Third Party Groups That Are Push Polling In Iowa Are NOT Affiliated With The Huckabee Campaign

Here is a good summary of the situation from Politico.com

A newly-formed group claiming to support Mike Huckabee hit the phones of Iowa Republicans tonight with an automated push-poll attacking Huckabee's GOP opponents and praising the former Arkansas governor.

Officials representing the Iowa campaigns of Fred Thompson, John McCain and Rudy Giuliani all said that their supporters contacted them to complain about the calls. A spokesman for Romney's campaign said they had gotten reports of calls, but did not know of anything negative being said about their candidate.

For each target, the pattern was the same -- a recorded message using voice recognition technology asked the recipient if they would participate in the caucuses, considered themselves pro-life and thought marriage should be between a man and a woman.

Then the dirt came, right after those called were asked which candidate they were backing.

For all three, the calls were phrased in the same manner: "If you knew that..."

But different candidates were targeted with different attacks.

For Thompson it was his past lobbying for an abortion rights group, his support of McCain-Feingold and that McCain-Feingold had also been known as "McCain-Feingold-Thompson."

For Giuliani, it was that he's "pro-abortion," supports civil unions and that "his police chief and business partner has been indicted" on various charges.

And for McCain, it was about his support for campaign finance reform and opposition to a Constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.

At the end, the automated voice directed the recipient of the call to www.trusthuckabee.com

On their professionally-done site, Trust Huckabee describes itself as a "grassroots independent organization committed to educating voters to support Governor Mike Huckabee for the Republican Nomination for President of the United States" and notes that they aren't "authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee."

But they would seem to be taking a major role in Huckabee's Iowa operation. Upon clicking "Join Now," users are directed to a page meant to solicit precinct captains for the Arkansan's caucus effort.

"At this stage the single most important thing you can do is to volunteer to become a TrustHuckabee Precinct Captain," the site says. "What this means is that you will receive a packet explaining how we can help you win your precinct caucus for Governor Huckabee."

Below this explanation is a form for interested supporters to fill out their contact information.

And in the "Welcome" portion of the site, the group promises to spend "thousands of dollars in advertising and telemarketing to ID supporters and generate a massive turnout for Huckabee at the caucuses."

But Huckabee's Iowa state director, Eric Woolson, said in a phone interview that he hadn't heard of the group or their website until I inquired about the phone calls.

He did say, though, that the campaign "doesn’t engage in this sort of conduct," alluding to the negative messaging.

While on the phone, however, he received an e-mail from a supporter in the field who had sent in word of the calls. This person described the same automated opening as in the other calls to Woolson, but when the recipient said he supported Huckabee he got positive information about the former governor's pro-life stance, economic record and efforts to improve the state's education system.

An e-mail to the address on the 'Trust Huckabee" homepage was not immediately returned.

The group claims to be affilliated with a larger 501(c)(4) called "Common Sense Issues."

A link to this group's homepage turns up a vague website that appears to be a third-party conservative group. A video posted is an attack spot against Rep. Mark Udall (D-CO), a Senate candidate next year. The page has links back to the "Trust Huckabee" page and also includes news stories about "Key States," all of which are Republican-leaning and have incumbent Democratic senators up next year.

Groups called "Common Sense Ohio" and "Common Sense 2006" last year spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to attack Democrats in targeted Senate races using similar such automated calls as went into Iowa tonight, per the New York Times. These groups were led by executives at Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble, one of whom, Nathan Estruth, is now a Huckabee donor. But "Common Sense 2006" also received money from the RGA, which was led by Romney last cycle.

Governor Huckabee's response to the push poll calls

LITTLE ROCK. AR -- Former Arkansas Governor and Presidential Candidate Mike Huckabee strongly denounced push polling activities in Iowa.

"Our campaign has nothing to do with the push polling and I wish they would stop. We don't want this kind of campaigning because it violates the spirit of our campaign. I don't want to become President because I disabled the other candidates, I want to become President because I am the best candidate," said Huckabee during a press interview in Iowa this morning.

National Campaign Manager Chip Saltsman agreed: "Anyone who has the slightest understanding of the race in Iowa and the mindset of Iowans would know this sort of activity is extremely counterproductive. It takes the campaign off message at a time when Governor Huckabee is resonating with voters as never before. It loses votes rather than gains them. It's an underhanded way of doing business that is not welcomed by the campaign and it flies in the face of what Governor Huckabee stands for: integrity and clean politics. On behalf of Governor Huckabee and his campaign, I ask that these calls be stopped immediately."