Throughout his quest for the Republican nomination, Mitt Romney has been haunted by the infamous tale of the time he put his dog on the roof of his car during a long road trip and Dogs Against Romney, a protest group dedicated to keeping the story at the forefront of the campaign conversation. In the past month, Dogs Against Romney garnered a dramatic surge of attention. However, while much of the coverage of Dogs Against Romney characterized the group as a purely grassroots movement, its recent notoriety got a substantial boost from the behind-the-scenes support of Americans United for Change, a super PAC-like group with extensive ties to the Democratic establishment.

Dogs Against Romney spokeswoman Kitty Hendrix admitted the group’s much talked about protest outside the Westminster Kennel Club dog show in Manhattan last Tuesday was planned and executed with a discreet push from AUC.

“They basically wanted more grassroots people with dogs to talk about this issue, because it just made sense. It’s always suspect when someone is a professional political operative getting in front of the camera trying to pull emotional content out of anyone,” Ms. Hendrix said. “People are always a little more suspect of that.” Read More