MORE ON ALLRED'S "SURPRISE" – AT 9:09 A.M. ET:  Political analyst Mark Halperin has done some digging on the Allred story, and reports this morning at TIME magazine's "The Page":

A person familiar with the matter says a hearing at 9 a.m. E.T. on Wednesday in Canton, Massachusetts before family court justice Jennifer Ulwick relates to sealed records in long-litigated divorce proceedings between Staples founder and Romney friend Tom Stemberg and his ex-wife. A source familiar with the matter says the former Bain Capital chief testified in the case for the purposes of helping to put a price on some stock that was part of the initial divorce settlement.

The usual web gossip peddlers are speculating about why Allred is involved and what political damage could come Romney’s way from the sideshow.

The full details of the case and the nature of the hearing could not be learned, but Robert Jones, an attorney at the Boston law firm of Ropes & Gray, who is representing Romney in this matter told TIME in a statement, “This is a decades-old divorce case in which Mitt Romney provided testimony as to the value of a company. He has no objection to letting the public see that testimony.”

Allred, an Obama delegate at the Democrats’ national convention in Charlotte this summer, strikes fear in the hearts of many Republicans, who see her as a hyper-partisan attorney with a political agenda behind many of her high-profile cases.

COMMENT:  I've come to respect Mitt Romney's sense of strategy.  The statement by his attorney reflects a coolness in the face of a potential smear that is commendable. 

Romney's strategy in the debates thus far has been to build his image as a fully presidential alternative to Obama.  He has succeeded. 

I'd love to see Gloria Allred hung out to dry by a presidential candidate who says he has nothing whatever to hide, then doesn't hide anything.  What is Allred to say?

This gets juicy.

October 24, 2012