AMES: Dirty Tricks and Mormon Bashing

Mitt Romney's national political director, Carl Forti, said that he's received reports that Romney supporters are being telephoned and told that the buses transporting them to the straw poll have been canceled; it's false, of course -- the buses are running on time. The campaign is keeping track of their progress with a full phone bank that they've set up near the Hilton coliseum.

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Inevitably, anti-Mormon literature shows up at major Republican events, and a Council Bluffs, Iowa-based group called Christians for Truth is passing out a pamphlet entitled "Would Christians Vote For Mitt Romney???"

Here's an excerpt:

"We strongly believe that Jesus Christ, if he were alive in the flesh and voted, would never vote for Mitt Romney under any circumstances. Mitt Romney represents Mormonism which is counterfeit Christianity, a cult."

The pamphlet also bashes non-participants: Rudy Giuliani (for having "THREE WIVES, a notorious AFFAIR with his current wife:".... Newt Gingrich "AFFAIR, DIVORCE, ANOTHER AFFAIR, A SECOND DIVORCE," John McCain "AFFAIR, DIVORCE," and Fred Thompson, who had "TWO WIVES with his first child conceived out of wedlock."

The acceptable candidates: Brownback, Tommy Thompson, Ron Paul, Tom Tancredo, Duncan Hunter, and Huckabee."