Romney Camp Source of Cain Leak?

Tony Silva

A Northern Virginia blogger with a legal background has unearthed a credible link between the recent "sexual harassment" story about Herman Cain and the Romney campaign.  The link comes in the form of a significant donation to the Romney camp this summer from the man who succeeded Cain as president of the National Restaurant Association, Steven C. Anderson.   According to Paul Brados, who's investigation into FEC records uncovered the donation, he confirmed that the Steven C. Anderson in the FEC database is the same person who succeeded Cain and would have had access to the records in question.

If true, there remains plausible deniability for Romney and his media supporters as Anderson could have acted alone.  It is unclear why Brados believes a campaign donation is conclusive proof of a coordinated effort to provide opposition research to one of the campaigns.  However, while it is a believable scenario that an enthusiastic supporter with access to this information would find a way to get it into the hands of someone in the Romney camp who is able to get it into the public arena, it is more likely that the information was leaked to a prominent Romney supporter with media connections and the political savvy to get it before the public without the Romney camp being involved at all.  That could happen if one of the Romney apologists in the media with a reputation for "making things happen" got the "plain Manila envelope" containing the tip.  Only Karl Rove fits that profile.  In his appearance on FoxNews Monday evening, Rove was more animated in his nightly rant against Cain than he has been for the whole cycle.  You could almost see the veins bursting from Rove's neck as he poured forth his wisdom about Cain's presumed moral failure.

The notion of collusion between any campaign operative and the media aside from the daily talking points and press releases that are part and parcel to the process is repugnant to all of us.  But when media operatives work together to surface a story it is unconscionable.  Making sure something happened with random information provided by an enthusiastic supporter fits the Rove attack profile that successfully got George W. Bush nominated, elected and re-elected.  If he was involved -- even if acting on his own -- it could have a devastating effect on both Romney and his media arm in FoxNews.  Already, fellow FoxNews commentators have condemned the action and acknowledged rumors of an "un-named GOP campaign" as the source.  Tuesday evening on the O'Reilley Factor, Bill O'Reilley refused to name the rumored source because it could not be confirmed.  If it was a fellow employee of FNC, known to be promoting the Romney effort, it's doubtful Mr. Rove would be a target in the "No-Spin Zone".

So the list of "suspected leakers" grows.  Initially the prime suspect was the Obama campaign... then Perry was floated as a possible culprit.  Some have even played the "who would benefit most" game as an explanation of why they thought Bachmann would be the pigeon.  But Bachmann was herself the target of this same kind of strategy -- a "random" leak about her having migraines.  Then, the suspected source was also the Romney camp.  In the end, all this speculation proves is that Romney is quite possibly the most hated political figure in the GOP.  His sleazy operation in 2008 automatically makes him the prime suspect anytime something of this scurrilous nature comes down the pike.  That may not be fair to Governor Romney, but the blogosphere did not earn him a reputation for unethical campaigning.   He did that on his own in 2008.  Having Karl Rove as his thinly disguised media advocate only compounds the image.  

So the "credible link" is credible only because the character of Romney and Rove are known.  The character of Herman Cain is largely unknown, but those who know him best seem to be better character references than Karl Rove has been for Romney.