Hotline After Dark -- Project Campaign

Mitt Romney was on the "Live Desk" 11/14:

Asked about Giuliani saying he's concentrating his campaign on the 2/5 states: "If you go to Iowa and New Hampshire you'll see that Mayor Giuliani and his surrogates and his advertisements and his mailers and so forth are hot and heavy in the early primary states. He doesn't want to lose. He wants to do well and it doesn't look like he's been able to catch fire either in Iowa or New Hampshire in the kind of way he hoped. ... I think one of the reason you've seen such a changing in the ledes here in the case of Fred Thompson and Mayor Giuliani and Senator McCain is that they just haven't ignited the kind of support in Iowa and New Hampshire you may have expected."

Asked why he hasn't give a "Mormon speech": "There's really nothing new on that front. ... Ultimately, of course, the decision is mine. ... I'd like to, at some point, talk to people about the role of religion in America. ... Whether there's a speech on that topic or not, who knows? There's nothing of that nature that's been written by me; nothing that I'm planning on giving at that this point but perhaps down the road that might be an interesting topic to talk about" (FNC, 11/14).

HERE I COME

Mike Huckabee was on "Tucker" last night:

On his campaign: "Up until now, a lot of folks have been tuned out, except for the political insiders. They're the ones who have written my political obituary for the past 11 months. Now they're having to do some rewrites, which I think has been kind of fun for us."

On the conservative leaders' endorsing other '08ers: "I think some of the leaders are maybe disconnected with the army. It's kind of like you got generals going one way, but the entire army is going a different way. You know what, I'll take 100,000 soldiers over one general any day."

More: "I'm disappointed, but not bitter about it. Because as long as the rank and file people who are pro life know that I'm the only guy that did the march for life every year, actually passed legislation. They endorsed a guy at the national level that doesn't even support the Human Life Amendment, which has been a part of the Republican platform since 1980. They have got more explaining to do than I do on that one."

On Romney criticizing him for proposing that children of illegal immigrants be illegible for gov't scholarships: "You don't punish a child for the crime of the parent. What we were proposing in Arkansas -- it didn't get passed, by the way -- I stand by it -- is that if a student has excelled academically, and if that student is willing to become a citizen, which was part of the provision, then you would give them the opportunity to get the same scholarships that any other student who had done the same thing would be able to do. That way, that person becomes a tax payer, instead of tax taker" (MSNBC, 11/14).

HOT POLITICAL TALK

And here's some of the best political pundit points:

FNC's Cameron: "Giuliani loves the idea that Huckabee is surging, because anything that hurts Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani believes, will only help him in later states, because Romney won't be around without his millions of dollars" ("Special Report," 11/14).

New York Post's Dicker, asked if HRC had anything to do with Spitzer's decision on drivers' licenses for illegal immigrants: "Yes, we believe she did. ... I was told at a very high level in New York politics that Mrs. Clinton's campaign, some of her top people, signaled to Governor Spitzer's people that he had damaged her. They were wondering what the heck was he up to, why did he bring it to the fore now, and made it clear that the governor was hurting her and that he ought to back down if he wanted to help her, which he says he wants to do" ("Hardball," MSNBC, 11/14).

CNN's Blitzer, on tonight's debate: "I fully expect John Edwards will be very aggressive. He has not let down at all. If anything, he has picked up his tempo. ... He may have felt uncomfortable a while back, but he certainly doesn't feel uncomfortable doing it now. ... So, I suspect we will see a lot of that tomorrow night" ("AC 360," 11/14). [EMILY GOODIN]