Romney says Miami robocalls misstate his Cuba policy

On the eve of the crucial Florida Republican primary, supporters of  Mitt Romney in the Miami area reported receiving Spanish-language robocalls that falsely claimed the former Massachusetts governor supports opening relations with Fidel Castro and Cuba, according to Romney's state campaign chairman Al Cardenas.

“It’s despicable, it’s dirty and they should be ashamed of themselves,” Cardenas told The Times' Seema Mehta.

Cardenas said the calls started after former state department official Roger Noriega, a Romney supporter, appeared on Miami radio stations discussing Romney’s Cuba policy on Saturday morning. The campaign is trying to figure out who is behind the calls, but it is “improbable” that it is any campaign other than rival John McCain’s, Cardenas charged.

A spokeswoman for the McCain campaign denied any connection. "These are not our calls," Jill Hazelbaker told The Times Maeve Reston.

Cardenas said Romney and McCain were the only two candidates who had done automated calls in the Miami area, and the lower-tier candidates were not competitive in the race and had no reason to spend money on such calls.

The Romney campaign’s robocalls have concerned McCain’s legislative history supporting campaign finance and immigration reforms and fighting global warming.

“That’s fair game,” Cardenas said. “Anything about Mitt Romney’s record is fair game. But to make that outlandish [Castro] claim is dirty pool in a community that obviously has been traumatized by this issue.”

Maybe it was Castro himself since he's not got much to do these days from his hospital bed.

--Andrew Malcolm

Comments

[Lou Pappas]

McCain is desperate and is running a dirty campaign. He believes he is entitled to the Presidency.

[A. Burns]

McCain is dirty. What can you expect from someone declared unethical in a savings and loan scandal?

Google "Keating Five" if you don't know what I'm talking about. McCain sold out his country for six figures.

McCain is unethical

[Luis gonzales]

Romney best exemplifies the qualities needed in a president, including business knowledge and experience and the ability to perform under pressure.

"In all respects, Romney looks, sounds and acts presidential, projecting competence and the intelligence to deal comfortable with policy nuance and complexity In a perilous world, whether the peril is terrorism, global competition or a tanking economy, Mitt Romney is the Republican who inspires confidence in his ability to lead."

[Dan]

Mitt Romney can not be trusted. He will say anything and pay anything to win. Just look at the debate, Romney cheated. Do you want someone dishonest and deceptive as our president? Don't believe me? Look at these 3 videos. Romney has someone telling him what to say. And yes, the prompts are in the original video feed. Romney's cheating tells us a lot about his character. I want a president that has integrity and Romney proves here he does not.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NlIMQ31EjY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wfWDOxZkEM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zK408oqEyOU

[Michael R]

The endorsements coming out for McCain are a strong rebuke to us..how dare we question the way things are run..When a liberal leaning media tells me that McCain is our best shot at beating the Democrats in 08', you better believe that McCain is anything but our best bet and anything but a conservative choice.

[cprince]

Has anyone but me noticed that this "Dan" idiot has the same post on every blog in the entire world right now, and has for the past several weeks.

If anybody at all is watching these blogs, why don't you edit things a little. Or, just put the guy on the payroll?

I'm guessing he's some old retired fart with an axe to grind against the LDS church, sitting in his basement in Salt Lake City smoking cigars and having angina attacks about every half hour.

Here's hoping he'll have the big one before too much longer, to spare us all the continued scroll-down.

[J Scott]

c Prince. Yes, Dan posts on all of the blogs. He is sitting at the computers in McComplains headquarters, cutting and pasting. Just a McPain stooge.