Law & Order: Romney Polling Unit

We love a good political whodunit, so when news surfaced late last week that former governor Mitt Romney was the victim of push polling, we started musing as if it were an episode of Law & Order. “It was Mike Huckabee! He was jealous that the Governor got all those conservative endorsements!” But the juiciest theory of all is that Romney’s supporters may have done it themselves.

It crossed our mind too, but the Herald discusses it at length.

Political strategists and bloggers slung accusations at Romney’s camp yesterday after a scathing article appeared in the National Review titled “Did Mitt Romney Push Poll Himself?” which identified several Romney supporters at Western Wats, a Utah-based firm believed to have made the calls. The practice of using phony polls to plant a negative message is commonly known as push-polling.

Just having a few supporters isn’t enough to totally convince us. But the National Review article finds a connection between Target Point, a company that has done extensive consulting for the Romney campaign, and Western Wats. Target Point denies its involvement, as does Romney campaign spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom.

“The idea that Mitt Romney or his supporters are spreading negative information about him is preposterous,” Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom told the Herald. “These paranoid delusions aren’t worthy of a serious response.”

That’s what all the perps on Law & Order say, Mr. Fehrnstrom.