UPDATED: This article has been corrected. Sheriff Babeu is not, as previously stated, a border county sheriff.
Robo invitations to tele-townhalls never get the attention they deserve. We’re going to rectify that slight today.
A robocall invitation aimed at assembling an audience for an evening telephone campaign event featuring Mitt Romney and
Arizona’s Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu is being taken by some as a direct attack on Gov. Rick Perry’s immigration policies.
“Rick Perry is part of the illegal immigration problem,” Babeu says in the message.
“A lot of the candidates agree we need a border fence. And almost all of them agree in-state tuition for illegal immigrants is wrong,” says Babeu, a prominent national spokesman against illegal immigration with rumored Congressional aspirations himself. “However, Rick Perry disagrees. Rick Perry not only opposes a border fence, but he signed the bill to make Texas the first state in the nation to grant in-state tuition discounts to illegal immigrants.”
The immigration issue is perceived to be a major liability for Gov. Perry, and the timing of the attack points to Romney’s intention to seriously contend at the rapidly approaching Iowa caucus.
Team Romney, however, is seeking to downplay the calls. A campaign spokesperson told TPM that these were not robocalls but messages left for people as an invitation to tele-townhalls. The campaign has done numerous tele-townhalls in Iowa so far, and the spokesperson said the messages did not reflect a change in strategy in the state.
Romney has only visited Iowa three times this year, but he has recently added staff and is planning to visit the state again on Monday.
“I will be here again and again,” Romney promised during his last visit just over two weeks ago. “I’d love to win Iowa. Any of us would.”
