Campaign 2012 Tidbits (15 of 16): McCain on Romney vs. Santorum.

From Mark Halperin and John Heilemann’s Double Down – Game Change 2012 (New York: Penguin Press, 2013), p. 243:

“The choice in the Republican Party has come down to the dog-on-roof guy or the man-on-dog guy? [McCain] said.  “I’m with the dog-on-roof guy.”

. . .

(McCain was referring to how Romney once strapped his dog to the top of the car for a long drive during a family vacation, and how Santorum compared gay sex to men having sex with dogs.)

Campaign 2012 Tidbits (14 of 16): Obama on Christie.

From Mark Halperin and John Heilemann’s Double Down – Game Change 2012 (New York: Penguin Press, 2013), p. 199:

When his aides wanted to know what he made of [New Jersey governor Chris] Christie [after a joint tour to survey damage from Hurricane Irene], Obama grinned and said, “He’s a *big* man.”

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Campaign 2012 Tidbits (13 of 16): Romney tactic vs. Rick Perry.

From Mark Halperin and John Heilemann’s Double Down – Game Change 2012 (New York: Penguin Press, 2013), p. 186:

When [GOP primary contender Rick] Perry[, who had supported legislation to provide in-state college tuition for children of undocumented workers,]  next visited New Hampshire, [Romney national staffer Matt] Rhoades and one of the campaign’s Granite State operatives arranged to have him greeted by protestors, including one who was wearing a sombrero and holding a placard that read THANKS FOR THE IN-STATE TUITION.

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Campaign 2012 Tidbits (12 of 16): Undelivered joke of Michelle Bachmann

From Mark Halperin and John Heilemann’s Double Down – Game Change 2012 (New York: Penguin Press, 2013), p. 171:

The manly Lone Star Stater [and now GOP primary contender Rick Perry] had been a “yell leader” in college at Texas A&M; [GOP primary contender Michelle] Bachmann had waved the pom-poms in high school.  So [Bachmann adviser Ed] Rollins crafted a playful but edgy greeting for his candidate to deliver [though she never did]: “From one former cheerleader to another, welcome to Iowa!”

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Campaign 2012 Tidbits (11 of 16): Gossip on Romney from Condoleezza Rice.

From Mark Halperin and John Heilemann’s Double Down – Game Change 2012 (New York: Penguin Press, 2013), p. 132:

Former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice once told [Indiana governor Mitch] Daniels that when Mitt visited Stanford, where she had returned after her time in government, she watched astonished as he emitted a canned stump speech to a sophisticated, techie crowd – then repeated the same faux pas at a small private dinner she hosted for him afterwards.

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Campaign 2012 Tidbits (10 of 16): Donald Trump on Bain Capital.

From Mark Halperin and John Heilemann’s Double Down – Game Change 2012 (New York: Penguin Press, 2013), p. 128:

Trump was publicly sniffy about Romney as a capitalist, denigrating him as a “small-business guy,” and privately disdainful of Bain.  “They’d buy a company and fire everyone,” he told his associates.

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