AUDIO
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney talked with employees of a Des Moines insurance company this past week. His trip came amid the chatter about an attack ad Romney ran against President Obama.
Obama is quoted in the ad saying, “If we keep talking about the economy, we’re going to lose.”
Obama made that statement in 2008, quoting something John McCain had said. Democrats cried foul. An unapologetic Romney put it another way.
“What’s sauce for the goose is now sauce for the gander,” Romney said during a news conference in Des Moines.
According to the polls, many Iowans are taking a gander at Newt Gingrich, but if an Iowan were trying to call Gingrich campaign headquarters, they’d be out of luck.
“I’m sorry,” the directory assistance operator said on Sunday. “I don’t have anything in Des Moines for ‘Gingrich for President’…nothing at all in the Des Moines area.”
Gingrich has just started to build a campaign organization here with just 36 days to go until Caucus Night. Michele Bachmann issued a statement this weekend calling Gingrich “the most liberal GOP candidate” on the issue of immigration reform. Gingrich has proposed creating local boards that would decide if illegal immigrants who’ve been in the U.S. for years could be granted some sort of legal status. Bachmann calls that “amnesty.”
“There’s a real distinction between the candidates on this issue,” Bachmann said Saturday. “And that’s an issue that I think people are very interested in.”
Bachmann made stops Friday, Saturday and Sunday at eight different bookstores in Iowa. As she signed copies of her new book, Bachmann made another sales pitch. “Be sure you come out to the Caucuses on January 3. That’s going to make such a huge difference,” Bachmann told the first person waiting in line at a West Des Moines bookstore for Bachmann’s autograph. “I need your support.”
Jean Smith of West Des Moines was among those who got the author’s signature on Bachmann’s book this past Saturday. “She’s a good Christian and I think she’ll bring that into the White House with her,” Smith said, “and we need that badly.”