According to this Washington Post article, Fred Thompson got upset when told about his supporters getting push polled. Here’s how Fred got to the bottom of things:

At a steak house in this small town west of Columbia, a man in the small crowd told Thompson that many people had gotten such calls in the past 24 hours. Thompson asked anyone who had received such a call to raise his or hand. At least a dozen hands shot up. The former senator said he’d heard of push polls accusing him of supporting partial birth abortion.

“They’re taking the most outrageous, easily disproved things that they can come up with. It’s amazing to me. Its so ham-handed,” Thompson said. “I had a 100 percent pro-life voting record over 8 years.”

Trey Taylor, 41, told The Post that he’d gotten a call in which, after he’d revealed his preference for Thompson, a recorded voice said Thompson had lobbied on behalf of a “radical” pro-abortion organization. The recording then cited Huckabee’s anti-abortion record.

According to this CBS article, Fred’s called on Gov. Huckabee to put a stop to the calls:

Fred Thompson called on Mike Huckabee to put a stop to push polling calls that misrepresent Thompson’s record. “I find it ironic that this man would talk about cleaner politics and rising above the fray,” Thompson said, “while this is going on right under his nose.”

At an event in Prosperity today, a Thompson volunteer stood up during the audience questions portion and said a lot of people had received negative phone calls that “misrepresented your record.” “Really?” Thompson asked, seeming genuinely surprised. “Could I ask you to raise your hand if you got a phone call like that?” Roughly half the 75 people in attendance raised their hands.

“Good gracious,” Thompson said. “Who do they say is calling? Do they say anything good about any candidate?” “Huckabee,” the audience responded. “They’re picking the most outrageous, easily disproved things that they could come up with,” Thompson said, referring to the substance of the calls, which say that Thompson supported so-called “partial-birth” abortions. “It’s amazing to me, it’s so ham-handed. I call on the governor to put a stop to this.”

Huckabee’s campaign has said it doesn’t know anything about the push polls and doesn’t condone them. Thompson pointed to his endorsement from the National Right to Life Committee and several state right to life organizations as proof of his anti-abortion rights credentials.

That’s a rather passive response on Gov. Huckabee’s behalf. I’ll take him at his word that he doesn’t know anything about them but just saying that they don’t condone them seems passive at best. The proper response is to villify the people doing the push-polling, then telling them to stop such calls immediately.

WCBD-TV is reporting that an organization named Common Sense Issues is behind the calls:

Huckabee’s campaign quickly disavowed the push polling and Common Sense executive director Patrick Davis says his group is not affiliated with the former Arkansas governor.

Davis says his group is backing Huckabee because of his views on issues including a strong defense and cutting taxes.

That’s laughable. Why would this organization tell South Carolinians that Fred Thompson supported “partial birth abortion” if they’re now saying that they’re “backing Huckabee because of his views on issues including a strong defense and cutting taxes”?

This organization should be sued into oblivion if it’s supported by the facts. If they’re saying these types of things, which I believe they are, then this organization is sleazy to its core.

I’d further demand that the Huckabee campaign be investigated for possible ties to this organization.

This type of thing is why I think the polling is wrong. If Fred wasn’t closing the gap and possibly overtaking Huckabee, this organization wouldn’t be doing this. This organization obviously sees Fred as a threat to their prefered candidate because Fred’s the only candidate that’s been mentioned in the push-polling. They didn’t go after McCain. They didn’t go after Romney. Just Fred.

Erick at RedState has a must-read post up on the Thompson campaign. Based on Erick’s reporting, Huckabee is feeling Fred’s heat:

At events in rural areas today, despite sleet, snow, and ice, Thompson saw large crowds. Likewise, Huckabee has escalated his attacks. This bears with conventional wisdom from reporters I talked to who have said they are seeing Huckabee going down and Thompson going up in the polling.

I’ve always beleived that a man of integrity didn’t worry about close scrutiny. If someone wants to check me out, fine. They won’t find anything disquieting. Based solely on Gov. Huckabee’s campaign going negative, I’d say that he doesn’t want people srutinizing his record because he knows it won’t fly.

One thing that’s indisputable: Fred’s getting noticed by conservatives wanting to take their party back. Once that reaches critical mass, the entire dynamic of this race changes dramatically.

UPDATE: Jim Geraghty just laid the wood to Gov. Huckabee and Huckabee’s supporters in this post:

More than a few South Carolina readers have reported the same calls, as well as
Campaign Spot Senior South Carolina Correspondent.

I’m neither impressed by the Huckabee campaign, nor from Common Sense Issues, the group behind the calls.

Sure, the Huckabee campaign says they don’t support this, and they’re calling on it to stop. But let’s see some anger. Let’s have Huckabee call up Davis, the guy who’s doing this and say, “stop it, you’re hurting my campaign.” Come on out and denounce Davis as a mudslinging slime merchant who’s manufacturing cynicism on a grand scale. (They’re saying they’ll make a million calls in South Carolina!) The governor’s a good wordsmith, I’m sure he can put it even better than that. Let’s see some fire and brimstone. Tepid words to the Associated Press aren’t going to deter Davis.

If Huckabee supporters want to make Thompson’s lobbying in two or three meetings 17 years ago the reason Republicans shouldn’t vote for him in the primary, they should come on out and say it. Don’t do this in the dark of night, hoping to reach primary voters who aren’t familiar with the issue. If this really was such an objectionable, disqualifying bit of Thompson’s background, we would be hearing it from the candidate himself.

Thanks, Mr. Geraghty, for putting things this eloquently. As I said earlier in this post, I thought that Gov. Huckabee’s response was passive. If that’s the best he can do in confronting a push-poller, then I don’t want him negotiating with a hardline foreign leader.

Technorati Tags: Mike Huckabee, Common Sense Issues, Push-Polling, Tax Cuts, National Security, Abortion, Fred Thompson, Election 2008

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog