Former senior strategist for the Mitt Romney campaign, Alex Castellanos, is ready to play taps for a leading rival.
On CNN today.
CASTELLANOS: Well, I think this is the end of his [Huckabee's] political career, and I think deservedly so.
He has a history of pardons and commutations in Arkansas.... it is part of a thousand pardons and commutations he gave even to violent criminals, and they're still out there today. So it's an on-going issue.
The interesting thing is, Wolf, that most campaigns in 2008 Republican campaigns had this information, [but] didn't use it. McCain didn't want to. He wanted to keep Huckabee on the right to divide the Romney vote. And the Romney campaign, of which I was a part, had two spots ready to go in New Hampshire, [and we] didn't use them.
WOLF BLITZER: Why?
CASTELLANOS: The campaign thought -- I think -- that they were too tough.
BLITZER: Was that a Mitt Romney decision, personally? Did he make that decision?
CASTELLANOS: That was made at the top level of the campaign.
BLITZER: So I assume that would be Mitt Romney.
Castellanos indicates that his boss laid off on attacking Huckabee over the case of Wayne Dumond, who was found guilty of rape and murder after Huck commuted his sentence.
To a certain extent, that might be true. But this ad from the season is pretty tough on Huck's record on crime, even though it doesn't specifically mention Dumond, and Castellanos has been called the GOP's "ultimate hit man" for his negative ads.
Regardless of how tough Mitt did or didn't go, Castellanos' words today indicate that things could get much more caustic in 2012 match.
[Hat tip: Hot Air]
