Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/51236
4A Daily News –Wednesday, December 28, 2011 Pragmatism in Iowa could benefit Romney MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Republicans may be start- ing to choose with their heads rather than their hearts as the Jan. 3 caucuses approach. The ascent of libertarian-lean- ing Ron Paul and the lack of an ideologically pure consensus conservative seem to be awaken- ing a new sense of pragmatism in some Iowa Republicans. That bodes well for Mitt Romney, as a large chunk of undecided voters continues the search for someone capable of defeating President Barack Obama. ''A lot of the people I'm around are not Romney fans, but they are kind of acknowledging they think he's going to be the nominee, and that they'll plug their nose and vote for him,'' said Gwen Ecklund, Republican chairwoman in GOP-heavy Crawford County in conservative western Iowa. A week before voting begins in the fluid Republican race, interviews with a dozen Iowa political operatives and party activists — as well as internal polling by rival campaigns — suggest that some Iowans are increasingly concerned about Paul, whose views often stray from GOP orthodoxy, and have begun to fall in line behind Rom- ney instead of another candidate seen as more devoutly conserva- tive but weaker against Obama. Unlike Paul and his other opponents, there's room for Romney's support to grow. Pub- lic and private polling suggests he's more often the second choice of Republican caucus-goers than any other candidate, indicating that Republicans could be swayed in the coming week to support him over others. Conversely, few see Paul, the ideological libertarian, as a sub- stitute for their first choice of a hardline conservative. In a sign of Newt Gingrich's slide, Texas Gov. Rick Perry — who is seeing a slight bump as the Iowa cam- paign nears its end — is more often identified as a second choice than is Gingrich. ''When you have a race this fluid, second choices, I think, if you have good surrogates stand- ing up and making the pitch for you in the caucuses, you may be able to dislodge people from their first choice,'' said John Stineman, a West Des Moines Republican and former caucus campaign manager for Steve Forbes. Public polls show that at least half of caucus-goers are undecid- ed or could still change their mind, meaning Romney, the for- mer Massachusetts governor whose Mormon faith and rever- sals on social issues have left influential Iowa Christian conser- vatives feeling skeptical, now has an opportunity to try to seal the deal. Mindful of that, Romney is entering the final phase of the Iowa campaign with a confident air — and a push to win the con- test after trying to lower expecta- tions. He spent heavily here in 2008 only to lose big. Romney was launching a bus tour of Iowa Tuesday and starting to make his closing argument — essentially the same as his open- ing argument — that he is the strongest Republican to take on Obama on the No. 1 issue, the economy. Romney also was dis- patching surrogates from nearby states, including South Dakota Sen. John Thune, former Min- nesota Sen. Norm Coleman and former Missouri Sen. Jim Talent, to campaign in Iowa. His cam- paign also urged supporters dur- ing a conference call Monday to sign up to represent Romney at the caucuses — essentially meet- ings of GOP activists in the state's 1,774 precincts — and to stand up to speak on behalf of the campaign. Romney planned to spend four full days in the state, by far his longest trip in four years, to woo a fickle GOP electorate that hasn't settled on a front-runner. Of all the candidates, only for- mer Pennsylvania Sen. Rick San- torum has been denied a moment in the spotlight — even though he's scoured every corner of the state and, in recent days, has col- lected endorsements from key leaders in Iowa's influential social conservative movement. He urged more than 100 people in the ballroom of Mason City's historic Park Hotel on Tuesday to stick to their principles, saying: ''We need this election to be about someone who is a conserv- ative, and proud of it.'' In a race with no shortage of leaders this year, Paul has been the latest to become a leading, non-establishment alternative to Romney. But the newfound status has brought new scrutiny over Paul's unorthodox, non-interven- tionist foreign policy views and statements that appeared in newsletters he published in the early 1990s when he was not serving in Congress. Among the statements: ''Homosexuals, not to speak of the rest of society, were far better off when social pressure forced them to hide their activities.'' Another newsletter passage said ''if you have ever been robbed by a black teen-aged male, you know how unbelievably fleet- footed they can be.'' Paul previ- ously said such material was the work of ghostwriters, while acknowledging he bore ''some moral responsibility'' for it. It's all enough to worry some Iowa Republicans that Paul could marginalize the caucuses' impact should he win. ''The moderate and establish- ment Republicans are scared Ron Paul is going to have a good SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The cargo ship accident that dumped tens of thousands of gallons of thick, tarry ship fuel into San Francisco Bay caused lasting damage to the region's once-plentiful schools of Pacific herring, the bay's only commer- cially fished species, according to a study released Monday. Herring embryos col- lected from shorelines left coated in oil starting about 3 months after the November 2007 Cosco Busan spill suffered from unusually high death rates and a range of ailments and deformities associated with exposure to the chemicals in crude oil, the study found. ''The majority of embryos in samples from oiled sites were dead on examination in the labora- tory,'' wrote the study's authors, who were led by John Incardona, a toxicol- ogist with the fisheries division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. By 2010, death rates had returned to normal, but the embryos continued to show heart defects that are a common symptom in herring of oil exposure. The bay's Pacific her- ring are the largest coastal population in the conti- nental U.S. and a key ele- ment of the bay's complex food web, according to the study, which was pub- lished online by the Pro- ceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The spill that resulted from the massive cargo ship striking one of the pillars of the San Francis- co-Oakland Bay Bridge in heavy fog killed more than 6,800 birds and closed beaches to swim- mers for weeks. In 2009, California reg- ulators cancelled the bay's herring fishing season, which typically begins in January. The state said the herring populations in the bay had reached an all- time low, with the causes ranging from drought to pollution from the oil spill. The north-central San Francisco Bay shorelines left coated in oil and lit- tered with sticky tarballs are one of the historic spawning grounds for the bay's herring. Only about half the oil along those shores was recovered, and an unknown amount remained submerged near the water's edge, the study said. The study's authors knew from herring harmed in Alaska's Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989 that those same fish in San Francisco Bay would likely be threat- ened. Unlike the Valdez spill, which sent hundreds of thousands of barrels of crude oil spilling into Prince William Sound, the Cosco Busan leaked bunker fuel, a mix of diesel and fuel oil left over from the crude oil refining process. showing. If he wins Iowa, it's going to diminish the clout Iowa has,'' said Mark Greenfield, chairman of the Hamilton Coun- ty GOP who initially backed Perry but switched to Romney within the last two weeks, describing him as an ''electable leader.'' Santorum put it this way: ''The things most Iowans like about Ron Paul are the things he's least likely to accomplish,'' like Paul's plan to cut the deficit by $1 trillion in his first year, ''and the things most Iowans are worried about about Ron Paul are the things he can accomplish.'' Before Paul, Gingrich was at the top of the heap but he has slid in the wake of an onslaught of negative TV and radio ads — from both Paul and allies of Romney's — highlighting his collaboration on climate change with Democratic House Leader Nancy Pelosi and his consulting work for the federally backed mortgage giant Freddie Mac after he left the House. Leaflets noting his two divorces and acknowl- edged marital infidelity also have popped up across the state. Com- bined the attacks have damaged him — perhaps irreversibly so. Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann experienced a burst in popularity several months ago but wasn't able to sustain it. Perry, however, seems to be running slightly stronger than he has in months. He's drawn large, enthusiastic crowds during a bus tour and aides to rival candidates say favorability toward Perry is rising, though probably not enough to give him the late-game burst of momentum he'd need to win in Iowa. It's a sign that the roughly $5 million Perry has spent on advertising since late October, combined with more than $1 million from a super PAC that supports his candidacy, may be paying dividends. Study: SF Bay oil spill damaged herring