Marc Ambinder has a troubling report that an Iowa Republican county chair who has been paid $3,000 by Mitt Romney’s campaign for “consulting” is moving to punish those who aren’t attending the Ames Straw poll by refusing to invite those candidates (or their representatives) to any political meetings in his county. That would be a blow to Romney’s three main rivals–Fred Thompson, Rudy Giuliani, and John McCain. Predictably, the Romney campaign and Hardin County chair Andy Cable are insisting that there is nothing improper, and that no conflict of interest exists. But even if this type of thing is technically legal, it strikes me as pretty sleazy.
