HH: So how did the Governor react to the bigotry in play in New Hampshire? 

LK: Well, he was very, very unhappy, almost emotional, because I went right at it with him. And his basic message was it’s an un-American thing to do, number one, that we believe in the religious freedom in this country. And number two, it is particularly so in this period of Thanksgiving, which hearkens back to our founders and our ancestors. And you know, he argued very strenuously, almost emotionally at times, Hugh, that this was wrong, it was un-American, and it was bigoted. And he particularly blamed the Feingold-McCain bill, or whatever it’s called, McCain-Feingold. Now that’s an interesting take on this story, and I’ll tell you why. The Jonathan Martin in the Politico.com, which is where this all came from, mentions that the push poll, these negative polls, they’re not even polls, they’re just negative phone calls, had good things to say about Senator McCain, and then blasted Romney, and blasted Mormonism. So of course, I asked him if they could trace any of this back to Senator McCain’s people. And Governor Romney said no, he couldn’t be certain about that, and then he unloaded on McCain-Feingold as the ultimate cause of this, because it fostered these 527’s.  

HH: Right. 

LK: …which as you know, independent expenditures are not traceable. There’s no disclosure… 

HH: Right. 

LK: …as to the ultimate sources. And then we talked a little bit about that, and he really hammered it, and he really hammered McCain for supporting that. And then I came around again and I asked him, so therefore, is there any evidence whatsoever about McCain involvement, and he again said no, and then he again hammered McCain-Feingold. And I felt very clearly that he was directing his ire at McCain, even though he couldn’t prove it. He decided to use the vehicle of McCain-Feingold. And I want to say probably like you, I’ve interviewed Mitt Romney several times this year. He was as strong and clear and solid as I have ever seen him. And his statement was superb. And as I said it at some point, he seemed rather emotional about it, but he got his message out with enormous clarity. Now we talked a lot about other economic stuff, Hugh, but frankly, it is this push poll story that dwarfs everything else.  

And also this:

And I just want to say that just personally, I’ve given a lot of these interviews as you have, and so forth, I was very proud to be part of this interview, and I was very impressed with Romney’s stand-up nature, his forthright statement of opposition, and his tying it to the founding of this country on the great principle of religious freedom. I was proud to be part of this interview. I want to make that very clear to anybody who’s listening out there. I’m not picking sides. It’s not my position to pick sides. I interview all these people. I am not biased. I ask tough questions. I had Fred Thompson on last night, and I asked a lot of tough questions at Fred. But I was proud to be part of this interview, and to participate in the principle of religious freedom in the Thanksgiving period this year as part of our great heritage. And I was proud that Mitt Romney was tough and strong on this issue.  

Romney didn't accuse the McCain camp directly as the perpetrators of this push poll, but he certainly left the impression he's suspicious they're behind it. So did Larry Kudlow.  He refused to speculate publicly, but he immediately pointed to a questionable Chris Matthews interview of McCain and his 95 year old mother, who went anti-Mormon a week ago.

The truth of who is behind this will be revealed soon enough, as there are a whole lot of people investigating it now.  But if it is discovered that the McCain campaign was indeed behind this bigoted attack on Romney, that will be the final nail in the coffin of what history will view as the failed political career of a great American.