Phil, you are right of course, that Romney doesn’t want to get into an argument with Rudy about crime stats. The Tuttman story gave Rudy the opening to talk about his strong suit (and others to leap into the affirmative action debate) but Romney did not need to take the bait. Stories like this suggest maybe Judge Tuttman was not in the wrong (good for Romney that his judge wasn’t a liberal wimp but bad since he instantly threw her under the bus) but also that crime was not a top priority for Romney. Every minute spent on this by Romney is not spent on immigration, or taxes or fending off Huckabee. That is perhaps the biggest downside for him of a story like this.
