This morning, the Mormon-gate story continues to develop, with NRO's Mark Hemingway publishing a piece that-- if you read it closely-- pins blame for orchestration of the Western Wats calls causing the hubbub with Romney strategist Alex Gage. The latest development, set out by Hemingway, is that there's an established connection between Target Point Consulting, Gage's firm, and Western Wats, the company that placed the phone calls in question. And there's publicly available information to prove it, too.

I'll admit that while Hemingway's piece is interesting, and it further inclines me to think that someone within the larger Romney circle is likely to blame for this, I don't think it's a KO in proving that fault for all this lies with Team Romney, per se. From conversations I've had offline, however, others seem slightly more convinced. And, so, I think it's fair to say, does RedState:

The web of connections Hemingway cites certainly supports the idea that a friends or associates of Romney, trying to help a candidate they support, did something incredibly stupid and highly unethical.

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as for Alex Gage and the Romney associates who are apparently behind these efforts: in a campaign where the faith of your candidate has been respected by the overwhelming majority of voters and activists, you've managed to create out of thin air the kind of bigoted attack that cheapens the process and expects the worst of the American people. Nice strategy, folks. We hope you're happy.

RedState are right that what Hemingway reports supports the notion that someone generally in the Romney camp, if not part of the actual campaign team or the candidate himself, is involved. Personally, however, I want to wait for a...

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In yesterday and today's Mormon-gate frenzy, I missed some news of interest. McCain won the endorsement of former Colorado Lt. Gov. Jane Norton.

This is a big get for McCain, at least in my eyes. Norton is a fave of mine, and I had very much hoped she would run for the open Colorado Senate seat next year. Sadly, she's not doing that. But, if the GOP takes more hits in Colorado next year, and the lesson is learned about the state being more drawn these days to fiscally conservative, socially moderate Republicans, she could be a shoo-in for a Republican nomination for the next big statewide race. OK, in fairness, if she'd wanted to enter the Senate race this year, she probably would have been, too. But nonetheless...

Note that this also helps shore up McCain's credentials in the increasingly libertarian-ish looking Mountain West-- a subject which readers will know is of particular interest to me.

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I've been talking to a number of people about this issue of calls being made to voters in IA and NH saying not very nice things about Mormonism all day, and here are some thoughts.

First off, I've been pleased to see that the McCain camp was quick in calling for an investigation by the NH AG into the calls. Per a McCain press release:

Today, the McCain New Hampshire Leadership Committee intends to file a complaint with the New Hampshire Attorney General's office seeking a full investigation to determine who was behind the push poll. The Leadership Committee calls on all the other Republican campaigns to join us as parties to this complaint. These tactics are repugnant and despicable and there is no place in New Hampshire politics for push polling or any other negative tactics that engage in personal attacks. It is especially shameful that those responsible would hide behind a push poll to impugn a candidate's faith.

As readers will know, in 2002, in the context of John Sununu's campaign, dodgy-dealing with respect to phone calls became a major issue. It is illegal in NH to do calls without identifying the party on whose behalf they're made (or the candidate being opposed), as seems to have occurred here. Hence, the relevance of an investigation and a complaint being filed in relation to this incident.

Second, I've been less impressed with the Romney camp's swift move to tie all of this to McCain-Feingold. The issue here is one of religious bigotry being shopped to voters-- not of the utility of campaign finance reform, of which I personally am no great fan. And, it's interesting that the Romney camp has moved in this direction so quickly. Sure, they n...

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