Romney hits Huckabee on pardons

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) is running a new ad in Iowa Tuesday that portrays Romney’s new chief rival in the state, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, as being soft on crime.

The ad, entitled “Choice: Judgment,” points out that Romney did not issue a single pardon during his time as governor, compared to the 1,033 pardons and commutations Huckabee granted during his tenure.

{mosads}Huckabee, who has skyrocketed from nowhere to lead in most Iowa polls, has come under fire from a number of conservatives for his role in the pardon of Wayne DuMond, a paroled rapist who later allegedly raped and killed another woman.

While Romney’s ad doesn’t specifically mention the DuMond episode, it does clearly try to make the case that Romney is strong on crime and Huckabee is not.

It notes that Huckabee’s 1,033 pardons were more than those granted by the previous three Arkansas governors combined — which includes former President Bill Clinton. A dozen of those pardoned were convicted murderers.

“The ad highlights the very important choice voters will have to make when it comes to fighting crime in the United States,” Romney spokesman Kevin Madden said in a statement. “While Govs. Romney and Huckabee both believe in protecting life and traditional marriage, they have very different crime records.”

The Huckabee campaign responded with a point-by-point defense of the allegations made in Romney’s ad.

Huckabee’s campaign responded that in Arkansas, every person convicted of a crime is eligible to apply for clemency, which led to almost 9,000 applications during Huckabee’s 10 and a half years in office. The former governor denied 88 percent of those applications, the campaign said.

“Some Governors are content to simply deny the vast majority of clemency applications without bothering to consider their merit,” the campaign said in an e-mail. “Governor Huckabee, however, believed that respect for the legal process required that he give them the consideration for which they were entitled.”