The American Spectator

As Romney wraps up his time in SC( but hedges his bets with more media buys) an argument broke out between him and AP reporter Glenn Johnson when Romney claimed he had no senior advisors who were lobbyists. You can watch the video here. Two things strike me. First, Romney has many individuals working for or with him (in addition to Ron Kaufman whom Johnson mentioned) that have worked as lobbyists. It doesn’t mean they are unqualified or that lobbyists don’t also have expertise that is valued on a campaign. It is a silly thing to fib about and left Romney arguing about who was a “senior advisor.” Second, as the video runs a Romney’s press spokesman is seen lecturing Johnson about being “argumentative with the candidate.” Well, golly you never see the President having to deal with argumentative members of the media do you? Really, if you can’t take the heat…

UPDATE: A famous (fake) Frenchman agrees with my take on the Romney decision to beat a retreat from SC. And I agree with this take that the last thing McCain opponents want is him to build momentum going into Feb. 5.

UPDATE 2: Other campaigns are offering up the lobbying list for Romney: Tom Rath, Vin Weber, Warren Tompkins( advisor extraordinaire in SC), etc. Again, not to be too Seinfeldian but there is “nothing wrong with that.” Vin Weber for example is just the type of smart, experienced hand you want on a campaign. Just don’t lie about it. And worse don’t argue about it on camera.