Mayor Rudy Giuliani  responds to Representative Ron Paul during the GOP Debate  when he suggests that we invited 9/11 attack upon ourselves.

The WRATH of RUDY…….

You betcha………

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WSJ: Giuliani Still Leads GOP Pack, Actor Fred Thompson Inches Up

As primary season nears, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani remains atop the ranks of Republican presidential hopefuls. But an as-yet-undeclared candidate, actor and former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson, has elbowed his way into the top tier of potential nominees and now rivals Arizona Sen. John McCain in popularity, the latest survey from Harris Interactive shows.

Among those who said they expect to vote in the Republican primaries and caucuses, 38% said they would be most likely to vote for Mr. Giuliani. His closest rivals, according to the poll, were Arizona Sen. John McCain and Mr. Thompson, each drawing the support of 18% of the respondents.

The GOP Nuts:

And, then there is this:

Republican leaders whom adults would “consider voting” for in the presidential race

Looks like Fred Thompson, Colin Powell or Coni Rice might make a good vice president candidate – especially with their appeal to independent voters.

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Rasmussen Reports: 2008 Republican Presidential Primary

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani continues to lead the race for the Republican Presidential nomination. However, for the second straight week, his support is down to the 25% level in a Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. That’s the lowest level of support he’s enjoyed in weekly Rasmussen Reports polling all year.

Still, it gives him a seven-point advantage over Arizona Senator John McCain who is supported by 18%. McCain reached a high of 22% support in January and then slipped as low as 14% two weeks ago before recovering a bit last week. Two weeks ago, Giuliani led McCain by 16 percentage points.

Former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson has not formally entered the race, but remains in third place at 15% while former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney once again enjoys support from 12%. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who recently indicated there’s a good chance he’ll jump in the race this fall, slipped a point this week and is now the favorite for just 7%. Numbers for Thompson, Romney, and Gingrich have been very stable over the past six weeks.

The GOP Nuts:

Rudy – 25%

McCain – 18%

Thompson – 15%

Romney – 12%

Gingrich – 7%

Rudy’s free fall since the Fred Thompson rumored candidacy has ended and his support has stabilized at 25%. Should Thompson and Gingrich run, the GOP vote will be further fragmented.

Will this aid the Mayor’s candidacy?

Probably

Hizzoner goes into tonight’s debate in South Carolina as the continuing front-runner.

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Deborah VonSprecken said she and her husband feverishly made preparations on their Olin farm for a visit by Rudy Giuliani before he canceled the event days later.

Rudy Giuliani Announces Deborah VonSprecken as Jones County Chair in Iowa

The Rudy Giuliani Presidential Committee announced today that Deborah VonSprecken from Olin, Iowa will serve as the Jones County Chair. As part of Mayor Giuliani’s Iowa leadership team Mrs. VonSprecken will spearhead the campaign’s organizational efforts in the county. The announcement followed a visit from Rudy Giuliani to the VonSprecken’s family farm in Olin where Mayor Giuliani apologized for the misunderstanding surrounding his last visit to the state. After spending nearly two hours visiting with Mr. and Mrs. VonSprecken, Deborah expressed her interest in supporting Mayor Giuliani and leading his efforts in Jones County.

“I am honored to have Deborah as part of my team in Iowa. As the hard-working owner of a family farm she understands the importance of cutting taxes and implementing fiscal discipline to grow the economy and increase opportunity,” said Mayor Rudy Giuliani. “Her support is tremendous and will be of great value to our efforts in Iowa.”

The original story of the FLAP is here.

Senator John McCain’s cheesy attempt to capitalize on this misunderstanding and his smack down are here.

Kudos to Rudy. Now, he really did not have to do this and Flap knows how campaigns run and get screwed up. But, he gets some credit for crawling back……

McCain gets a poison apple for being an opportunist.

Republican presidential hopeful former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani discusses small business issues with local Republicans Friday, May 4, 2007, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

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ARG: National Presidential Preferences

Rudy leads McCain by 4, while Romney fades and Fred Thompson fails to catch fire.

Is this becoming a two candidate race?

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Republican presidential hopeful former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani discusses small business issues with local Republicans Friday, May 4, 2007, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Des Moines Register: Giuliani waits to pick a path on straw poll

News Analysis: Aides say he’s not sure joining in the pre-caucus GOP vote would help him.

Republican Rudy Giuliani has been stuck for weeks on a key decision in his presidential campaign: whether to compete in the Iowa Republican Party’s straw poll in Ames this summer.

The former New York City mayor’s top Iowa advisers have encouraged him to take part in the year’s marquee national GOP event as part of building what Giuliani has said he hopes will be a winning campaign for the leadoff Iowa caucuses in January.

But the final say belongs to Giuliani, who plans to decide in the coming weeks how the event could benefit or cost him.

If he says yes to the straw poll, it will raise the stakes for this closely watched first measure of Iowa support by ensuring the participation of all the better-known candidates in the race. Giuliani’s participation also would underscore the significance of the caucuses in the new fast-track presidential nominating schedule.

A decision to take part in the straw poll would also put to its first test Giuliani’s oft-stated assertion that he can withstand social conservatives’ differences with him on some key social issues, such as his support for abortion rights.

“I think that a candidate creates his or her electorate in many ways, if they are a strong enough candidate or a powerful enough candidate,” Giuliani said in a recent interview with The Des Moines Register.

If he says no, it will make the straw poll a less meaningful early test of campaign strength in Iowa.

Likewise, should Giuliani pass on the straw poll, it would make less clear Iowa’s significance in the heavily front-loaded caucus and primary schedule.

Flap sees NO advantage to Rudy to participate. Every campaign has to make resource allocation decisions and frankly Iowa’s outdated system of caucuses costs too much money and candidate time.

The Mayor would be much better to save those resources for Florida and California that have many more GOP delegates in play. Televison ads in Florida and California are a much better bet.

In the early primary states of New Hampshire, Iowa and South Carolina, Giuliani polls the worst. He might be able to win one of these three or come in second in all of them. But, Rudy’s real strength comes in the Northeast, Florida and the West on February 5th.

This decison is a NO Brainer.

Update:

Hotline has Rudy’s Competing In New Hampshire, Iowa, and South Carolina

Rudy may have “budgeted” money for New Hampshire, Iowa and South Carolina but why bother with states where it is almost certain you will not win.

Flap agrees that Nevada’s caucuses that are held January 19th are worth contending but Iowa and South Carolina?

Not going to happen……..

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Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani speaks during the GOP presidential candidates debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, May 3, 2007.

Big Apple Success Story, Giuliani brought pro-growth policies to liberal New York.

Today, the Club for Growth released its fourth presidential white paper on former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s economic record. These white papers are extensively researched and seek to provide readers with a thorough analysis of the candidates’ economic records during their time in public office.

Over the past couple of months, critics and supporters alike have cherry-picked one or two issues out of Rudy Giuliani’s extensive record to bolster their pro or con stance.

However, any exploration of a candidate’s record must take into account the larger picture and the unique context in which that record is achieved. In New York City, Rudy Giuliani governed a locality dominated by liberal Democrats; public-sector labor unions; social-welfare activists; and a powerful local news media actively hostile to a limited-government philosophy. In the face of such tremendous headwind, Giuliani’s economic accomplishments are remarkable.

Read it all.

The success of Rudy in New York is well documented.

Do ANY of the candidates, GOP and Democrat, have this level of success?

NO WAY

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Rudy with Donald Trump and Wife at the Trump International Golf Club, in West Palm Beach, May 13, 2007.

GIULIANI HITS GREEN AT $1M TRUMP GOLF FEST

Florida donors golfed up a storm of cash for Rudy Giuliani’s presidential ambitions yesterday – about $1 million, according to real-estate mogul Donald Trump, who hosted the “golf-raiser.”
“It’s been a great day – every hole was packed with people,” said The Donald, who threw the shindig at the posh Trump International Golf Club, in West Palm Beach.

A host of sports notables and Florida politicos attended, including tennis ace Jennifer Capriati, hockey veterans Guy Charron and Pierre Groulx, Palm Beach Mayor Jack McDonald, and Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum.

Trump reportedly won the tournament. He said Giuliani “played very well.”

About 500 people paid $1,000 each to attend a post-tournament cocktail party.

And the latest Florida poll shows Rudy in the lead:

Rudy – 29%

McCain – 15%

Romney – 14%

Fred Thompson – 9%

Florida stands to play a much greater role in the nominating process than it has in years past because state lawmakers moved the state’s primary election from March to January 29. That makes Florida the first megastate to weigh in on the nominations, followed by some 20 states expected to vote on Feb. 5.

Part of Rudy’s strategy, on his way to a decisive win on Super Duper Tsunami Tuesday, February 5, 2008 is to win the early Florida primary. The race is not a lock but it will be difficult for any of the remaining candidates to compete with the number of former New York City retirees and voters who reside there and hold Rudy in such high regard.

In this Florida poll, Rudy leads McCain by 13 points.

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Chris Wallace (R), host of Fox News Sunday, interviews former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and current Republican Presidential candidate at the Willow Brook Country Club in Tyler, Texas May 11, 2007.

Today’s world requires a bigger Army by Rudy Giuliani

The greatest challenge of our generation is to win the terrorists’ war on us. The next president needs to keep America on offense against the terrorists — that’s why I’ve called for the creation of 10 new combat brigades for the U.S. Army.

We need to remember the lesson from previous generations: Peace is best achieved through strength.

This isn’t the first time the United States has been faced with the need to expand our military during wartime. After winning World War I, the Army was cut by 90 percent. And when World War II came to American shores with the attack on Pearl Harbor, we were forced to play catch-up through the first years of the fight. After defeating the Axis powers, our Army of more than 7 million soldiers was reduced to fewer than 500,000 by 1948.

When the Cold War heated up, Harry Truman — a Democratic president — and the Republican-led Congress needed to establish a large peacetime military for the first time in our nation’s history. Our responsibilities as a world power demanded it.

But after winning the Cold War we again dramatically reduced our military. Washington called it a “peace dividend,” and it became the core of government policy in the 1990s.

The peace dividend has proven to be a disastrous decision. We cut military and intelligence budgets as Islamic terrorists were focusing their attacks on America and Americans. Terrorists attacked us in 1993 at the World Trade Center and in 1996 at the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia. In 1998, our embassies were bombed in Kenya and Tanzania, and in 2000, terrorists attacked the USS Cole, killing 17 servicemen. During this time, Osama Bin Laden even declared war on us.

We didn’t recognize the magnitude of the threat. During that time an Army of 18 divisions — the force that won the first Gulf War — was cut to 10 divisions. Total military manpower was reduced from about 775,000 in the 1980s to 470,000 on the eve of Sept. 11. The cuts extended to the purchase of new equipment — that’s why many of today’s Marine Corps pilots are flying the same helicopters their fathers were flying in Vietnam.

The good news is that conditions for our fighting men and women are improving. President Bush raised their pay and improved benefits. President Bush also increased the ranks of the Army and Marine Corps. More ships are being built for the Navy, and the Air Force is finally getting some long-awaited next-generation fighters.

These increases are necessary and important, but we need to do more. Military families are feeling the stretch of extended involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq. We need a force that can both deter aggression and meet any challenge that might come our way — even two conflicts simultaneously. That’s why America must increase the size of our armed forces — in particular the Army, which has been cut the most and is under the greatest stress.

Ten new combat brigades will offer reinforcements where they are needed most. They will deter others from calculating that a stretched-thin U.S. military presents an opportunity for aggression. And they will allow the United States greater flexibility to fight and win the wider war against the terrorists.

I believe that Washington needs a healthy dose of fiscal discipline, but it must be done by establishing clear priorities. Our current military spending is low by historical standards — 4.1 percent of GDP, if you include supplemental spending. At the height of the Reagan build-up, it was at 6.2 percent of GDP.

Besides, costs should not be considered in a vacuum: They must be weighed against the prospective benefits of securing a more peaceful world, the threats posed by the terrorists’ war against us, and the certain drawbacks of letting down our guard. And while recruitment during military conflicts can be a challenge, I believe that the 9/11 generation — with its heightened sense of public service — will rise to this challenge if we make it a national priority.

America will win the war of the terrorists on us by staying on offense. We can’t listen to those who counsel retreat or advocate giving our enemy a timetable of our withdrawal. America doesn’t retreat: America advances. And to win, we must understand that realistic peace is best achieved by a stronger, larger and better-trained military.

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POLL: InsiderAdvantage SC Primary

Among 500 Republicans, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani leads former Speaker Newt Gingrich (22% to 15%) in a statewide primary; former Gov. Mitt Romney trails at 10%, Sen. John McCain at 9%, and former Sen. Fred Thompson at 8%.

The GOP Nuts:

Giuliani: 22%

Gingrich: 15%

Romney: 10%

McCain: 9%

(Fred) Thompson: 8%

Brownback: 4%

Hunter: 4%

Huckabee: 1%

Paul: 1%

Don’t Know/Undecided: 26%

An interesting poll that was taken May 8-9. McCain is fading in South Carolina while Mitt Romney gains.

Conventional wisdom has Rudy not finishing strong in South Carolina but now with McCain’s fade……..Is the race Rudy vs. Romney?

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