate of the two.
Romney spokesman Tim Albrecht told the Courier newspaper that he thinks the decision will backfire on Huckabee by making him look hypocritical.
"To say one thing one minute and then turn around and show an attack ad to reporters the next will, obviously, leave folks with a very cynical view of Mike Huckabee and his message," Albrecht said.
"Mike Huckabee has turned from nice to very hot-tempered now that his record has been examined by voters," he added.
