Giuliani Blog Tracking the likely Presidential candidacy of Rudy Giuliani

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Red-Stater for Rudy

Dan McLaughlin of RedState pens an excellent piece entitled, “Why I’m With Rudy (Part I).” In this piece, Dan discusses the many reasons that Giuliani stands head-and-shoulders above the rest of the GOP field, including Rudy’s innate ability to lead, his stance on the war, his ability to flip blue portions of America, and his conservative positions on the issues. Money quote:

That said, and while I recognize that there are other Life issues on the agenda, the core battlefield for abortion - the battle we need to win before we can fight any others - is in the composition of the Supreme Court. A pro-choicer who appoints good judges is as functionally pro-life as Harry Reid is functionally pro-choice. (I have discussed this issue in much more exhaustive detail before). And while we need to hear much more from him on this issue, there is, thus far, every indication that Rudy is both willing to appoint conservative judges and able to sell them against a hostile Senate - he’s spoken favorably of John Roberts and Samuel Alito, who he knows from their days in the Reagan Justice Department.

And while Mike Huckabee is a solid pro-lifer and Sam Brownback is a genuine hero on life issues, the other top-tier candidates are less obviously reliable on this issue. Romney, of course, declared himself a committed pro-choicer in 1994, though his repeated conversions on the issue lend a lot of credence to Ted Kennedy’s description of him as “multiple choice” on abortion. McCain has a more consistent pro-life record and voted to confirm the likes of Alito, Clarence Thomas and Robert Bork to the Supreme Court, but three things concern me about McCain on judges - first, his demonstrable willingness to sell out the base to win media plaudits, second, his statements in 2000 that he’d like Souter-backer Warren Rudman as his Attorney General and that he remained proud of all the GOP Justices he’d voted for (which implicitly included Souter and Kennedy), and third, the fact that McCain’s political identity is so wrapped up in his campaign finance crusade, a crusade that may influence him to pick judges who take the written constitution with its pesky free-speech guarantees less than seriously. I’m not saying I’m sold that Rudy would be necessarily better at appointing judges than Romney or McCain, but (1) it’s a close contest and (2) he’d obviously be better than any Democrat.

Life issues are, indeed, important. And if this were peacetime, they would preclude me from supporting Mayor Giuliani. But there’s a war on, folks, and a lot of lives (born and unborn) depend on that, too. In this field, if Mayor Giuliani can make the sale that he will, in fact, appoint solid constitutionalists to the federal courts, that will tide us through.
Tide us through it will. Chalk up one more conservative in the Rudy camp.

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Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Rudy on Immigration and Judges

Continuing to prove that he's not just a Republican, but a conservative, Rudy has made known his positions on two more important issues to GOP primary voters, immigration and judges.

From National Review's Kathryn Jean Lopez, a vocal Romney supporter, comes this positive assessment of a Rudy speech:

A friend of mine was at a fundraiser for Rudy Giuliani in Los Angeles last night. His walkaway thought: “[Rudy] might have a tough time in the primary but he will crush in the general.”

Said friend says of last night: “I have to tell you the man is very impressive. When he talks about the war on terror he does so more clearly than anyone I have heard including the President. He doesn't bash the President ever and this was LA where he could really get away with it.”

Rudy did an immigration bit that was “to the right of everyone else except maybe Tancredo. He talked about immigration in terms of national security. He said we needed to revamp our entire system so that we can get good people. He also said that if the twelve million already here expected to get any type of citizenship they would have to prove that they could read, write, and speak English.”

The fundraiser was sponsored by Bill Simon (who worked with Rudy in the U.S. Attorney’s office). My friend, who is the rare pro-life, Hollywood hawk, left wondering if he could support Rudy if it came to that. “We all know where Rudy is on abortion but my question is what does he think of Judges Roberts and Alito? If he says that he would appoint judges of like mind then I think he can skate on the abortion issue because it does come down to the judges.” It was Hollywood though so no one asked about any social issues.

My emphasis. So is Rudy really to the right of everyone not named Tancredo in the GOP field on the issue of immigration? Race42008 editor Kavon Nikrad says yes:

The first thing Rudy proposes is to seal the southern border. He proposes to do this by using Compstat technology to organize ground forces, satellites, and unmanned drones...

Secondly, he wants to make sure that every person that is here in America illegally is identified. Everyone has to come forward. If the person has a criminal history, they’re out of here.

Thirdly, every illegal alien would be required to be able to speak, read, and write the English language before achieving any type of legal status.

There would also presumably be a back taxes/penalty requirement as well.

So K-Lo is correct. Rudy is to the right of probably everyone but the Tancredo’s and Hunters on this issue.

On the issue of judges, Rudy has voiced support previously for the appointment of judicial conservatives to our nation's courts:

While in Ohio, Rudy called into the Bill Cunningham radio show. Speaking about the Supreme Court, Rudy said: "Justices Roberts and Alito were both colleagues of mine [in the Reagan Justice Department] - people I worked with and I admire tremendously. I thought that they were inspired choices that the President made - inspired in many ways, because they also were people who had a strong conservative background and strict constructionists." He added, "Justice Scalia was also a colleague of mine...and he probably would have been my choice for Chief Justice."

This confirms Rudy's conservatism on the social issues trifecta that detractors say will sink Rudy. By opposing new federal gun laws, as discussed earlier today, by running to the right of Romney and McCain on immigration, and by supporting the types of judges that will ensure that the people and their elected representatives will get to write abotion policy, and not the courts, Rudy proves that he is well within the conservative mainstream on the social issues important to GOP primary voters. Add to that Rudy's positions on taxes, spending, government reform, and the war on terror and you have a candidate whose position papers match those of most grassroots Republicans.

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I voted for Rudy

Did you? If not, take part in the weekly presidential straw poll over at Pajamas Media!

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Just call him pro-2nd Amendment Rudy

From the New York Post:

The Republican leading Rudy Giuliani's New Hampshire campaign said he thinks the 2008 presidential hopeful will be an "easy sell" - and that the ex-mayor "satisfied" him that he won't support federal assault-weapons bans, as he has in the past.

"I'm satisfied that he believes there's no need for any additional gun laws, that's for sure," Wayne Semprini told The Post yesterday.

As mayor, Giuliani supported the federal ban - which expired in 2004 - and other gun-control programs.

Semprini, who lives in a state where the right to bear arms is a major issue, said, "The context that I took to his approach to guns is . . . he was running the largest city in the country, where there were upwards to 2 million illegal guns floating around in that city, and he wanted to get the crime situation under control."

Giuliani's top adviser, Anthony Carbonetti, insisted the ex-mayor's "position on this has not changed.

"People understand that Rudy had a commitment to protect New York against crime. That has no impact on hunting or gaming."

As mayor, Rudy did what he had to do to achieve safety and security in a city that was filled with dangerous criminals and illegal weapons. Rudy's stewardship has unfortunately been twisted into a false anti-Second Amendment stance by opponents of the Mayor. But now we're seeing Rudy's true position on the issue. Rudy's belief that no new federal gun laws are needed is a mainstream conservative position shared by most Republicans. Just one more piece of evidence that Rudy isn't just a Republican, but a conservative.

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Monday, January 29, 2007

Rudy visits the Granite State

Check out Rudy's excellent speech to New Hampshire Republicans on C-SPAN's Road to the White House website. The Rudy portion of the program begins 57 minutes into the episode. Be sure to skip ahead, lest you suffer through an hour of nails on a chalkboard (i.e., Hillary's address to Iowa Democrats).

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Sunday, January 28, 2007

Giuliani Notes: Dollars for Rudy

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Rudy Giuliani laughs with Girl Scouts from Littleton, N.H., Troop 837 at the annual Littleton Area Chamber of Commerce dinner at the Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods, N.H., Friday night.

Dollars for Rudy

January 29, 2007

A Giuliani fund-raiser will be held Jan. 29 in Pacific Palisades, Calif., at the home of Bill Simon, the 2002 Republican candidate for governor of California, costing $2,300 a person and $4,600 per couple.

January 30, 2007:

Bono’s campaign is sponsoring a golf event to raise funds for Giuliani’s committee on Tuesday, at the Rancho Mirage home and golf course of Edra Blixseth, Porcupine Creek Golf Club. Information: (310) 500-4284 or by e-mail at events@marybono.com

February 1, 2007:

Texas Republican contributors are being solicited to spend $30,000 for dinner with former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani at the Houstonian Hotel in Houston Feb. 1 to finance his “presidential exploratory committee.” The “private” dinner will follow a 6:30 to 8 p.m. cocktail reception, costing $2,100 a person and $4,200 for couples.

The best-known host of Giuliani’s Houston event is billionaire oilman T. Boone Pickens Jr., chairman of the private equity firm BP Capital Management. Also on Giuliani’s Texas fund-raising team are Tom Hicks, whose company owns the Texas Rangers baseball team; oil industry executive Jim Lee; and lawyer Patrick C. Oxford.

And, of course, there is the good ol’ internet contribution website here.

Stay tuned…….

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Rudy Giuliani Watch: Who Has the Vision and Who Can Perform?

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Former New York City Mayor and possible Presidential candidate Rudolph Giuliani (L) and his wife Judith Nathan (C) greet delegates and guests at the New Hampshire Republican convention in Manchester, New Hampshire January 27, 2007.

AP: Giuliani stresses vision and performance

Rudy Giuliani, courting the Republican rank and file in an important state, sought Saturday to make the case that his vision for the future and performance in the past makes him a strong candidate for the GOP presidential nomination.

The government’s got to work in order for the American people to have confidence in it,” the former New York City mayor said. “And I believe there is something I can do about that.”

“Leadership is about vision and performance,” Giuliani told state GOP activists. Voters, he said, should hold each candidate to that standard when deciding where to throw their support. “Who has the vision and who can perform? Because you need both.”"

Mayor Giuliani has BOTH.

Prior to the GOP Convention speech, Giuliani had breakfast with New Hampshire voters.

Yet, political pundits in DC continue to wonder if Giuliani will seek the Presidency.

giulianijan27jweb

Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani smiles as he signs a copy of his book at the state’s annual Republican meeting in Manchester, N.H., Saturday, Jan. 27, 2007. Giuliani, a possible 2008 presidential hopeful was guest speaker at the state’s annual Republican meeting.

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Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani speaks at the state’s annual Republican meeting. Manchester, N.H., Saturday, Jan. 27, 2007.

So, why do political folks think a person will hire campaign staff, do the advance preparation work and travel around the country stumping for President not run?

A mystery to Flap

Of course, there are technical fund raising issues why the Mayor does not officially announce - and a candidate wants to time his announcement to create the maximum BUZZ.

DUH…….

And the New Hampshire voter reaction?

The state’s Republican faithful greeted Giuliani warmly. They swarmed him to say hello and shake his hand. Some chanted “Rudy. Rudy.” They shoved copies of his best-selling book, “Leadership,” in front of him for an autograph.

“I was very impressed. He did very well,” said Will Infantine of Manchester, a GOP committee member who is not aligned with a candidate.

“His performance was absolutely outstanding,” added David Hess, the deputy Republican leader of the New Hampshire House who also is unaffiliated.

“He’s very charismatic,” agreed Natalie Healy of Exeter, another committee member. State Rep. Mary Griffin of Windham called him “exceptional.”

Update:

Giuliani: Judge candidates on performance

The Quotes:

“Who has the vision and who can perform? Because you need both,” Giuliani said. “You can ultimately judge whatever I promise you and whatever vision that I have by the things that I’ve done,” Giuliani said.

“I know the heartbreak of seeing casualties. I saw them upfront in the first major battle in this war on terrorism,” Giuliani said. “We have to remain on offense. They want to come here and hurt us and harm us and hurt our children. The best way we remain safe and we retain our freedom … is remaining on offense, remaining strong and not becoming weak in a time of pressure.”

“We have to be victorious in the war on terror,” he said to loud applause. “Whether all of us at every moment recognize we’re at war, it doesn’t matter. They’re at war with us and they have been for quite some time,” Giuliani said.

Stay tuned…….

giulianijan27oweb

Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani and his wife Judith, right. pass a cluster of photographers and reporters as he tries to leave the Palace theater in Manchester, N.H., Saturday, Jan. 27, 2007

Previous:

Rudy Giuliani Watch: Scouting New Hampshire at Littleton Chamber of Commerce

Rudy Giuliani Watch: Bush Iraq Plan Should Be Given A Chance

Rudy Giuliani Watch: Paul Cellucci, Former Massachusetts Governor Endorses Giuliani

Rudy Giuliani Watch:Giuliani 30% Leads McCain 22% and Romney 10%

Rudy Giuliani Watch: Latest Time Magazine Poll Has McCain Leading Giuliani by 4 Points

Rudy Giuliani Watch: What Does a Mayor Know About Iraq?

The Rudy Giuliani Files


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Be Sure to Catch Rudy on C-Span Tonight

Hizzoner's New Hampshire appearance will be featured tonight on C-Span's "Road to the White House". Broadcast times are: 6:30pm, 9:30pm, and 12:30pm Eastern Standard time.

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Saturday, January 27, 2007

Rudy Giuliani Watch: Scouting New Hampshire at Littleton Chamber of Commerce

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Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani speaks to reporters at the Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods, N.H., Friday, Jan. 26, 2007. Giuliani started a two-day campaign swing speaking on the North Country to the Littleton Area Chamber of Commerce dinner.

Union Leader: Giuliani addresses Littleton Chamber

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani last night told a sell-out crowd at the Mount Washington Hotel that he’d like to come back to New Hampshire this summer to play a little golf and “maybe do some politics, too.”

Giuliani, who is exploring a run for President, was the guest speaker at the 85th annual meeting of the Littleton Area Chamber of Commerce with a sell-out crowd of more than 425 people.

In a question-and-answer session with the audience following a speech in which he talked about leadership, the first question was whether his name would be on the Presidential ballot next year, to the cheers and applause of the crowd.

“That may turn out to be more up to you than to me,” he said, “I’m in the right state, which is New Hampshire.” He said he had to “make a decision about my exploratory committee” and “ultimately, the more important decision is the one you make about a year from now.”

Here is an interview with the Mayor and his wife prior to addressing the Littleton Chamber of Commerce:

The Caledonian-Record: Mayor Giuliani Wows Crowd At Chamber Dinner

America Is Strong And Relies On Teamwork, He Says

As Giuliani and his wife and entourage arrived at the hotel, reporters from the national and local press corps clustered around him with cameras and microphones, making it hard to get close.

But one group was even more determined to approach the former mayor who became Time Magazine’s Person of the Year in 2001 for his leadership in getting the city through the crisis of the terrorist attack on September 11 of that year.

That group wore green vests covered with badges, and they had clipboards and a serious agenda: cookie sales.

By the time the troop of about 10 Girl Scouts from Littleton was done with Giuliani and his wife, they had sold the couple 20 boxes of Girl Scout cookies at $3.50 a box, which came to $70, and they even got an extra $10 donation.

Monica Carroll, 10, a student at Littleton’s Lakeway Elementary School, waved four $20 bills in her hand, beaming. “He gave me $80!” she shouted.

Asked how the cookies would reach the former mayor, Carroll pointed to the address on her clipboard. Assistant troop leader Bobbi Lyndes said they would mail the cookies with the postage on Troop 837.

“I really hope you win the election and become president,” said Jalen Northrop, 12, of Littleton, with tears in her eyes.

giulianijan26oweb

Rudy Giuliani laughs with Girl Scouts from Littleton, N.H., Troop 837 at the annual Littleton Area Chamber of Commerce dinner at the Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods, N.H., Friday night.

Giuliani wowed the crowd in the Grand Ballroom with his message of leadership. He said the fact the Littleton Area Chamber of Commerce refers to this part of the state as “New Hampshire’s Heaven,” was appropriate given the landscape he and his wife have fallen in love with. “I always wanted to go to heaven,” he said, drawing a laugh from the North Country crowd.

Giuliani said he may be abandoned for a few weeks, as his wife is threatening to stay here and ski.

Right after arriving at the hotel, Giuliani was asked by Jan Mercieri, the wife of Littleton Fire Chief Joe Mercieri, to sign a New York Times photo book about September 11. Her husband was unable to be at the event, but he had volunteered at Ground Zero, and she said having Giuliani’s signature would mean the world to him.

“Mr. Giuliani holds a very special place in our hearts,” she said.

Mayor Giuliani has come to New Hampshire to gauge support for a presidential candidacy. There are many who are questioning whether Hizzoner will run or not.

There looks like support to Flap

Flap supposes it is Hillary’s media machine instilling some “WISHFUL THINKING” - that Giuliani won’t enter the race.

Sorry Hillary - have your big rally in Iowa. But, the people know - ALL SHOW and NO SUBSTANCE.

Stay tuned…….

giulianijan26nweb

Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani shakes hands at the Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods, N.H., Friday, Jan. 26, 2007. Giuliani started a two-day campaign swing speaking in the North Country to the Littleton Area Chamber of Commerce.

Previous:

Rudy Giuliani Watch: Bush Iraq Plan Should Be Given A Chance

Rudy Giuliani Watch: Paul Cellucci, Former Massachusetts Governor Endorses Giuliani

Rudy Giuliani Watch:Giuliani 30% Leads McCain 22% and Romney 10%

Rudy Giuliani Watch: Latest Time Magazine Poll Has McCain Leading Giuliani by 4 Points

Rudy Giuliani Watch: What Does a Mayor Know About Iraq?

The Rudy Giuliani Files


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Rudy Giuliani Watch: Bush Iraq Plan Should Be Given A Chance

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Rudy Giuliani and his wife Judy Nathan speak to a reporter in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire

Potential Candidate Giuliani Visits New Hampshire

Giuliani Says Bush Iraq Plan Should Be Given A Chance

Mayor Giuliani will be in New Hampshire this weekend.

Tonight he will be speaking before the Littleton Area Chamber of Commerce and tomorrow he adrdesses the New Hampshire State Republican Party’s Annual Convention.

During an interview today, America’s Mayor commneted on the Iraq War and President Bush’s plan to increase the number of troops:

“I think that we’ve got to give it a chance,” Giuliani said. “I think we’ve got to try to come out of Iraq with a situation where there’s stability, where we don’t make things worse.”

Giuliani said that he also believes the Iraqi government should take more charge of the situation.

“I think we’ve got to be really careful, and we have to introduce accountability and require the Iraqi government to do the kind of job in Baghdad that they’re supposed to do, with us supporting them and pushing them,” he said.

Indeed.

While John McCain is self-destructing and being attacked by the Democrat National Committee, Rudy Giuliani delivers clear and concise leadership.

What a difference…..

Stay tuned……..

giulianijan26nweb

Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani shakes hands at the Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods, N.H., Friday, Jan. 26, 2007. Giuliani started a two-day campaign swing speaking in the North Country to the Littleton Area Chamber of Commerce.

Previous:

Rudy Giuliani Watch: Paul Cellucci, Former Massachusetts Governor Endorses Giuliani

Rudy Giuliani Watch:Giuliani 30% Leads McCain 22% and Romney 10%

Rudy Giuliani Watch: Latest Time Magazine Poll Has McCain Leading Giuliani by 4 Points

Rudy Giuliani Watch: What Does a Mayor Know About Iraq?

The Rudy Giuliani Files


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Thursday, January 25, 2007

What the Cap'n said

Cap'n Ed over at Captain's Quarters has come to the conclusion that so many conservatives and Republicans have been reaching over the last couple of years: that Rudy Giuliani is not just a Republican...he's a conservative.

Money quote:

"I've often thought that conservatives have been too quick to dismiss Giuliani. Among the front-runners for the GOP nomination, he has the most consistent public record of accomplishment. He fought the Mob and won, crippling their once-unlimited power in the Big Apple, at no small personal risk to himself and his family. Giuliani also took on the task of running NYC when it appeared hopelessly lost to decay and a generation of liberal policies that had allowed the streets to fall under the sway of gangsters petty and grand. He also proved that welfare-to-work policies could succeed before Bill Clinton and the Republican Congress bolstered his efforts at the federal level.

Given his history of turnaround in New York, his executive experience outweighs anything offered by Mitt Romney and especially John McCain. Whatever his positions, he has proven himself more consistent in them than both men, although in Romney's case, his vacillations seem a little oversold. Romney has proven his leadership skills in the Olympics and in one term as Governor of Massachussetts, but Giuliani is a man who governed eight million people for two terms and helped rescue the city when hit by the worst attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor.

That itsn't to say that his positions aren't problematic. He has been consistently pro-choice, and like many prosecutors, supports gun-control legislation. Those positions rightly make conservatives worry about what a President Giuliani would do once in office. However, he has also consistently spoken against judicial activism, and as a former federal prosecutor, knows first-hand the damage it does. Giuliani has promised to appoint judicial constructionists to the federal bench, the kind not likely to impose abortion or gun policy from their unchecked positions."
Read the whole thing.

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Rudy Giuliani Watch: Latest New Jersey Quinnipiac Poll Has Giuliani Beating McCain 39-21

Readers: Please Vote for Rudy in Flap’s January 2008 GOP Presidential Poll

Cross-Posted from the FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog

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Daily Journal Via AP: Poll: N.J. wants Rudy Giuliani for president

New Jersey voters would like former Republican New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Democratic New York Sen. Hillary Clinton as 2008 presidential candidates.

But they don’t adore Clinton all that much, a new poll released this morning finds.

The Quinnipiac University poll finds New Jersey voters prefer Giuliani over Clinton, and like Arizona Sen. John McCain just as much.

Giuliani leads Clinton 48 percent to 41 percent, while McCain leads Clinton 44 percent to 43 percent, according to the poll.

“It looks like problems with Sen. Hillary Clinton’s new presidential campaign are cropping up close to home,” says Clay F. Richard, Quinnipiac University Polling Institute assistant director.

The Poll is here.

On the Republican side:

– Giuliani leads with 39 percent.

– McCain, 21 percent.

– Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, 11 percent.

– No other Republican tops 5 percent.

REGISTERED REPUBLICANS
Tot Men Wom

Giuliani 39% 35% 43%
McCain 21 22 21
Romney 5 6 3
Gingrich 11 17 5
Hunter 1 1 1
Brownback 1 - 1
Thompson - - -
Gilmore 1 1 1
Hagel 1 - 1
Huckabee 1 2 -
Pataki 3 3 4
SMONE ELSE(VOL) 1 1 1
WLDN'T VOTE(VOL) 3 3 3
DK/NA 13 9 17

Mayor Giuliani continues to lead in the polls in state after state. Notably in this poll is that NO other GOP candidate, including Mitt Romney are in double digits except McCain and Gingrich.

So, why are Brownback, Tancredo et. al. bothering?

Could it be Presidential campaign federal matching funds?

On favorability ratings:

New Jersey voters give Clinton a 53 - 38 percent favorability rating.

Giuliani gets a 63 - 24 percent favorability rating.

McCain gets a 52 - 24 percent score.

Sen. Obama gets 41 - 9 percent favorability rating, with 49 percent who haven’t heard enough to form an opinion.

General Election:

3. If the 2008 election for President were being held today and the candidates were Hillary Clinton the Democrat and Rudy Giuliani the Republican, for whom would you vote?

Tot     Rep     Dem     Ind     Men     Wom

Clinton 41% 5% 75% 37% 36% 46%
Giuliani 48 86 19 47 52 44
SMONE ELSE(VOL) 1 - - 3 2 -
WLDN'T VOTE(VOL) 2 3 - 1 2 1
DK/NA 8 6 5 12 7 9

Philly
Urban SubUrbn ExUrbn land Shore

Clinton 62% 44% 27% 47% 27%
Giuliani 28 46 61 40 61
SMONE ELSE(VOL) - 1 2 2 1
WLDN'T VOTE(VOL) 1 1 3 - 3
DK/NA 8 7 8 11 9

Stay tuned…….

giulianidecember19b

Previous:

Rudy Giuliani Watch: In or Out?

Rudy Giuliani Watch: Latest Iowa Poll Shows Giuliani Leading

Rudy Giuliani Watch: Florida Speech Focuses on LEADERSHIP

Rudy Giuliani Watch: Latest Angus Reid Poll Has Giuliani Beating McCain by 7 Points

The Rudy Giuliani Files


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Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Another Day...

... and yet another poll showing the true GOP frontrunner.

This time it's Strategic Vision's Iowa poll:

Strategic Vision Iowa, January 19-21, 2007, 600 likely Republican caucus goers:

Rudy Giuliani 25%
John McCain 21%
Newt Gingrich 13%
Mitt Romney 8%
Chuck Hagel 7%
Tommy Thompson 2%
Tom Tancredo 2%
Sam Brownback 2%
Mike Huckabee 1%
George Pataki 1%
Jim Gilmore 1%
Duncan Hunter 1%
Undecided 16%

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Rudy Giuliani Watch: Latest Angus Reid Poll Has Giuliani Beating McCain by 7 Points

Readers: Please Vote for Rudy in Flap’s January 2008 GOP Presidential Poll

Cross_posted from the FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog

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Angus Reid Global Monitor: Republicans 2008: Giuliani 34%, McCain 27%

Rudy Giuliani remains the most popular presidential hopeful for Republican Party supporters in the United States, according to a poll by TNS released by the Washington Post and ABC News. 34 per cent of respondents would support the former New York City mayor in a 2008 primary.

Arizona senator John McCain is second with 27 per cent, followed by former House of Representatives speaker Newt Gingrich and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney with nine per cent each.

The Poll:

If the 2008 Republican presidential primary or caucus in your state were being held today, and the candidates were: Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Chuck Hagel, Tommy Thompson, Mike Huckabee, Duncan Hunter, George Pataki, Sam Brownback, Tom Tancredo, Jim Gilmore, or Ron Paul, for whom would you vote?
(Republicans and Republican leaners)


Jan. 2007 Nov. 2006
Rudy Giuliani 34% 34%
John McCain 27% 26%
Mitt Romney 9% 5%
Newt Gingrich 9% 12%
George Pataki 2% 3%
Tommy Thompson 1% 2%
Mike Huckabee 1% *
Sam Brownback 1% 1%
Tom Tancredo 1% *
Jim Gilmore 1% n.a.,
Ron Paul 1% n.a.
Chuck Hagel * *
Duncan Hunter * 1%
Other * *
None of these 2% 6%
Would not vote 1% *
No opinion 9% 9%

Source: TNS / Washington Post / ABC News
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,000 American adults, conducted from Jan. 16 to Jan. 19, 2007. Margin of error is 3 per cent.

Mayor Giuliani maintains his lead as Mitt Romney gains at Newt Gingrich’s expense. The Mayor commented about President Bush’s State of the Union address and the Democrat’s response by Senator James Webb.

Flap will have the video in the morning.

Stay tuned…….

giulianidecember19b

Previous:

Hillary Clinton Watch: Hillary Blog Ads on Center-Right Blogs

Rudy Giuliani Watch: Latest Rasmussen Poll Has Giuliani Leading McCain

Rudy Giuliani Watch: Patrick Ruffini Hired For Giuliani Presidential e-Campaign

Rudy Giuliani Watch: Florida Return for Giuliani This Week

Rudy Giuliani Watch: Latest Angus Reid Poll Has Giuliani Beating Clinton 53-42

Rudy Giuliani Watch: California LIKELY To Move Presidential Primary to February 5

Arnold Schwarzenegger Watch: Schwarzenegger Favors California Presidential Primary Move to February 2008

President 2008 Watch: Newsweek Poll - Giuliani and McCain Beating Hillary ET Al?

Rudy Giuliani Watch: Latest Post-ABC Poll Giuliani Leads

Rudy Giuliani Watch: ARG Poll - Giuliani Leads 7 of 8 States Including California

Rudy Giuliani Watch: New Hampshire Events Scheduled Next Week

The Rudy Giuliani Files


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Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Rudy Giuliani Watch: Latest Rasmussen Poll Has Giuliani Leading McCain

Readers: Please Vote for Rudy in Flap’s January 2008 GOP Presidential Poll

Cross_posted from the FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog

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Rasmussen Reports: 2008 GOP Presidential Primary: Giuliani 30% McCain 22%

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone poll shows that former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) continues to hold an eight-point lead over Senator John McCain (R) in the race for the Republican nomination. Giuliani now earns 30% of the vote, up from 28% a week ago. John McCain (R) has support from 22% while former House Speaker Newt Gingrich remains in third at 12%.

Former Massachusetts Mitt Romney is back in double digits at 10%. Another former Governor Mike Huckabee registers just 2% as does Senator Sam Brownback. Senator Chuck Hagel registers support from 1% of GOP voters

The buzz around the ‘net is that John McCain is FADING and FADING fast. Mitt Romney is starting to make gains and Newt Gingrich is holding in the race without campaigning.

Is the GOP race already seeing shake-out?

Perhaps

With the California and Florida primary elections likely to be moved to Super Tuesday, February 5, 2008, the candidates better be able to establish a credible fundraising operation to buy all of those television spots. However, it doesn’t make donors especially happy to give if your candidate continues to trail Giuliani in poll after poll.
McCain is FADING in head to head match-ups with the Democrats as well.

While McCain continues to hold a solid second place in this polling, a separate survey shows he has lost ground in general election match-ups. In fact, for the first time in any Rasmussen Reports polling, McCain has fallen behind a Democratic competitor, trailing both Illinois Senator Barack Obama and former North Carolina Senator John Edwards. McCain may be hampered by the situation in Iraq (considered the most important issue by voters). Most Americans believe we should be reducing the number of U.S. troops fighting in that country while McCain supports the President’s call for more troops.

Giuliani continues to lead all Democrats–see a summary of these match-ups along with favorability ratings and perceptions of the candidates’ ideology. A summary is also provided for Democratic contenders.

Stay tuned…….

giulianioctober1aweb

Previous:

Rudy Giuliani Watch: Patrick Ruffini Hired For Giuliani Presidential e-Campaign

Rudy Giuliani Watch: Florida Return for Giuliani This Week

Rudy Giuliani Watch: Latest Angus Reid Poll Has Giuliani Beating Clinton 53-42

Rudy Giuliani Watch: California LIKELY To Move Presidential Primary to February 5

Arnold Schwarzenegger Watch: Schwarzenegger Favors California Presidential Primary Move to February 2008

President 2008 Watch: Newsweek Poll - Giuliani and McCain Beating Hillary ET Al?

Rudy Giuliani Watch: Latest Post-ABC Poll Giuliani Leads

Rudy Giuliani Watch: ARG Poll - Giuliani Leads 7 of 8 States Including California

Rudy Giuliani Watch: New Hampshire Events Scheduled Next Week

The Rudy Giuliani Files


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Rudy wins 7 of 8 GOP primaries

Or at least he would if the election were held today, says ARG.

Rudy wins Michigan, Pennsylvania, Illinois, California, Florida, North Carolina, and New Mexico.

Sen. McCain wins Missouri.

No other GOP contender wins a single state. Gov. Romney, despite an impressive organization, finds his peak in Illinois, where he garners a slim 12 percent of the GOP vote.

Rudy's ability to break 30 percent among Republicans in every region of the country, and especially in our nation's largest, most delegate-rich states, speaks volumes regarding his potential.

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Monday, January 22, 2007

Rudy Nabs Ruffini, Seaborn

In a move that puts to rest once and for all the notion that Rudy won't run, the Mayor has bagged a whale of sorts in former Bush/Cheney '04 webmaster, Patrick Ruffini. As Chris Cillizza put it over at WaPo:

"One of the real "gets" on the GOP side of that world is Patrick Ruffini, who served as the Web master of President Bush's 2004 reelection campaign and then served in a similar role at the Republican National Committee. Ruffini gained recognition in national Republican circles for his blog, which was one of the first serious attempts on the Republican side at building an online community.

Ruffini has signed on with former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaign as an e-campaign adviser. The hiring is only the latest sign that Giuliani is serious about a run for national office in 2008."

As someone who's followed Patrick's blog through its various iterations over the years, I can attest to his talent and politcal acumen. This was an A-plus move by Team Rudy.

Also impressive is Rudy's hiring of Brent Seaborn as director of strategy for his campaign. The hiring of Ruffini and Seaborn, another Bush '04 operative, suggests that Rudy is serious about transforming his campaign into a more traditional GOP presidential operation, with the requisite establishment ties that will be able to bring in donors and mobilize supporters as the Mayor continues down the road to the White House.

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Giuliani's Choices

Giuliani presided over an extended decline in the number of abortions in New York, largely by doing nothing on the issue.

As pro-lifers mark the 34th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision, many wonder whether they could support former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani for president despite his pro-choice views. While Giuliani’s statements on abortion make pro-lifers fret, they should find his record surprisingly reassuring.

“I don’t like abortion,” Giuliani said in South Carolina’s The State newspaper last November 21. “I don’t think abortion is a good thing. I think we ought to find some alternative to abortion, and that there ought to be as few as possible.”

Nevertheless, Giuliani’s pro-life critics point to his April 5, 2001, address at the National Abortion Rights Action League’s “Champions of Choice” luncheon in Manhattan.

“As a Republican who supports a woman’s right to choose, it is particularly an honor to be here,” Giuliani said. He added: “The government shouldn’t dictate that choice by making it a crime or making it illegal.”

During his unsuccessful 1989 mayoral campaign, Giuliani said, “I’d give my daughter the money for it [an abortion].” That September 1, Newsday’s transcript of Giuliani’s comments suggested a less strident tone.

“I have a daughter now,” Giuliani told TV’s Phil Donahue. “I would give my personal advice, my religious and moral views…I would help her with taking care of the baby. But if the ultimate choice of the woman — my daughter or any other woman — would be that in this particular circumstance, to have an abortion, I’d support that. I’d give my daughter the money for it.”

But did Giuliani’s mayoral deeds match such words?

According to the state Office of Vital Statistics, total abortions performed in New York City between 1993 (just before Giuliani arrived) and 2001 (as he departed) fell from 103,997 to 86,466 — a 16.86 percent decrease. This upended a 10.32 percent increase over the course of the eight years before Giuliani, with 1985 witnessing 94,270 abortions.

What about Medicaid-financed abortions? Under Giuliani, such taxpayer-funded feticides dropped 22.85 percent, from 45,006 in 1993 to 34,722 in 2001.

The abortion ratio also slid from 890 terminations per 1,000 live births in 1993 to 767 in 2001, a 13.82 percent tail-off. This far outpaced the 2.84 percent reduction from 1985’s ratio of 916 to 1993’s 890. While abortions remained far more common in Gotham than across America (2001’s U.S. abortion ratio was 246), they diminished during Giuliani’s tenure, as they did nationally.

The Centers for Disease Control reports that U.S. abortions fell from 1,330,414 in 1993 to 853,485 in 2001, a 35.85 percent decrease. However, University of Alabama political scientist Michael New tells me, “the national decline was so sharp because after 1997, three states, including California, quit reporting their abortions to the CDC.” Correcting earlier data by omitting the abortions in Alaska, California, and New Hampshire when calculating the national total prior to 1997, Professor New finds that 1993’s 1,001,769 abortions waned to 853,485 in 2001, a 14.8 percent fall-off.

“So, in percentage terms,” New adds, “the decline in abortions in New York City under Giuliani was greater than the national decline.”

(For a detailed chart analyzing these and other data, please click here.)

Giuliani essentially verbalized his pro-choice beliefs while avoiding policies that would have impeded abortion’s generally downward trajectory.

New York pro-lifers concede that Giuliani never attempted anything like what current Mayor Michael Bloomberg promulgated in July 2002. Eight city-run hospitals added abortion instruction to the training expected of their OB-GYN medical residents. Only conscientious objectors may refuse this requirement.

Giuliani could have issued such rules, but never did.

Interestingly enough, after Giuliani left, Medicaid abortions under Bloomberg increased 5.19 percent from 34,722 in 2001 to 36,523 in 2003.

Asked if he could cite any Giuliani initiative that advanced abortion, New York State Conservative Party Chairman Mike Long told me, “I don’t remember, and I don’t think so.” He added: “I never remember seeing him promote the issue, to my knowledge.”

“Off the top of my head, I cannot recall any instances when Mayor Giuliani’s and John Cardinal O’Connor’s different positions on abortion came to the fore while O’Connor was New York’s archbishop,” said Joseph Zwilling, communications director for the archdiocese of New York, a position he held under O’Connor.

“I like him a lot —- although he doesn’t share my particular point of view on social issues,” televangelist Pat Robertson said May 1, 2005, on ABC’s This Week. “He did a super job running the city of New York and I think he’d make a good president.

If Giuliani can sway Pat Robertson, can he attract other pro-lifers? Short of dizzying himself and others with a 180-degree reversal from a pro-choice to a pro-life posture, Giuliani should embrace parental-notification rules, so minors who seek abortions need their folks’ permission, as they now do for ear piercing. He should oppose partial-birth abortion, which even Democrats such as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and liberal stalwart Patrick Leahy of Vermont have voted to prohibit.

Similarly, Giuliani should propose that Uncle Sam exit embryonic-stem-cell-research laboratories and instead let drug companies — not the government — finance such embryocidal experiments, if they must. He also could pledge to nominate constitutionalist judges skeptical of penumbras emanating outside Planned Parenthood clinics.

And, of course, Giuliani should remind Republican primary voters that on his watch, total abortions, taxpayer-funded Medicaid abortions, and the abortion ratio all went the right way: down.

-Deroy Murdock

_____________________________________________________

This article originally appeared in The National Review Online on January 22nd, 2007. It is reprinted here with the author’s permission. Researcher Marco DeSena contributed to this article.

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Saturday, January 20, 2007

Rudy '08 moving full speed ahead

This past week's Hotline strikes a major blow to the "Rudy won't run" crowd:

"Political aides to ex-NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) will reorganize his presidential exploratory efforts over the next two weeks, expanding his national finance team and adding staff in early primary states to try to transform the New York-centric operation into a credible national campaign.

Giuliani backers have run into resistance among major fundraisers and with activists in early primary states because these activists are not convinced that Giuliani actually intends to run, his aides said. In Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, Giuliani lags behind Sen. John McCain and Ex-MA Gov. Mitt Romney in recruiting staff.

“A revamping and a ramping up of the finance operation is occurring and will continue to unfold in the days and weeks to come,” a Giuliani insider said.
Giuliani’s exploratory committee will add a half dozen regional finance directors charged with raising money from tens of thousands of Republicans all across the country. Until now, the fundraising operation has been organized around donors in New York and Texas who could contribute the maximum and raise money for Giuliani from their friends. In the past, some of Giuliani’s top advisers have said that Giuliani would not run if he couldn't raise enough money to compete with McCain.

In addition, Giuliani’s team plans to announce senior level staff positions in early primary states. Also, the campaign is close to reaching an agreement with a pollster and media consultant. Aides to Giuliani declined to reveal the names of their expected hires.

The moves are “a recognition that things need to fall into place” in order for Giuliani to be taken seriously as a presidential candidate, the insider said.

This week’s announcement that ex-Rep. Jim Nussle would assist Giuliani in Iowa and the unveiling of four New Hampshire staffers to a Manchester political reporter are the first steps in that process.

“As we continue to expand our fundraising and finance team, the support we are getting is exciting,” said Roy Bailey, Giuliani’s finance chair.

Aides said there was no tension between Giuliani’s crew of long-time advisers, and his crop of new advisers, led by Michael DuHaime, the outgoing RNC political director, who was hired to run the campaign itself. They described the campaign expansion as a necessary step in the evolution of Giuliani’s candidacy. And they said that Giuliani himself recognizes the problem and agreed that changes were needed. One small example: statements from Giuliani himself will no longer be distributed by staff from his consulting firm. Instead, they will be sent out in the name of his campaign press aides."

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Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Rudy signs Nussle in Iowa

Great catch in the first-in-the-nation caucus state for America's Mayor:

"DES MOINES, Iowa -- Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani has hired prominent Iowa Republican Jim Nussle to advise him on his possible presidential run.

Nussle, a former congressman and 2006 candidate for governor, will play "an important leadership on behalf of the exploratory committee both in Iowa and nationally," Giuliani said in a statement.

Giuliani said Nussle brings valuable skills and a strong political track record in the state where precinct caucuses traditionally launch the presidential nominating season.

Nussle lost the governor's race by roughly 100,000 votes to Democrat Chet Culver. The eight-term congressman announced last week that he was forming a political consulting business.

There are deep philosophical differences between the two Republicans.

Giuliani supports abortion rights and gay rights. Nussle took a strong anti-abortion stance in his campaign and wants a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.

Nussle said he's focusing on Giuliani's accomplishments and suggested Giuliani's actions after the 2001 terrorist attacks impressed voters who want a strong leader.

Giuliani is among a handful of Republicans who have formed exploratory committees, a move that lets them travel and raise money as they explore seeking the presidential nomination.

Giuliani and Nussle declined to discuss terms of Nussle's employment."

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Saturday, January 13, 2007

Rudy Giuliani Watch: Giuliani Tests Delaware Presidential Primary Waters

Readers: Please Vote for Rudy in Flap’s January 2008 GOP Presidential Poll

giulianijan13aweb

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani received the 2007 Pete du Pont Individual Freedom Award on Friday night at the Hotel du Pont in Wilmington

DelawareOnline: Giuliani tests Del. primary waters

Former New York mayor evaluates a run for GOP presidential nomination

When you’re exploring a run for president, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani says, you come to Delaware.

Never mind that Republicans, including state Senate Minority Leader Charles Copeland, say the national GOP has written off the First State because much of upper Delaware is in the Philadelphia media market. Never mind that the state’s political demographics are turning bluer by the month.

You come here because Delaware’s primary is right on the heels of the first-in-the-nation New Hampshire primary and a win here can either help build your momentum or put you back on track, as it did for President Bush in 2000.

Giuliani, who has been billed as “America’s Mayor” for his leadership following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, was at the Hotel du Pont to receive the 2007 Pete du Pont Individual Freedom Award, given for his support of individual rights on the national and world stage.

Flap knows this MAY be a LONG and PROTRACTED GOP Presidential nomination season - at least longer than Super Tuesday, February 5, 2008.

So, Giuliani is attempting to build momentum (going into Southern primaries) by capturing Northeastern GOP wins immediately after New Hampshire where he is well known and popular.

DUH…….

giulianijan13bweb

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, left, smiles as he is given the Pete DuPont Individual Freedom Award by Pete DuPont, right, Friday, Jan. 12, 2007 in Wilmington, Del.

AP: Giuliani. in Delaware Speech, Hedges

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani remained noncommittal Friday on a possible bid for the GOP presidential nomination but sounded campaign-like themes in a speech to Delaware Republicans.

“I think the biggest question you have to ask is, ‘Can you really lead the country?’” he said. “If I believe that I can do it, then I will, and if I don’t, then I’ll support somebody else.”

Giuliani said the key trait a leader needs is optimism.

“People follow hopes and they follow dreams and they follow the solution to problems,” he said in accepting the Pete du Pont Individual Freedom Award, named for Delaware’s former Republican governor. “I saw that happen in New York City … I think we have to have a sense of optimism about ourselves, about who we are and where we’re going.”

Calling the war in Iraq a serious challenge, Giuliani said what the Bush administration is trying to achieve is of “profound importance” to the United States.

“If we leave Iraq in failure, then the world is going to be much more dangerous for us,” he said.

On other issues, Giuliani said that moving the country toward energy independence will be one of the greatest challenges for the next president. He also called for school vouchers and said the country needs to “revolutionize” its public education system in order to compete in the global economy.

Mayor Giuliani is NOT hedging ANYTHING.

Note well presidential campaign themes: NO Iraq War failure, Energy Independence, Revolutionize Public Education.

The 2008 Presidential game is AFOOT.

Stay tuned…..

giulianijan13gweb

Cross-Posted from the FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog

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Rudy Giuliani Watch: Giuliani Leading in North Carolina Poll

Rudy Giuliani Watch: Giuliani and Gingrich - GETTING IRAQ TO WORK

The Rudy Giuliani Files



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Rudy talks presidential politics in Delaware

From the AP:

"Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani remained noncommittal Friday on a possible bid for the GOP presidential nomination but sounded campaign-like themes in a speech to Delaware Republicans.

"I think the biggest question you have to ask is, 'Can you really lead the country?'" he said. "If I believe that I can do it, then I will, and if I don't, then I'll support somebody else."

Giuliani said the key trait a leader needs is optimism.

"People follow hopes and they follow dreams and they follow the solution to problems," he said in accepting the Pete du Pont Individual Freedom Award, named for Delaware's former Republican governor. "I saw that happen in New York City ... I think we have to have a sense of optimism about ourselves, about who we are and where we're going."

Calling the war in Iraq a serious challenge, Giuliani said what the Bush administration is trying to achieve is of "profound importance" to the United States.

"If we leave Iraq in failure, then the world is going to be much more dangerous for us," he said.

On other issues, Giuliani said that moving the country toward energy independence will be one of the greatest challenges for the next president. He also called for school vouchers and said the country needs to "revolutionize" its public education system in order to compete in the global economy.

In a brief meeting with reporters after his speech, Giuliani shrugged off suggestions that his liberal social views, divorces and business dealings since leaving the mayor's office may prove to be obstacles in a campaign for the 2008 GOP presidential nomination.

"You don't get to decide what the issues are when you're running," he said."
Note that the MSM chooses to cherry-pick a single line out of his speech and frame the whole article around it with the headline: "Giuliani, in Delaware Speech, Hedges." It seems to me that the headline could've just as easily been, "Rudy talks tough on Iraq," or, "Giuliani: social views aren't insurmountable." Why, then, does the MSM continue to focus on the notion that Rudy won't run? Could it be that the MSM, comprised largely of the coastal elite, observed Giuliani's governance of NYC and realize that he's a conservative who could unite the country, not unlike Ronald Reagan? Whatever the case, the media has long been terrified of a Rudy run, downplaying his chances from every angle, every chance it gets. Movement conservatives still hesitant on Rudy should take note of who his enemies are.

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Friday, January 12, 2007

Rudy Giuliani Watch: Giuliani and Gingrich - GETTING IRAQ TO WORK

Readers: Please Vote for Rudy in Flap’s January 2008 GOP Presidential Poll

giulianigingrichjan12a

Wall Street Journal: Getting Iraq to Work

New York City’s successes have lessons for Baghdad

The American mission in Iraq must succeed. Our goal–promoting a stable, accountable democracy in the heart of the Middle East–cannot be achieved by purely military means.

Iraqis need to establish a civil society. Without the support of mediating civic and social associations–the informal ties that bind us together–no government can long remain stable, and no cohesive nation can be maintained. To establish a civil society, Iraqis must rebuild their basic infrastructure. Iraqis must take control of their destiny by rebuilding houses, stores, schools, roads, highways, mosques and churches.

But the constant threat of violence, combined with a high unemployment rate estimated between 30% and 50%, fundamentally undermines that effort. This not only sustains the fertile breeding ground for terrorist recruiters but has the same corrosive effect as it would in any city–raising the likelihood of further violence, civic decay and a crippling sense of powerlessness.

A massive effort must be made to engage in a well organized plan to rebuild Iraq. The goal: an infrastructure to support and encourage a strong, stable civil society.

The week before Christmas, the Pentagon asked Congress to approve a supplemental $100 billion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, on top of the estimated $500 billion spent to date. The administration should direct a small percent of that amount to create an Iraqi Citizen Job Corps, along the lines of FDR’s Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression. The Job Corps can operate under the supervision of our military and with its protection. The Army Corps of Engineers might be particularly helpful in directing this effort. It will place our military in a constructive relationship with the Iraqis–both literally and figuratively.Today, Iraq has almost 200 state-owned factories that have been abandoned by the governing authorities since the outbreak of war in 2003. Deputy Undersecretary of Defense Paul A. Brinkley has led a team to 26 of those facilities, traveling far beyond the Green Zone to idled plants from Fallujah to Ramadi. Mr. Brinkley believes that under Department of Defense leadership, at least 10 of these facilities could be re-opened almost immediately, putting more than 10,000 Iraqis to work within weeks. This should be done without delay–and it is only the beginning.

The wages that these thousands of gainfully employed workers receive will be used to purchase goods and services that will employ other Iraqis. Those goods and services must be produced by still other Iraqis. These are the first steps in creating the requisite conditions of a stable functioning economy and the best hope of displacing retribution and violence with hope and opportunity.

We must try to achieve constructive and compassionate goals through conservative means–jump starting civic improvement and the individual work ethic in Iraq, without creating permanent subsidies. The goal is to get more Iraqis working, especially young males, who are most susceptible to the terrorist and warlord recruiters.

There are many lessons from the successful welfare reforms in New York City that can be readily applied in Iraq. In the early 1990s, New York City suffered an average of 2,000 murders a year while more than 1.1 million people–one out of every seven New Yorkers–were unemployed and on welfare. Too many neighborhoods were pervaded by a sense of hopelessness that came from a combination of high crime, high unemployment and despair. “Workfare” proved an excellent method to change this destructive decades-long paradigm. It required able-bodied welfare recipients to work 20 hours a week in exchange for their benefits. In the process, we reasserted the value of the social contract, which says that for every right there is a responsibility, for every benefit an obligation.

As many as 37,000 people participated at a single time, working in the neighborhoods that most needed their help, cleaning up streets with the Sanitation Department, removing graffiti from schools and government buildings, or helping to beautify public spaces in the Parks Department.

More than 250,000 individuals went through our Workfare program between 1994 and 2001, and their effort helped to visibly improve the quality of life in New York City. Many of them moved on to permanent employment. This change from welfare to work did as much as the New York Police Department Compstat program to keep reducing crime. A similar model can work in Iraq.

There is an opportunity not only to increase employment by rebuilding roads, houses, schools and government buildings, but also to engage the Iraqi people to participate in laying the foundation for a civil and prosperous society.

The population of Iraq is roughly 30 million with a pre-war median annual income equivalent to $700. Subsidizing unemployed Iraqis with a meaningful wage in exchange for meaningful work rebuilding their society is well within the means of the U.S. and its allies.

The entire effort will help stabilize and grow the Iraqi economy. It should be open to all willing Iraqis–Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds–as a means of helping to create a common culture through shared participation in work projects to rebuild and take ownership of their nation.One word of caution: The program should be overseen by the U.S. military, not private contractors, to avoid unnecessary delays in deployment or accusations of cronyism in the bidding process. Our military will still be devoted to its primary role of hunting down terrorists and patrolling the streets, but administering a jobs program would be a direct extension of their effort to secure law and order. After the program has been started and becomes successful, it can be transferred to a civilian authority within the Iraqi government.

The creation of an Iraqi Citizen Job Corps will help expedite the establishment of a more stable civil society and improve the growing Iraqi economy through the transforming power of an honest day’s work.

####################

So, while Hillary is travelling to Iraq and Barack moans about the war, Rudy Giuliani and Newt Gingrich propose real solutions for stabilizing and reconstructing Iraq.

After all, where are the Democrats?

Didn’t a few months ago, some Democrats like Nancy Peliosi and Harry Reid call for an increase in troops?

Now not so much? Senator Russ Feingold wants to cut off all funds for the troops.


Significance?

Rudy Giuliani has been a chief executive - Mayor of New York City and Newt Gingrich a Speaker of the House of Representatives - they know how to LEAD and ACCOMPLISH GREATNESS.

More significance?

Could this be the GOP ticket in 2008?

PERHAPS

Stay tuned…….

gingrichjan12bweb


Previous:

Hillary Clinton Watch: Clinton Heads Off to Iraq

Rudy Giuliani Watch: Giuliani Dismisses LEAKED Political Strategy Memo

Rudy Giuliani Watch: Giuliani Supports Iraq Troop SURGE

Rudy Giuliani Watch: Giuliani’s Business Links May Hurt Bid?

Rudy Giuliani Watch: Giuliani Leads GOP Polls in Nevada

Rudy Giuliani Watch: Giuliani Recruits Two Veteran GOP Communicators

Rudy Giuliani Watch: The Purloined Presidential Campaign Strategy Book

Rudy Giuliani Watch: Bill Simon Building a Network of California Conservative Support

Rudy Giuliani Watch: Michael Barone - Giuliani is a Front-Runner

Rudy Giuliani Watch: Giuliani Continues to Lead Clinton, Gore

The Rudy Giuliani Files



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Rudy's Race Rights

His is not a lefty’s record

Like a stack of scratched records, pundits repeatedly dismiss Rudolph W. Giuliani’s presidential prospects because of his “social liberalism.” True, the former New York mayor’s views on abortion, guns, and gays (despite his opposition to same-sex marriage) clash with those of many socially conservative Republican primary voters.

However, socio-cons care about more than just these three important matters. On school choice, welfare reform, adoption, and quality of life, evangelicals cannot quibble with Giuliani’s achievements. His Bush-like immigration proposals are no more liberal than the president’s. Socio-cons also like to see violent criminals incarcerated and terrorists incinerated. No Rightist calls Giuliani Leftist on that.

Significantly, Giuliani can hold his head up high as the GOP hopeful with the finest legacy on racial preferences — a key issue to conservatives of every hue.

In 1993, Giuliani ran and won on the slogan “One Standard, One City.” These words guided his administration.

In his first month, Mayor Giuliani scrapped New York’s 20 percent set-asides for minority- and female-owned contractors, and a 10 percent price premium that City Hall let such companies charge above the bids of white, male competitors.

As Giuliani told me at a December 3, 1997 Manhattan Institute forum:

“I, number one, thought that was very bad public policy. The city shouldn’t be paying 10 percent more. Remember, I was dealing with a city that had about a $3 billion deficit at the time. How we could possibly pay 10 percent more for anything seemed incomprehensible to me.”

“And second,” Giuliani added, “the whole idea of quotas to me perpetuates discrimination. It has exactly the opposite effect on people who support quotas think it would have. So, I did away with it.”

Instead, Giuliani offered all contractors workshops on how to prepare more competitive applications. Some projects were subdivided to qualify newer, less-capitalized bidders.

Giuliani also padlocked the city’s Balkan-style offices of African-American/Carribean Affairs, Asian Affairs, European-American Affairs, Gay Community Affairs, Jewish Community Affairs, and Latino Affairs.

Through these actions alone — in Gotham, not Green Bay — Giuliani enacted more equality before the law than the GOP Congress even debated in the 12 years between the 1994 “Republican Revolution” and 2006’s Republican Rout.

“I have focused on people as people and not had the sense that their first claim on me is because of the group they belong to,” Giuliani told Jonathan Capehart in the March 2, 1999 New York Daily News. “They have a very, very strong claim on me as human beings.”

Giuliani promoted other policies that happened to benefit minorities while advancing his colorblind philosophy.

  • Giuliani privatized 69.8 percent of some 33,000 apartments the city previously had confiscated from tax-delinquent landlords. Families and individuals, many of them minorities, now occupy these roughly 23,000 private homes.
  • Primarily, but not exclusively, Giuliani helped minority students by launching his Charter School Fund. He visited Milwaukee’s mainly minority voucher schools and forcefully advocated that Gotham adopt “vouchers.” (He actually uses that word.) Last June 13, he told a Manhattan Institute luncheon: “The only thing that I believe is going to change dramatically public education in this country is to go to a choice system and to break up the monopoly.”
  • Giuliani and then-City University of New York chancellor Herman Badillo (whose new book, One Nation, One Standard, I helped edit) ended non-selective “open admissions” and increased graduation requirements and other academic standards.

Then-Borough President Fernando Ferrer (D., Bronx) on January 19, 1999, very specifically warned CUNY’s Board of Trustees that Giuliani and Badillo’s reforms would mean, “that 46 percent of black and 55 percent of Hispanic students would not be able to enroll in the senior colleges.” Contemplating these proposed changes, City Councilman Helen Marshall (D., Queens) said that June: “I get a feeling of ethnic cleansing.”

  • Despite these calamitous predictions, CUNY’s minority enrollment and graduation rates grew after Giuliani and Badillo raised, not lowered, what they expected of students of all colors:

The total number of first-time freshmen at CUNY’s seven senior colleges rose from 7,104 in fall 1999 to 9,576 in fall 2006, a 34.8 percent increase. Among blacks, such students simultaneously increased from 1,655 to 1,765 (up 6.65 percent), while Hispanics climbed 37.1 percent higher, from 1,771 to 2,428.

At the other end, bachelor degrees earned by blacks grew 5.15 percent, from 3,843 in 1999-2000 to 4,041 in 2005–2006. For Hispanics, the equivalent figures were 2,456 and 3,032, a 23.45 percent boost.

According to CUNY, these figures increased steadily, through the late Giuliani years, right through today’s Michael Bloomberg administration.

“Not only was there no hemorrhaging of students, but the opposite was the case: The CUNY senior colleges became more attractive,” says Jay Hershenson, CUNY’s senior vice-chancellor for university relations. “The scare tactics turned out to be, at best, smear tactics.”

  • As part of Giuliani’s now-legendary anti-crime crackdown, homicides plunged 67.9, mostly in formerly crime-plagued black and Hispanic neighborhoods. Asked once what he ever did for minorities, Giuliani replied: “They are alive, how about we start with that?”

Indeed, the New York Post estimated that, absent Giuliani’s law-enforcement initiatives, 2,299 additional black New Yorkers would have been murdered between 1993 and 1998. As Giuliani told police cadets on February 16, 1994, “the right to public safety” was that era’s “single most important civil rights struggle.”

“America’s Mayor” did not manage all this in lily-white Provo, Utah, or right-wing Colorado Springs. Rudolph W. Giuliani courageously accomplished these things in a largely minority city notorious for its liberalism. That’s leadership.

-Deroy Murdock

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This article originally appeared in The National Review Online on January 11th, 2007. It is reprinted here with the author’s permission

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Thursday, January 11, 2007

Rudy Giuliani Watch: Giuliani Supports Iraq Troop SURGE

Readers: Vote for Rudy at Flap's January 2008 GOP Presidential Preference Poll

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Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani makes a point as he speaks with reporters in New London, Conn., Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2007. Giuliani was speaking about safety considerations in regard to the proposed construction of a liquid natural gas facility in the middle of Long Island Sound between Connecticut and New York state. Giuliani’s security firm has been hired to study the situation. From left are: Tom von Essen, Richard Sheirer and Giuliani. Von Essen and Sheirer are associates of Giuliani’s.

The Hotline (Via The Corner): Rudy Supports The Troop Increase

Ex-NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani released this paper statement tonight on the president’s Iraq speech:

“Success or failure in Iraq is not a matter of partisan politics but a matter of national security. All Americans should be hoping, praying and offering constructive advice for the success of our troops in Iraq and for those Iraqis seeking to create a stable and decent government. In that spirit, I support the President’s increase in troops. Even more importantly – I support the change in strategy – the focus on security and the emphasis on a political and economic solution as being even more important than a military solution.I would add to it a heavy emphasis on measuring results and having the flexibility of adapting our strategy to make certain we restore security as quickly as possible.

We must not wait for a year or more to measure the success of our strategy but must develop a system to do so monthly weekly even daily so we give our troops the necessary support to succeed.”

But, guess what?

Hillary Clinton opposes the increase in troops. And so does Barack.

What a surprise…….

Flap caught the Mayor on Fox News after President Bush’s speech last night and he looked very presidential. Rudy made his points clearly and distinctly without any hesitation.

A LEADER speaking?

You betcha…….

Giuliani will EAT Hillary alive in any debate…..

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Cross-Posted from the FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog

Previous:

Rudy Giuliani Watch: Giuliani’s Business Links May Hurt Bid?

Rudy Giuliani Watch: Giuliani Leads GOP Polls in Nevada

Rudy Giuliani Watch: Giuliani Recruits Two Veteran GOP Communicators

Rudy Giuliani Watch: The Purloined Presidential Campaign Strategy Book

Rudy Giuliani Watch: Bill Simon Building a Network of California Conservative Support

Rudy Giuliani Watch: Michael Barone - Giuliani is a Front-Runner

Rudy Giuliani Watch: Giuliani Continues to Lead Clinton, Gore

The Rudy Giuliani Files



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Test Drive the 1994 and 2007 Romney

Take a close look at the 1994 model of the rugged but elegant Romney. If you see past the smooth, polished exterior, you will find it quite different, indeed almost indistinguishable, from the 2007 Romney. Sure, tastes and styles change over time, but THIS much?

For instance, the 2007 Romney only turns Right. The 1994 seemed to drift more to the Left. In fact, in this YouTube video highlighted January 10 by the New York Sun's Daniel Freedman, you can watch the 1994 Romney nearly run over Ronald Reagan. Talk about poor handling!

Thanks to a letter to the Log Cabin Republicans, the gay-friendly 1994 Romney recently collided head-on with the gay-hostile 2007 Romney. Ouch!

All in all, the 2007 Romney seems like a rather unreliable vehicle for reaching conservative destinations.

GOP primary voters would be wise to test drive the 1994 Romney before buying the 2007 Romney or even a 2008 model, if there is one.

-Deroy Murdock

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Deroy Murdock is a nationally syndicated columnist with the Scripps Howard News Service and Contributing Editor with National Review Online.

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Sunday, January 07, 2007

Background on Rudy's businesses

Patrick Healy and Russ Buettner at The New York Times have a useful primer on Giuliani's post-mayoral business empire, though not without the usual Times snarkiness. (For a good discussion of the Times' habitual disrespect for Giuliani, see this.)

For instance, Healy and Buettner opine "But, at the same time, [Giuliani's business] aspirations have been modestly realized: a collection of boutiques more than an empire ..." Since Giuliani's companies are private and release no financial information, the journalists don't say how they judge "modesty." They also supply no quotes from Giuliani or his partners suggesting that "empire" has ever been a goal.

Giuliani's ability to start three firms in six years while maintaining a lucrative speaking career is a testament to his energy and executive ability. In the discussion of the "lost campaign dossier", I have been amused to read many commentators who count Giuliani's business activities as one of the personal "scandals" he has to overcome. Private sector success is not a character flaw in the eyes of the American electorate (least of all among Republicans). As a corollary, voters in the private sector understand that losing a client or even a failed venture doesn't necessarily indicate incompetence or malfeasance -- American business is competitive and market conditions change.

The article discusses three firms: Giuliani Partners, Giuliani Capital and Giuliani Security and Safety. It also mentions but does not discuss Giuliani's speaking career and the Houston-based law firm Bracewell & Giuliani. Giuliani became a partner with the latter in spring 2005, lending his name and a network of contacts to the firm as it opened a New York office. Giuliani's role in the firm may be limited by other commitments, but he was still plugged in enough to discuss the venture in detail with the Dallas Business Journal last year.

Healy and Buettner spend a good deal of time on worthless speculation whether these businesses could survive a Giuliani departure. Memo to the Times: if Giuliani is president, those business will do just fine (associates of sitting presidents tend not to lack for clients -- just ask the Rodham brothers). If Giuliani isn't elected, then he doesn't have to leave the businesses.

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Friday, January 05, 2007

Rudy Giuliani Watch: Giuliani Recruits Two Veteran GOP Communicators

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Matt David (left) and Katie Levinson are top communications staffers on the governor’s campaign. Eric Luse photo courtesy of San Francisco Chronicle

National Journal: Giuliani Staffs A Communications Office

Ex-NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani has recruited two veteran GOP communicators to set up the press shop for his presidential exploratory committee.

Katie Levinson, a former White House aide who was most recently the comm. dir for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s re-election, will be a senior adviser. She’ll be tasked with setting up the campaign’s communications operations. She’ll map out the campaign’s press plan and help hire spokespersons and researchers.

Anthony Carbonetti, a top aide to Giuliani, said in a statement that Levinson’s “experience coupled with her political acumen garnered during her political career in the White House and the RNC are great addition to our talented team.” At the White House, Levinson was the chief liaison between senior White House officials and the broadcast media and was in charge of the surrogate booking operation. At the RNC, the budget for her division — Television and Radio operations — exceeded several million dollars.

Also, Maria Comella will be the Giuliani exploratory committee’s director for regional media. She has experience in both Iowa and New Hampshire. Most recently, Comella served as comm. dir for Ex-Rep. Jim Nussle’s IA GOV campaign. In ‘04, she was the NH comm. dir for the Bush-Cheney re-election effort. She’s worked for Gov. George Pataki and the Winston Group and even, at her young age, has Capitol Hill experience.

A well-organized communications shop is desperately needed by the Giuliani campaign. Levinson is a seasoned AND successful operative - part of the “WONDER TEAM” of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s California re-election.

Washington Post: Giuliani Fills Out National Staff

Levinson and Comella join former Republican National Committee political director Mike Duhaime in the Giuliani camp. Giuliani is interviewing for a number of other top-level positions, and one informed source familiar with the process suggested more hirings will be announced next week.

The news about Comella and Levinson is the latest sign that Giuliani is more likely than not to run for president in 2008.

Now, Katie, what role will the blogosphere have in the Giuliani campaign? McCain and Romney both will/already have profound blog operations.

In the meantime, another poll for the Mayor.

Stay tuned…….

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Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani (right) attended a 2002 news conference with California GOP gubernatorial candidate Bill Simon.

Cross-Posted from the FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog

Previous:

Rudy Giuliani Watch: The Purloined Presidential Campaign Strategy Book

Rudy Giuliani Watch: Bill Simon Building a Network of California Conservative Support

Rudy Giuliani Watch: Michael Barone - Giuliani is a Front-Runner

Rudy Giuliani Watch: Giuliani Continues to Lead Clinton, Gore

The Rudy Giuliani Files



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