Jewish group blasts Romney over launch

[Ron Burgundy]

AP - Republican Mitt Romney's choice of a museum honoring auto pioneer Henry Ford as the site of his presidential announcement was strongly criticized Monday by Jewish Democrats, who noted Ford's history of anti-Semitism.

The former Massachusetts governor, who is scheduled to formally launch his presidential candidacy from the Henry Ford Museum in Detroit on Tuesday, was taken to task by The National Jewish Democratic Council.

The council "is deeply troubled by Governor Romney's choice of locations to announce his presidential campaign," executive director Ira Forman said in a statement.

"Romney has been traveling the country talking about inclusiveness and understanding of people from all walks of life," Forman said. "Yet he chooses to kick (off) his presidential campaign on the former estate of a well-known and outspoken anti-Semite and xenophobe."

Forman said Romney's "embrace of Henry Ford and association of Ford's legacy with his presidential campaign raises serious questions about either the sincerity of Romney's words or his understanding of basic American history."

Ford was bestowed with the Grand Service Cross of the Supreme Order of the German Eagle by Adolph Hitler

Eric Fehrnstrom, a spokesman for Romney, said the candidate will go ahead with his announcement as planned.

"Governor Romney believes our country needs to put innovation at the forefront if we are to ensure a stronger, safer and more prosperous America," Fehrnstrom said. "The Ford Museum embodies that bold, innovative spirit."

Fehrnstrom noted that other political leaders have praised Ford in the past. He cited a 1999 speech on small business development in which former President Bill Clinton quoted Ford and praised the "power of enterprise and the strength of the human spirit" of American entrepreneurs.

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RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record) said Monday he fears an offensive by Iraqi insurgents similar to the Tet Offensive by the Viet Cong that sent U.S. casualties soaring in Vietnam nearly 40 years ago.

The Arizona Republican and likely presidential candidate also said in an Associated Press interview that lapses remain in U.S. intelligence as the nation assesses a potential nuclear threat from Iran.

In defending President Bush's proposed troop surge in Iraq, McCain said it's not the American presence in Iraq that troubles Americans, it's the number of casualties and the possibility that they could escalate.

"By the way, a lot of us are also very concerned about the possibility of a, quote, 'Tet Offensive,' you know, some large-scale tact that could then switch American public opinion the way that the Tet Offensive did," McCain said.

Tet, a massive 1968 invasion of South Vietnam by Communist North Vietnamese, inflicted enormous losses on American and South Vietnamese troops and is regarded as the point when U.S. public sentiment turned sharply against the war.

McCain was in Virginia to address a gathering of potential supporters.

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ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Key New York political leaders indicated Monday that they favor moving the state's presidential primary up a month to Feb. 5 — a shift that could help the 2008 campaigns of Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton and Republican Rudy Giuliani.

It "would be the right thing for the state," an aide to the Legislature's top Democrat said.

A top aide to the Legislature's most powerful Republican said making such a shift was also on the GOP's radar screen.

Several other big states, including California, are already considering shifting their primaries to Feb. 5. Such a move could create a new Super Tuesday showdown just days after the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary and the follow-up South Carolina primary.

"The speaker is favorably inclined to move the date. He thinks it would be the right thing for the state and will be speaking to the governor about doing it," said Charles Carrier, a spokesman for state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, a Manhattan Democrat and key backer of Clinton's bid for the 2008 Democratic nomination.

New Democratic Gov. Eliot Spitzer had no immediate comment Monday about the plan, first reported in Monday's editions of the New York Post.

"It's something we're taking a look at," said John McArdle, a spokesman for Joseph Bruno, the state Senate's Republican majority leader. Bruno has close ties to both Giuliani, the former New York City mayor, and to Sen. John McCain, the Arizona Republican who polls show is Giuliani's main competition for the GOP presidential nomination.

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COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Former South Carolina first lady Iris Campbell and one of her two sons have signed onto Republican Mike Huckabee's presidential campaign.

Iris Campbell was widowed in 2005 when former Gov. Carroll Campbell died after a public battle with Alzheimer's disease. The former governor, who served two terms from 1987 to 1995, is credited with making the Republican Party a powerful force in South Carolina, and Iris Campbell remains influential throughout the state.

"I think that if Carroll were here, he'd do the same," Iris Campbell said.

Her son, Mike Campbell, who ran unsuccessfully last year for lieutenant governor's office, was tapped to run the former Arkansas governor's South Carolina campaign as a senior national adviser.

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Associated Press Writers Bob Lewis in Richmond, Va., Marc Humbert in Albany, N.Y., and JIM DAVENPORT in Columbia, S.C., contributed to this report.

source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070212/ap_on_el_pr/on_the2008_trail [link]