Latest Romney ad hones in on immigration By GLEN JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer

Latest Romney ad hones in on immigration By GLEN JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 59 minutes ago



BOSTON - With a big month in Iowa looming, Republican Mitt Romney is airing a commercial focused on one of the state's hot-button issues: immigration.

Five days before the latest GOP presidential debate, and 11 days before the party's straw poll, Romney trimmed a May television ad into a 30-second spot in which he reiterates his support for legal immigration.

"We should put in place an employment verification system," Romney tells an audience member in a scene from one of his "Ask Mitt Anything" town hall meetings. "And then, when an employer is thinking of hiring someone, the federal database immediately tells them whether they're available to be working or not. If they're not, you can't hire them."

Romney assailed the immigration compromise backed by President Bush and rival Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. The former Massachusetts governor said the deal would create amnesty for illegals already in the country. Congress subsequently killed the measure.

In mid-July in Iowa, Romney criticized GOP rival and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani for making the city "a sanctuary city for illegal aliens" by failing to enforce immigration laws. Romney noted that he deputized state police to enforce immigration laws and denied driver's licenses to illegal immigrants.

The theme plays well in Iowa, where the federal government has raided meat processing plants employing illegals, and where some longtime residents feel their pay is being undercut by cheaper-working immigrants.

All the GOP candidates will be in Des Moines on Aug. 5 for the debate. Romney is making a bid to win the Aug. 11 straw poll in Ames.

Campaigning in Virginia Tuesday, Romney attributed last fall's Democratic takeover of Congress to anger over the war in Iraq.

"People were upset with the lack of progress in Iraq, and since they couldn't fire the coach they fired the team," the former Massachusetts governor told reporters after a private get-acquainted session with about 200 invited guests at a Richmond hotel.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Tom Tancredo promised a package of gifts, including an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington and a tour of the Capitol, to anyone who brought 25 people to the GOP straw poll in Iowa on Aug. 11.

There was one problem with the pitch — a tour of the Capitol could be a violation of House ethics rules which prohibit the use of any buildings on the Capitol grounds for campaign purposes.

Scrambling to explain, the Colorado lawmaker's campaign said it was just a spelling error.

Bay Buchanan, Tancredo's national chairwoman, said Tuesday she meant supporters would get a tour of the capital city — spelled with an 'a' — which could also include a "public tour" of the Capitol building — spelled with an 'o' — in which Tancredo would go along and point out some highlights.

"He's not offering them anything any American doesn't have access to," she said. "The difference is that Tom will be joining them. There are public tours of the U.S. Capitol."

The winners would also visit some of Tancredo's favorite places in Washington, such as several war memorials, and have dinner with him a restaurant, Buchanan said.

"The intent was to spend an afternoon in the nation's capital with Tom Tancredo going to some of the places he is familiar with and enjoys and then having dinner with him," she said. "I did intend it to mean the nation's capital."

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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Republican presidential hopeful Sam Brownback said Tuesday that if the United States pulls out of Iraq too quickly, soldiers will have to return to "clean up an even bigger mess."

"Some people think we can withdraw our troops. But I would remind them of the consequences of failure in Iraq," the Kansas senator said in remarks prepared for delivery on Tuesday night in Des Moines. "Iraq would become a safe haven for al-Qaida. It would become a failed state and risk a regional war. It would descend into genocidal chaos."

Brownback said the U.S. can win the war, but it will require a political solution — not just a military solution.

In the afternoon, Brownback visited a gun range in Ames, where he fired three guns, including an AR-15 assault rifle, the civilian version of the M-16. Three shots hit just outside the bull's-eye. Another gun he borrowed gave a kickback after it was fired, eliciting a large chuckle from Brownback.

He said in recent years he hasn't hunted much but has hosted a pheasant hunt on occasion in his home state.

"You have a Second Amendment, it is a right to bear arms, and those should be stood by, and those should be honored as a right the individual has," Brownback said.

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BOSTON (AP) — A smattering of Bush's top donors as well as Missouri's governor and the former chairman of the Florida Republican Party round out Mitt Romney's list of national finance committee chairs and co-chairs.

John Rakolta Jr. and Tom Tellefsen join eBay chief executive Meg Whitman among the 13 chairmen, while American Financial Group Chairman Carl Lindner Jr. and Ted Welch of Ted Welch investment — both major donors to President Bush, are among the 61 co-chairmen.

Also on the roster are Gov. Matt Blunt, R-Mo.; Al Cardenas, former head of the Florida GOP, as well as some of the elite from the Mormon business community, including hoteliers William and Richard Marriott, developer Kem Gardner and cancer research advocate Jon Huntsman, the father of Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., who is supporting Romney rival Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

All told, Romney has led the Republican field with $44.4 million in receipts, as of June 30, although the multimillionaire has also loaned his campaign $8.9 million.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton launched an effort Tuesday to double the amount of time relatives of wounded war veterans can take off from work to help them recover.

Clinton, the early front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, rounded up a bipartisan group of senators seeking to extend family leave time for spouses or parents of seriously wounded troops from 12 weeks to six months.

The lawmakers are trying to make the change as an amendment to a children's health insurance bill now working its way through Congress.

"We don't have to spend any money, we don't have to build any bureaucracy, we just have to give these families the right to care for their loved one," said Clinton.

Sens. Clinton, Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio said in a conference call Tuesday that they are acting in response to recommendations offered by Dole's husband, former senator and GOP presidential candidate Bob Dole, and former Clinton administration official Donna Shalala.

Dole and Shalala earlier this month issued a report highlighting gaps in the care provided to wounded veterans of the Iraq war, and suggesting dozens of improvements.

Last week another Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut, introduced a bill that would allow the family or primary caregivers of wounded military personnel to take up to six months of unpaid leave. The measure would double the 12-week leave provided under the Family and Medical Leave Act, which Dodd authored.

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CINCINNATI (AP) — Republican presidential candidate John McCain is looking for some Ohio money — and some Ohio friends — for his flagging campaign.

The Arizona senator arrived in Cincinnati for a private fundraiser Tuesday evening in the wealthy suburb of Indian Hill after attending a similar event in Cleveland. The evening event was co-hosted by former Sen. Mike DeWine at the home of developer Bob Rhein.

"I'm happy to be back in Ohio where there's lots of money," he told reporters at Cincinnati's airport. "Friends, too."

McCain needs both in this key battleground state. His campaign reported ending the second quarter of the year with $3.2 million cash on hand and $1.8 million in debts.

Still, McCain told reporters that the campaign is now in good shape, despite staff shake-ups in recent weeks.

"Money is coming in fine," he said.

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STORM LAKE, Iowa (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton pledged Tuesday to give public schools the resources they need to properly educate children.

Clinton, addressing teachers and education advocates in this northern Iowa town, also criticized President Bush's "No Child Left Behind" education initiative, one widely scorned by teachers who argue it doesn't provide schools the money needed to meet federal standards.

"I'm not sure we've given you the tools and support you need," Clinton told the crowd. "Everything else has changed."

The New York senator trumpeted her proposal to offer $10 billion over the next decade to improve public schools.

Clinton spoke at a summer conference of the Iowa State Education Association, a union representing 32,000 teachers and one of the most potent political forces in Iowa.

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Associated Press writers Jennifer Talhelm and Devlin Barrett in Washington, Larry O'Dell in Richmond, Va., Amy Lorentzen and Mike Glover in Iowa and Lisa Cornwell in Cincinnati contributed to this report.