GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich (Photo: Wikimedia Commons/Gage Skidmore)

Republican presidential favorite Newt Gingrich has pledged his support for the controversial anti-abortion movement known as “fetal personhood,” by signing a pledge that has yet to be signed by opponent Mitt Romney.

Personhood USA, the group behind “fetal personhood” petitions that have appeared in states across the country, announced yesterday that Gingrich had signed its pledge. In doing so, he opposes ”assisted suicide, euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research, and procedures that intentionally destroy developing human beings” and agrees to “work to advance state and federal laws and amendments that recognize the unalienable right to life of all human beings as persons at every stage of development.”

“To the best of my knowledge, I will only appoint federal judges and relevant officials who will uphold and enforce state and federal laws recognizing that all human beings at every stage of development are persons with the unalienable right to life,” Gingrich pledged.

In November, Gingrich said he would support a national personhood bill, which would define life as beginning at the moment of conception. He clarified his words earlier this month, telling ABC News’ Jake Tapper he believes life actually begins at “successful implantation,” not fertilization.

Other pledge signers include presidential contenders Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.).

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has yet to sign the pledge, adding ammunition to those who have criticized him for being a “flip-flopper” when it comes to hot-button issues like abortion. In a Thursday morning appearance on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani blasted Romney for changing his positions on both abortion and health care reform.

Romney refused to sign a different anti-abortion pledge earlier this year, arguing it was “too broad.”

Of the approximately 15 Republicans who have either announced or hinted a run for president in 2012, the abortion-rights policy group NARAL Pro-Choice America has identified the 12 most prominent potential contenders as presenting a threat to women’s access to abortion and family-planning services.

On Thursday, NARAL policy directors briefed reporters on a new report analyzing the records and statements of current GOP candidates, released just before the Ames Straw Poll in Iowa on Aug. 13. It is the first phase of the organization’s election-related analysis, said NARAL communications director Ted Miller.

“As the campaign evolves and one of these candidates emerges, we will be comparing his or her [record on abortion rights] to Obama’s,” Miller said.

The report highlights each potential candidate’s record on abortion-related legislation, pledges to anti-abortion rights organizations and public statements. Neither the report nor NARAL directors would rank the candidates in terms of being more or less “anti-choice” than others. Melissa Moskowitz, deputy policy director and general counsel, said that based on the research, all the GOP candidates are considered by NARAL to be “anti-choice,” except for former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, whose past statements have made his stance on abortion rights unclear.

“The outcome of the 2012 presidential election very well could determine whether abortion remains legal and accessible for the next generation of American women,” said NARAL policy director Donna Crane. “The occupant of the White House wields more power over reproductive rights than any other person. … Depending on who occupies the office, that unique authority can be used either to protect or to take away our rights. “

A breakdown of NARAL’s findings:

1. U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn., 2007-present; former state senator, 2001-2007)

During her four years in Congress, Bachmann has cast 12 “anti-choice” votes, according to NARAL researchers.

She voted for the House-passed No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act; she voted to prohibit the District of Columbia from using local revenue to provide abortion services for low income women; and she voted for U.S. Rep. Steve King’s (R-Iowa) amendment to the 2012 Agriculture Appropriations bill, which would block the Food and Drug Administration from using funds for testing, approving or regulating the abortion-inducing drug mifepristone. In the Minnesota state Senate in 2001, she co-sponsored a constitutional amendment to block public funding of any organization associated with an organization that provides, counsels or refers for abortion. She signed the Susan B. Anthony List’s anti-abortion rights presidential pledge.

Speaking on the House floor in February 2009 in opposition to the “Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act of 2009″:

“Contraceptives can cause serious medical problems like blood clots and migraine headaches. Even worse, they can be dispensed in certain combinations to prevent implantation of a new baby, a form of abortion that many parents and young girls find morally reprehensible. This ‘morning after pill’ can also be used to hide evidence of sexual abuse, one of the very forms of abuse that his legislation is seeking to prevent.”

2. Herman Cain (former chief executive of Godfather’s Pizza)

Cain has no legislative voting record, but he has signed a “Protect the Unborn Pledge,” when he ran for U.S. Senate in 2004, pledging to introduce legislation that would “restore legal, moral protection of unborn human life”; confirm conservative federal judges; oppose abortion for pregnancy resulting from rape or incest.

He, however, did not sign the SBA List’s pledge, stating in his defense:

“In no way does this singular instance of clarification denote an abandonment of the pro-life movement, but is instead a testament to my respect for the balance of power and the role of the presidency.”

In 2004, Cain released a statement on the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision. In part, he wrote:

“Unbelievably, the decision of Roe v. Wade shows that our nation still chooses to place human convenience over the sanctity of human life.”

3. Newt Gingrich (former speaker of the House, 1995-1998; former U.S. rep. of Georgia, 1979-1998)

NARAL reports that Gingrich cast 74 votes on abortion and other reproductive-rights issues; 72 of those were considered to be “anti-choice.” He has repeatedly voted for the Federal Abortion Ban, which criminalizes some abortion services, and he has voted to eliminate the Title X family-planning program. He signed the SBA List pledge last month.

From Gingrich’s 2012 presidential campaign website:

“End taxpayer subsidies for abortion by repealing Obamacare, defunding Planned Parenthood, and reinstating the ‘Mexico City Policy’ which banned funding to organizations that promote and/or perform abortions overseas.”

4. Mayor Rudy Giuliani (former mayor of New York City, 1994-2001)

NARAL notes that as mayor, Giuliani “supported pro-choice measures” but has since made “conflicting statements regarding his position on choice.”

In 1994, he signed into a measure similar to the federal “Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act,” which established criminal and civil penalties for those who damage or obstruct access to abortion and family-planning clinics.

Conflicting statements:

During his first mayoral campaign in 1989, in an interview with New York Magazine:

“I am opposed to abortion. I have advocated the reversal of Roe v. Wadebecause I think it was incorrectly decided.”

In a press statement later in 1989, quoted by The New York Times:

“As mayor, Rudy Giuliani will uphold a woman’s right of choice to have an abortion. Giuliani will fund all city programs which provide abortions to insure that no woman is deprived of her right due to an inability to pay. … He will oppose making abortion illegal.”

In a 1999 interview:

“I’m pro-abortion.”

In 2007, during a GOP presidential debate, when asked if the repeal of Roe v. Wadewould be a “good day for America,” he said:

“It would be OK to repeal.”

5. Jon Huntsman (former governor of Utah, 2005-2009)

As governor, Huntsman signed into law measures that established a state fund to defend abortion restrictions in court, criminalized some abortion services and required minors seeking abortions to notify their parents even if they come from purportedly “violent, abusive, or neglectful homes.”

Huntsman also passed laws considered “pro-choice” by NARAL: a bill that promotes sexually transmitted disease prevention by establishing a public education campaign and a bill that ensures that sexual assault victims receive information on and access to emergency contraception.

From a statement made when Huntsman announced his campaign:

“I do not believe the Republican party should focus only on our economic life – to the neglect of our human life. … If Republicans ignore life, the deficit we will face is one that is much more destructive. It will be a deficit of the heart and of the soul.”

6. Sarah Palin (former governor of Alaska, 2006-2009)

As governor, Palin cut more than $1 million from a state housing program for teen mothers.

She has advocated for the right to an abortion only in the instance where a mother’s life would be at risk, but not in cases of rape or incest.

Palin has stated:

“The Supreme Court, along with the rest of the federal judiciary, has tremendous power over our lives today. Their rulings mean the difference between the survival of innocent life and the state-sanctioned killing of innocent life. The reason this is the case is because so many of the people who appoint and approve our judges and justices erroneously believe the courts duty isn’t to interpret the law but to MAKE the law.”

7. U.S. Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas, 1979-1985 and 1997-present)

NARAL’s researchers found that Paul has cast 106 votes on abortion and reproductive-rights issues, 93 percent of them “anti-choice.” He signed the SBA pledge last month. He has authored legislation that gives “personhood” rights to an embryo and a fetus; he has repeatedly voted for the Federal Abortion Ban; and has repeatedly voted against international family-planning programs.

In an interview with The American View, when asked if abortion should come with a penalty:

“The girl who goes and gets an abortion, she’s a participant in it, I don’t think she deserves the death penalty. … But there are some abortionists that it wouldn’t be very hard to give them a pretty harsh punishment, because, you know, nothing annoys me more than the fact that an abortionist can make money killing a live viable fetus, in the third trimester, and they think nothing about it. … And yet, one minute after birth, that same mother, who might throw the child way, rightfully is called to task, and actually charged with murder. So that inconsistency has to be resolved.”

8. Tim Pawlenty (former governor of Minnesota, 2003-2011; state* rep. 1993-2003)

As a state* representative, Pawlenty co-sponsored a bill that criminalized some abortion services and carried a 15-year prison sentence for doctors. As governor, he signed into law a measure that prohibits organizations receiving state funds from referring women for abortion services.

He has also signed into law what NARAL deems “pro-choice” measures: a bill ensuring access to emergency contraception for rape victims, a bill improving access to family-planning services for low-income women and a bill expanding Medicaid to cover more pregnant low-income women in Minnesota.

He signed the SBA pledge.

During a closed-to-the-press anti-abortion fundraiser for the SBA List in March 2010:

“We don’t honor the Constitution when we elevate a vague idea that is the right to privacy over the right to life.”

9. Gov. Rick Perry (governor of Texas, 2000-present; lieutenant governor 1999-2000; Texas House rep., 1985-1991)

As governor in 2005, he signed into law a measure banning abortion after “viability,” without any exception. In 2003, he signed into law a bill requiring women to receive a state-mandated lecture on “risks” to abortion (which organizations such as NARAL claim are medically inaccurate); this year Perry updated the law, requiring some women to make more than one to trip to the abortion provider before being able to obtain an abortion.

Perry has also signed into law measures NARAL considers to be “pro-choice:” a bill increasing access to health-care services for pregnant women and a bill expanding sex-education for young people.

At an anti-abortion rally in Los Angeles last month:

“Roe v. Wade is nothing but a shameful footnote in our nation’s history books.”

10. Charles Elson “Buddy” Roemer III (former governor of Louisiana, 1988-1992; U.S. House rep. 1981-1988)

Roemer cast 13 out of 16 “anti-choice” votes. He has voted against international family-planning programs, and he has signed legislation to ban contraceptive services and counseling or referral for abortion at school-based health centers.

Roemer has also vetoed legislation that would ban abortion except in cases where the woman’s life is in danger or in cases of rape or incest.

At the South Carolina GOP debate in May:

“I do believe in exceptions like rape and incest in order for the sanctity of the family to be protected. But I’m a pro-lifer and I thought that the federal money spent on Planned Parenthood that went directly to abortions — one of the leading abortion organizations in the country — was strong, and is wrong, and must be stopped.”

11. Mitt Romney (former governor of Massachusetts, 2003-2007)

During his time as governor, Romney’s position on abortion rights shifted from being pro- to anti-.

In 2005 he vetoed a measure that would have increased access to emergency contraception by allowing pharmacists to dispense the pill without a prescription. From 1998 to 2006, the state used “abstinence-only” funds for public service announcements, not classroom courses, according to the Boston Globe.

In an interview with the National Review Online in 2007:

“I’d like to see Roe v. Wade overturned and allow the states and the elected representatives of the people and the people themselves have the ability to put in place pro-life legislation. And of course it’s our aspiration that at some point we’ll see a nation that doesn’t have abortion.”

12. Rick Santorum (former U.S. senator of Pennsylvania, 1995-2007; U.S. rep., 1991-1995)

In the House, Santorum cast 27 “anti-choice” votes on reproductive-rights related issues; in the Senate he cast 72 out of 74 “anti-choice” votes. He has voted for “personhood” rights of an embryo, in favor of the Federal Abortion Ban and in favor of two Supreme Court and six lower court justice nominees with outspoken anti-abortion rights positions.

On an appearance on the New Hampshire Radio Station WEZS:

“The reason Social Security is in big trouble is we don’t have enough workers to support the retirees. Well, a third of all the young people in America are not in America today because of abortion, because one in three pregnancies end in abortion.”

*Correction: TAI incorrectly stated former Gov. Tim Pawlenty was a U.S. representative between 1993 and 2003. He was a Minnesota state representative. We regret the error

In her original lawsuit, Regan alleged that a News Corp. executive had pressured her to lie to federal officials investigating then-New York City police commissioner Bernard Kerik. Kerik was a favorite of then-Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and had been nominated to the post of secretary at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in 2004 at Giuliani’s recommendation. Kerik’s ascension to the position unraveled when it was revealed that he had hired an undocumented alien worker as a nanny; the federal probe News Corp. is alleged to have meddled in was (unrelated to the nanny) a tax fraud investigation that led to Kerik’s imprisonment (he’s now one year into a four-year sentence).

So how is Regan tied to this whole business? It gets even more sordid: the reason she knew Kerik well enough to be of interest in the federal investigation was because the two of them had an affair during the writing, publication and press tour of his 2001 memoir, Lost Son, which was published through an imprint of HarperCollins. Her suit claimed that close ties between higher-ups at News Corp. and then-presidential hopeful Giuliani were behind the push to have her lie to investigators. Because she reached a settlement with News Corp. and signed a non-disclosure agreement, Regan has never said who told her to lie, but the New York Times reports that a recent fee dispute filed by her former lawyers names Roger Ailes, chairman and CEO of Fox News.

It’s now up to the Department of Justice to decide whether to charge Ailes. This weekend, a post from financial writer Barry Ritholtz on his blog, The Big Picture, reported that the DOJ may do just that. Ritholtz said that he recently spoke with someone who was supposed to be hosting Ailes at a March event, but that the executive canceled, citing “legal reasons.” Ritholtz’s source told him that he believes Ailes will be indicted as early as today. Salon reports that Ritholtz’s insider is an “Upper East Side Democrat” whom Ritholtz met by chance at a Barbados airport. While the reliability of Ritholtz’s source cannot be independently verified, Ritholtz wasn’t quite as definitive in an interview with Salon’s Justin Elliott as he was when he put up the post with the title “Roger Ailes to be Indicted.” Ritholtz told Elliott, “If it’s true we’ll find out. If it’s not, no big deal.” Fox News, for one, isn’t speaking on the matter.

Rick Scott won the Florida Republican primary for governor Tuesday. (St. Petersberg Times/ZUMApress.com)

In an upset, former health care executive Rick Scott won Florida’s Republican primary for governor tonight, beating Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum, according to the Associated Press.

Unknown candidate Mike McAlister earned about 10 percent of the vote. McCollum was all but expected to win the nomination until Rick Scott entered the race, and some polls in recent days showed him with a slight lead.

Scott, who has never held elected office, only announced his candidacy in late April and spent almost $40 million, out of of $218 million he has in disclosed assets. He ran on his business experience as former CEO of the for-profit hospital chain Columbia/HCA, despite the fact that he was forced out after the company paid $1.7 billion to the U.S. government for Medicare and Medicaid fraud. Last year, he founded the group Conservatives for Patients Rights to fight against the Obama health care plan.

Late in the election, The Florida Independent, The Washington Independent’s sister-site, reported on new allegations against another health care chain he co-founded, Solantic, that included Medicare overbilling and using doctors licenses at clinics they did not operate at.

McCollum had been a former congressman from Orlando from 1981 to 2001; he won the race for attorney general in 2006. He had lost two nominations for U.S. Senate. McCollum had the endorsement of top Republicans like Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee and most Republican leaders across the state.

The race was among the most negative the country. Buoyed by his self-funding, Scott ran ads attacking McCollum for being a career politician, and McCollum and associated groups ran ads attacking Scott for his tenure at Columbia/HCA. McCollum lost out on state matching funds over the spending cap of $24.9 million after a Federal Appeals Court in Atlanta declared an injunction against it after Scott’s lawyers filed suit against it.

Scott has a difficult task in uniting the party. He will have to persuade the vast majority of state Republicans who backed McCollum and the to support him. The RPOF condemned Scott for linking McCollum to disgraced former party chairman Jim Greer, who faces criminal charges related to funneling party money into his own checking account.

Scott now faces Democratic Florida CFO Alex Sink and independent candidate Bud Chiles in the general election.

When Crist arrived, Giuliani made his appeal–and was thrilled with the reply.

“I’d like to support you,” Crist said.

… Giuliani’s team so valued their new prize that they proceeded to build their entire fall strategy around it.

Then, in October, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) had a one-on-one meeting with Crist, convincing him that Giuliani couldn’t win.

A few weeks later, in early November, the Giuliani people got the word from Florida that Crist’s endorsement was being suspended until further notice. Giuliani tried to reach Crist, but he was out of the country, on a Latin American trade mission — having taken Giuliani’s nomination strategy with him.

Now, Crist is sagging in the polls in his Senate run. Giuliani gets to stick the knife in him.

Through his spokesman, Rudy Giuliani has clarified the remarks he made this morning on GMA regarding terrorist attacks on the United States under Presidents Bush and Obama.

The Mayor’s spokesman says that the remark “didn’t come across as it was intended” and that Giuliani was “clearly talking post-9/11 with regards to Islamic terrorist attacks on our soil.”

Whatever the Mayor meant, it’s not what he said.  All of you who have pointed out that I should have pressed him on that misstatement in the moment are right.  My mistake, my responsibility.

Giuliani is still forgetting about the post-9/11 anthrax attacks, but whatever, he’s a hopeless case. Stephanopoulos deserves credit and praise for this update.

I think Jake Tapper, on Twitter, is on to something when he suggests that Giuliani is one of many conservative who start the clock on the Bush presidency on 9/11. A smart conservative demand from President Obama right now might be that he “start the clock” on his anti-terror policy with the failed Christmas bombing. But that’s not what Giuliani’s doing here — he implies (as many Bush apologists do) that an attack that occurred nine months into the Bush presidency was Bill Clinton’s fault, while an attack that occurred 12 months into the Obama presidency was all Obama’s fault. He’s taking the right amount of flak.

Giuliani isn’t quite correct in his assessment. The Sept. 11, 2001 attacks happened during the Bush administration, as well as the case involving shoe bomber Richard Reid.

What’s a little 9/11-neglect between friends, right?

“What he [Obama] should be doing is following the right things that Bush did – one of the right things he did was treat this as a war on terror. We had no domestic attacks under Bush. We’ve had one under Obama,” Giuliani said. “Number two, he should correct the things that Bush didn’t do right. Sending people to Yemen was wrong, not getting this whole intelligence thing corrected.”

We had no domestic attacks under Bush! Except for that really big one where 3000 people were murdered. And then the never-solved anthrax attacks that followed. Except for that, nothing. And “we’ve had one under Obama” — I guess the charitable reading is that he’s scoring Fort Hood a terrorist attack; either that or he’s saying a failed attempt on blowing up Northwest Flight 253 actually succeeded. Giuliani, the noun-verb-9/11 politician, is now a 9/11 denialist.

You actually need to give President George W. Bush credit for this. The Bush people did a wonderfully effective job of making it verboten in mainstream political discourse to consider the deaths of 3000 Americans on 9/11 in any sense Bush’s failing. To this day, there are people on the right who believe 9/11 is President Clinton’s failure; many of them would never dream of saying the system that Obama inherited from Bush was responsible for the near-miss on Flight 253.

Having spent a little time with Giuliani on the presidential campaign trail — and having profiled him with zero access during that time — my gut reaction is that Giuliani’s done with electoral politics. He is a terrible campaigner outside of New York, bored and self-congratulatory; and who seriously thinks that, in 2012, the afterglow of his performance on 9/11 will be brighter than it was in 2008?