Thursday, May 24, 2007

The case for Giuliani


The case for Giuliani

By CHUCK RAASCH
GNS Political Writer

May 24, 2007

WASHINGTON — When Rudy Giuliani was again cornered on his views favoring abortion rights, gay rights and gun control at the May 15 Republican debate, he offered a defense that got scant attention but could end up being the Republicans’ campaign slogan in 2008.

Giuliani threw out the political equivalent of a bullfighter’s red cape to a Republican audience: the possibility of a Hillary Clinton presidency.

“There’s something really big at stake here,” Giuliani said. “We’re looking at a race here in which the leading candidate for president of the United States (Clinton) has said that the unfettered free market is the most disastrous thing in modern America. ... She’s also said, with regard to taxes, that we have to take money from you in order to give it to the common good.”

Republicans, Giuliani pleaded, “should be uniting to make certain that what the liberal media is talking about, our inevitable defeat, doesn’t happen.”

Giuliani’s later smackdown of libertarian Ron Paul, who’d suggested that 9/11 was the result of U.S. involvement in Iraq, grabbed all the headlines. But the electability argument seems to be growing among Republicans. Given his differences with rank-and-file Republicans, it may turn out to be Giuliani’s only argument, but it also explains why his nomination looks more likely than it did six months ago.

Democrats have been there, done that, with John Kerry in 2004, demonstrating electability is no proven path to the White House. But in 2008, the prospect of another Clinton in the White House may be the only thing strong enough to keep dispirited Republicans together, and excited. Giuliani continues to lead national GOP primary polls because his post-9/11 mayoral-national security persona continues to trump his considerable differences with the Republican base on the social issues that coalesce that base. The argument for Giuliani is buttressed by polls showing him leading Clinton in the most important swing states.

Here is Giuliani’s case, by the numbers:

— He remains, by a healthy margin, the most popular candidate on the national presidential stage, even more popular than Sen. Barack Obama. While Clinton’s favorable rating was 50 percent and her unfavorable was 47 percent in a May 4-6 USA TODAY-Gallup poll, Giuliani’s was 61-24. That bested Obama (50-24), Republican rival John McCain (50-30) and Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards (49-31). The 9/11 attack may have made Giuliani the closest thing to a Teflon candidate we’ll see in 2008, even more than Obama, whose buzz is based more on promise than performance.

— In late April polls, Quinnipiac University had Giuliani leading Clinton in the swing states of New Jersey (by 9 percentage points), Florida (8), Ohio (5) and Pennsylvania (4). In all three states, ex-Vice President Al Gore did slightly better against Giuliani than Clinton did, though Gore is not running. By contrast, McCain and Clinton were virtually tied in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida.

If it is Clinton versus Giuliani in 2008, the ex-New York mayor would have a slight head start in the Electoral College. Giuliani would likely begin as a prohibitive favorite in Alabama, Alaska, Georgia, Idaho, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, and Wyoming. A few of those states have not voted for a Democrat for president since 1964. Together, they have 75 electoral votes.

Clinton, meanwhile, might only have slam dunks in the District of Columbia (3 electoral votes), possibly Massachusetts (12), and potentially California (55), although there are signs Republicans could be competitive with either McCain or Giuliani in California for the first time since 1988. In an early April Field Poll, Giuliani trailed Clinton by 13 percentage points — 53-40 — while Clinton led McCain by just 5 in the same poll.

Pundits who expected Giuliani to fold in a New York minute once his views on abortion and gay rights became known were wrong. He’s been battered twice in Republican debates now, provided a confusing answer on abortion in one and still remains the GOP front-runner.

The day after the South Carolina debate, veteran direct-mail operative Richard Viguerie said if Giuliani is the nominee in ’08, the Republican Party would be history.

“Rudy Giuliani is wrong on all the social issues, is wrong on the Second Amendment and is pretty much a blank slate on all other issues of importance to conservatives,” Viguerie said. “If the Republican Party nominates him, it is saying to the American people that it has lost all purpose except the raw political desire to hold power.”

Maybe so. But in ’08, the desire to deny the Clintons political power may be the one thing that can hold Republicans together and bring them back.

Chuck Raasch is political editor for Gannett News Service, 7950 Jones Branch Road, McLean, VA 22107. Send e-mail to craasch@gns.gannett.com. Read his Furthermore blog in the Opinion section of StatesmanJournal.com.

Giuliani Names Fundraising Team


Giuliani Names Fundraising Team
Giuliani Picks Team of Fundraisers, Gives Them Financial Goals for Campaign
Presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani speaks in New York, Monday, May 21, 2007. Giuliani was there to receive the endorsement of local New York politicians for his 2008 presidential run. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)The Associated Press WASHINGTON May 24, 2007 (AP)

When it comes to fundraising, Rudy Giuliani wants to hit it out of the park. The former New York mayor's presidential campaign on Thursday named 20 men and women under the age of 45 to be among his lead fundraisers, giving them goals of raising between $25,000 and $1 million.

Pikers who raise the lowest amount will get the title of All-American Pitcher. Those who bundle $50,000 in contributions will be All-American Sluggers; $100,000 will be All-American All Stars; and $200,000 will be All-American MVPs. A fundraiser who amasses $1 million for Giuliani gets to be All-American Team Captain.


The team's national chairman will be Bryan Pickens, owner of a Dallas investment firm and a former fundraiser for President Bush. He is not related to billionaire T. Boone Pickens.

Other team leaders include Donald Trump Jr., the son of the New York real estate magnate; Scott Bungaard, a former Arizona state senator; John Mascialino, a former deputy mayor under Giuliani; and Milam Mabry, a Washington lobbyist in the law firm of Bracewell & Giuliani. Others are newer to politics but presumably have an extensive list of personal and business contacts they can tap to help Giuliani build his campaign treasury.

Mitt Romney: Media Must 'Police Itself'


Thursday, May 24, 2007 7:23 a.m. EDT
Mitt Romney: Media Must 'Police Itself'

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney criticized ABC News on Wednesday for its report about CIA plans in Iran, saying it could potentially jeopardize national security and endanger lives.

ABC News rejected Romney's analysis, and said it had given the CIA a chance to make the case that its report put people at risk, but the agency didn't respond.

The network led its top-rated "World News" on Tuesday with Brian Ross' report saying that President Bush had directed the CIA to carry out secret operations against Iran both inside and outside that country. The network said the campaign was "non-lethal," and involved propaganda broadcasts, the planting of newspaper articles and the manipulation of Iran's currency and banking transactions.

Romney, during a campaign appearance in Tulsa, Okla., said he was shocked that ABC News would broadcast the report.

Read the full story...
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2007/5/24/73258.shtml

Mark Towner

Rudy's Big QuestionIs Giuliani too liberal for the GOP? Probably not.


Rudy's Big QuestionIs Giuliani too liberal for the GOP? Probably not. Here's why.By John DickersonUpdated Thursday, May 24, 2007, at 2:52 PM ET

This is the first in a series of articles exploring the key question facing each presidential candidate.

Listen to this story on NPR's Day to Day.

Even though he lived a few blocks from Ebbets Field, home of the Brooklyn Dodgers, Rudy Giuliani grew up a New York Yankees fan. "The reason my father taught me how to box was to defend myself against Dodgers fans," he writes in his book Leadership. As a candidate for the Republican nomination, Giuliani once again finds himself out of place in a tough neighborhood. He's a pro-choice, pro-gay-rights candidate seeking to lead a party dominated by Christian evangelical voters who hate those positions. Giuliani's three marriages, the charges of adultery that led to the very public flameout of his second one, and an open feud with his children also threaten his standing among social-conservative voters. Conservative leaders are always stirred up about something, but Giuliani seems to have gotten them in a particular snit. Radio host James Dobson denounced him so thoroughly you'd think Rudy was running on a platform of free porn.

Read the full story....

http://www.slate.com/id/2166949/

Mark Towner

Mitt Romney Speaks to Local Republican Party


Published Thursday, May 24, 2007
Mitt Romney Speaks to Local Republican Party
By
LAKELAND -- The immigration bill now before Congress must be rewritten so that it does not reward the 12 million illegal immigrants in this country, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney told a crowd of 305 at the Polk County Republican Party Lincoln Day Dinner in Lakeland this evening.
Although he refused to use the word “amnesty,” as other opponents of the current immigration bill have, Romney said he doesn’t mind if illegal immigrants apply for legal work visas, but not before those who have obeyed the law by staying in their own country to apply have done so first.The specifics of whether they should go back to their countries of origin to apply for a visa or pay a fine can be worked out after first securing the borders and developing a system for determining the legality of an immigrant employee, he said.It was the second year in a row that the local Republican Party has hosted a major national GOP figure at its annual dinner.
U.S. Sen. John McCain, who like Romney is running for the Republican nomination for president, was the keynote speaker last year.Romney also said that the early presidential primary date for Florida makes the state an important, multiple stop for all candidates. Florida moved its primary in 2008 from March to January.For the complete story of Romney’s speech and press conference, see Friday’s edition of The Ledger.