Romney Widens the Poll Gap; Rollin Post

12 October 2011 |permalink | email article

Hours before last night’s Republican debate in New Hampshire Mitt Romney scored a major coup by securing the endorsement of Chris Christie who called the GOP frontrunner “the man we need to lead America.” It’s Romney’s latest effort to galvanize the party establishment behind his candidacy even as a few wealthy tycoons had earlier failed to convince the New Jersey governor to run.

Christie, a Catholic, said recent statements about Romney’s Mormonism, made by an evangelical pastor who supports Texas Gov. Rick Perry, were unacceptable and out of bounds. Romney asked Perry to repudiate the pastor’s remarks – a topic certain to emerge in the debate.

While Romney may deny any connection to President Obama’s health care law, some of the aides he used to craft his own reforms in Massachusetts tell a different story. NBC News reported that three of the governor’s top health care experts met dozens of times at the White House to discuss the Affordable Care Act. Christie said comparing Romney’s health care plan with the national plan signed by President Obama was “intellectually dishonest.” Romney chimed in, “He never discussed it with me.”

Remembering Rollin Post

I first meet Rollin in 1975 when launching The Political Animal newsletter. We were close friends over the years and those of us in the political world mourned his passing last week at 81 from complications arising from Alzheimer’s disease. He was a TV political journalist in the most enduring and respected way. He had a profound knowledge of politics and keen understanding for history. Born in New York City his father was a state legislator. His maternal grandfather, Rollin Kirby, was the first recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning.

In his 40-year broadcast career, at KPIX in San Francisco, and later, TV stations KQED and KRON, he covered nine presidential campaigns and 18 national political conventions. Quietly, and behind the scenes, Post played a key role in helping his longtime broadcast partner, Belva Davis, chart a pioneering role as the first black woman hired to appear on TV airwaves in California. He graduated from UC Berkeley in 1952 with a political science degree. The university should endow a journalism chair in his memory.

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