1. He is seen as "tough" which seems to impress the Wolf-Ticket salesmen who dominate the Staten Island electorate.
2. He is not aggressively religious (SI voters have a visceral dislike of evangelical protestantism, being "Italian Catholics" ie love the pageantry, but are lukewarm about the faith).
3. He is NOT a southerner.
He's represents Arizona (a Confederate territory) and born in the (Panama) Canal Zone and he's not a Southerner ? Dude ! Dubya's the Yankee, he was born in Connecticut.