Rove, Bush 41 for Vice President Romney

Karl Rove and George Herbert Walker Bush are supporting Mitt Romney's bid to be John McCain's VP, sources tell John Heilemann of New York magazine.

Stock scrutiny

Mitt Romney's investments – placed in a blind trust when he became Massachusetts' governor in 2003 – were released yesterday, as part of a federal requirement for presidential candidates.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the manager of Romney's financial portfolio sold certain stocks "after Romney publicly called for divestment from companies doing business in Iran." Yet Romney, the wealthiest presidential candidate, maintains "stock in China Petroleum and Chemical (also known as SinoPec), an oil supply company that has dealings in Sudan, according to an organization dedicated to ending the genocide in the African nation's Darfur region."

Romney's "biggest single holding" – MGM Mirage casinos in Las Vegas – may become a contentious issue with religious conservatives.

Immigration entry

Updated.

Responding to Mitt Romney's attacks on Rudy Giuliani for allegedly harboring illegals as New York City Mayor, Michael Bloomberg swung back -- but more for the immigrants than for his predecessor.

When asked about the comments in Manhattan today, Bloomberg said, "Boy, let 'em come." He went on to say, "This city and this country were built by immigrants. Thrive on immigrants. And without more immigrants we don’t have a future."

***Looking at what Romney said, it was clearly an attack on what he perceived as Giuliani's handling of things -- and not New York or immigrants (Romney's not completely casting off his cross-over appeal to Blue State voters). How far the questioner went would be interesting to know. The New York Observer says Bloomberg was "asked about the comments." If Bloomberg was egged on -- for example, asked about his policy on immigrants -- his answer is understandable.

If not, he is yet again interjecting himself in the 2008 presidential race.***

*** Romney is labeling New York and other places "sanctuary cities" and threatening to cut off their federal funds if they don't do more to curtail illegal immigration.

Someone else

Noam Schieber of The New Republic on the Ames Strawpoll.

Huckabee spent exactly zero resources busing in supporters and still managed 18 percent of the vote. The other two campaigns bought hundreds, if not thousands, more straw-poll tickets than the number of votes they received. (Straw poll attendees must obtain a $35-ticket in order to vote. Campaigns typically buy them up and distribute them to supporters.) Huckabee bought around 1800 tickets and received almost 2600 votes. Clearly, Romney and Brownback dropped a lot of cash on people who ended up voting for someone else, and that someone else was probably Huckabee.

"A hollow victory"

Iowa political journalist David Yepsen called Mitt Romney's Ames Strawpoll win, "a hollow victory."

Mitt Romney may have won the Iowa GOP straw poll Saturday in Ames but it was a bit of a hollow victory. That’s a sign he may not be the prohibitive front runner in Iowa after all.

Yepsen also quotes one "Republican Strategist" telling him, "[I]n 1999, Democrats were suffering from Clinton fatigue. Now, we're suffering from Bush fatigue."

Unofficial Ames results

Marc Ambinder has the unofficial results.

Romney wins with 31% and a paltry 4,516 votes -- far under his campaign's predictions. Huckabee placed second with 18.1% with 2587, but not too far ahead of Brownback (15.3%) and Tancredo (13.7%). Don't expect any of them to drop out yet.

Ron Paul (9.1%) will continue to raise eyebrows and Tommy Thompson (7.3%) will almost certainly drop his bid now.

Romney's bad day

A voting machine malfunction is delaying the official results of the Ames Republican Strawpoll, but if reports of turnout is accurate, only 14,000 Iowans took part. This would mean Mitt Romney's campaign delivered far fewer than the 20 to 25,000 Romney votes they expected. After all the money and hype, Ames could wind up a big defeat for Mitt Romney -- even if he wins comfortably.

It brings to mind LBJ's campaign predictions in the 1968 New Hampshire primary, though less consequential.

Romney reconsiders?

The Politico's Anne Schroder caught this quote during discussion of a 'Romney Girls' video, emphasis added.

Mitt Romney and his wife were on "Fox & Friends" this morning talking about the video. Romney said: "There's nothing like getting a good spot on YouTube."

So will he or won't he be attending the Republican CNN/YouTube debate?

Romney flip flops on an attack

On this morning's Republican Presidential Debate, moderated by George Stephanopoulos, Mitt Romney suggested he has changed his position from March attacking Rudy Giuliani for being pro-choice, pro-gay marriage, and anti-gun.

Ducking the GOP YouTube Debate

Read More:

• 'Update: Rudy Likely To Opt Out Of YouTube Debate' - Marc Ambinder - The Atlantic Online.
• 'Romney no fan of CNN/YouTube debate antics' - John Distaso - The New Hampshire Union Leader (via Political Wire).

Romney to attack

Mitt Romney will spend the next few weeks attacking the Democratic presidential frontrunners. Romney's aides are telling Marc Ambinder they're "worried that Republicans generally aren't doing enough to soften up the Democrats," though they're probably more worried that Republicans generally aren't believing Romney is one of them. So, he goes on the attack so he will be attacked in return, thus proving his credentials.

Rick Perlstein summed up this tactic pretty well in The New Republic a few months ago.