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What an election: The one-time mayor of Ellis Island, grandson of Italian immigrants, has to make nice with the modern-day Know Nothings if he wants a shot at his party's nomination for the presidency. Mayor Giuliani gets immigrants. He's lived their dreams. He's governed their city. He's won their hearts and their minds and their votes. But now he must walk a razor's edge between advocating sensible immigration reforms on one side and demonizing immigrants as criminals and invaders on the other. Having transgressed from conservative orthodoxy irreparably on one issue, abortion, Mr. Giuliani has been pursuing a strategy of...

HOW MANY TIMES IS HILLARY GONNA BE CONFUSED BY MEN?: Chris MatthewsMISSUS CLINTON'S 'SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE' PROBLEM - PART 3 PART 2 PART 1 by Mia T, 2.17.07 This is how she explains her vote to authorize the war: "I would never have expected any president, if we knew then what we know now, to come to ask for a vote. There would not have been a vote, and I certainly would not have voted for it." John Kerry could not have said it worse himself. 1, 2 No wonder last weekend's "Saturday Night Live" gave us a "Hillary"...

Evangelical leader sizes up GOP field, says Giuliani’s campaign is doomed By Sam Youngman The Hill 16 February 2007 Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who said Wednesday night he is making a bid for the White House, will not be America’s 44th president because he supports abortion rights and gay rights and has been married three times. At least so says Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. Land is considered an influential evangelical leader, and he has a new book, due out next month, entitled The Divided States of America? What...

Rudy Building Lead Over McCain... [Rich Lowry] ...according to the new Fox News Poll. Asked who would they support in a Republican primary if the choices were McCain or Giuliani, 56% of Republicans said Giuliani, and 31% said McCain. 50% of Independents said Giuliani, and 27% said McCain. This represents a big bump for Giuliani since early December. Then, 42% of Republicans said they would pick Giuliani, 40% McCain, and 35% of Independents said they would support Giuliani while 41% said they would go with McCain. 02/15 05:34 PM

Pundits of all political persuasions have been chattering about whether Rudy Giuliani, whose name is invariably modified by the description "social liberal," can overcome the objections of many religious conservatives to win the Republican nomination. Will his assurances to appoint judges in the mold of Roberts, Alito and Scalia be "enough" to put their concerns to rest? Will conservatives overlook social issues in an election focusing largely on foreign policy? The more interesting question is whether Giuliani can establish a new description of what it means to be "socially conservative." Perhaps to be socially conservative means something more than just...

It is the greatness of the United States that daunting challenges inevitably summon to the fore leaders with the steel to rise to the occasion and the grasp to raise us up with them. Leaders whose confidence and command cut through the noise and the naysayers. Leaders who stir us not only to the urgency of action but to the achievability of victory through America’s exceptional gifts. Rudy Giuliani is such a leader. In our perilous times, his is the unique combination of vision, guts, and perseverance that we need in the Oval Office. That’s why I hope we have...

The survey taken Friday through Sunday - nearly a year before the first presidential primaries are held - shows Clinton with a 19-percentage-point edge over Illinois Sen. Barack Obama among Democrats and Giuliani with a 16-point margin over Arizona Sen. John McCain among Republicans.

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) continues to hold a solid, double-digit, lead in the race for the Republican Presidential nomination. Giuliani attracts support from 32% of Likely Primary Voters, fourteen points more than the number two man in the race, Arizona Senator John McCain. This is the largest lead yet measured for Giuliani. A week ago, he was ahead 27% to 19%.

STALINIST RISING? 1HILLARY CLINTON ABUSE OF POWER (WHERE IS THE UNREDACTED BARRETT REPORT ANYWAY?) by Mia T, 2.07.07     Peggy Noonan's excellent piece in yesterday's Wall Street Journal is really the story of the death of democracy. At its core it is the description of the human double helix gone terribly awry, of a denatured protein grotesquely twisted, of two mutant, tangled strands of DNA, the basest imaginable of base pairs linked permanently, as firmly as guanine to cytosine, bill inexorably to hillary and conversely, doing what they do best, and doing it relentlessly. Killing. Killing insidiously. Killing...

SACRAMENTO -- Rudy Giuliani addressed a potentially troublesome issue with conservative voters, saying his policies as mayor to get handguns off the street helped reduce crime in New York. "I used gun control as mayor," he said at a news conference Saturday during a swing through California. But "I understand the Second Amendment. I understand the right to bear arms." He said what he did as mayor would have no effect on hunting. Addressing another potential trouble spot with conservatives, Giuliani spoke in favor of a border fence, saying, "You have to have secure borders, you have to have a...

Giuliani: Gun control helped lower crime 5 minutes ago Rudy Giuliani addressed a potentially troublesome issue with conservative voters, saying his policies as mayor to get handguns off the street helped reduce crime in New York. "I used gun control as mayor," he said at a news conference Saturday during a swing through California. But "I understand the Second Amendment. I understand the right to bear arms." He said what he did as mayor would have no effect on hunting. Addressing another potential trouble spot with conservatives, Giuliani spoke in favor of a border fence, saying, "You have to have...

Here are the three leading candidates for president in the Republican party, a party based in the South and in the interior, rural in nature, and backed in large part by social conservatives: the senior senator from Arizona, a congenital maverick with friends in the press and a habit of dissing the base of his party; the former governor of deep-blue Massachusetts, son of a Michigan governor, a Mormon who looks, sounds, and comes across as a city boy; and the former mayor of New York, the Big Apple itself, ethnic and Catholic, pro-choice and pro-gun control, married three times,...

Rudy Giuliani addressed a potentially troublesome issue with conservative voters, saying his policies as mayor to get handguns off the street helped reduce crime in New York. "I used gun control as mayor," he said at a news conference Saturday during a swing through California. But "I understand the Second Amendment. I understand the right to bear arms." He said what he did as mayor would have no effect on hunting. Addressing another potential trouble spot with conservatives, Giuliani spoke in favor of a border fence, saying, "You have to have secure borders, you have to have a fence, and...

PRINCETON, NJ -- As former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani inches closer to a formal declaration of his candidacy for the 2008 Republican nomination for president, the challenge he faces among Republicans with his support of abortion rights and same-sex civil unions is clear in a recent USA Today/Gallup Poll. Giuliani is extraordinarily well-liked and respected by the American public. He also ties with or leads Arizona Sen. John McCain as the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination in recent Gallup polls. At the same time, his views on abortion and same-sex civil unions are unknown to most rank...

Sacramento, Calif. -- One of the leaders in the nation's oldest and best-known gay Republican organization signaled tonight that the favorite GOP presidential candidate for his group in '08 was Rudy Giuliani. "How could we not like Rudy?" James Vaughn, executive director of the 30-year-old Log Cabin Republicans, told me at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, where California Republicans were gathering for their state convention this weekend. "He has always been openly supportive of the gay agenda and won't apologize," said Vaughn, who served as the liaison to gay and lesbian Los Angeleans under former Republican Mayor (1993-2001) Richard Riordan. "As...

New York, Feb 12 - The Rudy Giuliani Exploratory Committee today announced that Congressman Pete Sessions and former Congresswoman Susan Molinari are supporting Mayor Rudy Giuliani to be the next President of the United States. Both will take active roles aiding Giuliani’s exploratory efforts, with Sessions working to build support in the House and Molinari serving as both Senior Advisor and Chairman of Washington outreach. In announcing their endorsement, Sessions and Molinari praised Giuliani’s proven leadership. “I’m supporting Mayor Giuliani for President because he has the experience, record of results and vision to unite our country during these uncertain times....

In my last column, "The Men Who Would Destroy Conservatism" I explained why Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, and Mitt Romney posed a great threat to the future of conservatism. Having explained why these men should not be president, I believe it's incumbent that they not be given the nomination. Conservatives can stop this process. With the establishment fairly well split between these three men, the challenge is that many conservatives are supporting these candidates. Of course, we often make the flawed assumption that Conservatism is a monolith, when it's quite complex movement. There are certain people who self-identify as conservatives...

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is poised to trump all comers in New York's presidential primary and general elections in 2008, according to a Crain's New York Business poll. The survey of 600 registered voters across the state also found that Rudy Giuliani would handily win a Republican primary but lose the state in a final race for the White House. In addition, the results show that Mayor Michael Bloomberg, if he runs as an independent, would be little more than a long shot. The results reflect the advantages enjoyed by Ms. Clinton, who is fresh off a $30.8 million re-election...

Albany, New York -- Arriving here last night following a weekend of "Rudy-mania" at the California Republican State Convention, I found the attitude toward Rudy Giuliani's '08 Presidential candidacy quite different at the annual conference of the Conservative Party of New York. As it was here in 2000 when he briefly considered a bid for the U.S. Senate for the seat eventually won by Hillary Clinton, Giuliani's name provokes instant and strong response among Members of the 45-year-old Conservative Party, which holds the fourth line (Row D) on the Empire State ballot and whose cross-endorsement has been key to Republicans...

Secret study cited "weirdness factor" among candidate weaknesses FEBRUARY 12--As he campaigns for the Republican presidential nomination, Rudolph Giuliani will have to contend with political and personal baggage unknown to prospective supporters whose knowledge of the former New York mayor is limited to his post-September 11 exploits. So, in a bid to educate the electorate, we're offering excerpts from a remarkable "vulnerability study" that was commissioned by Giuliani's campaign prior to his successful 1993 City Hall run. The confidential 450-page report, authored by Giuliani's research director and another aide, was the campaign's attempt to identify possible lines of attack against...

Presidential hopefuls swarm the Golden State - Just as surely as the swallows return to San Juan Capistrano, the 2008 presidential contenders are flocking to California in search of money and support -- and there will be plenty of sightings around these parts in the next couple of weeks. Former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani will speak to a nonpartisan business luncheon crowd at Santa Clara's Hyatt Regency today, following his weekend splashdown at the state Republican Party convention in Sacramento. And the Democrats are right behind. Former Democratic Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack will be in San Francisco on Tuesday...

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, still basking in his can-do post-Sept. 11 image, got a rousing welcome yesterday from Republican activists searching for a presidential candidate who can win in California. No Republican presidential candidate has carried California since the elder George Bush did in 1988, and no one has even run a competitive race in the increasingly Democratic-leaning state since then. Republicans are hopeful they have prospects in the large 2008 field who can reverse the trend by combining liberal and conservative stands that has proven so successful for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. “The popularity of the governor shows...

Any guesses on who 'The Patriot with the big "R" behind his name is?

MANCHESTER, N.H. - New Hampshire residents likely to vote in the Republican presidential primary a year from now think more highly of former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani than any of his rivals, a poll released Tuesday shows. ADVERTISEMENT Giuliani's net favorability rating — the proportion of people viewing him favorably minus the proportion viewing him unfavorably — was 56 percent, well ahead of Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record), 32 percent, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, 26 percent, in the University of New Hampshire poll for WMUR-TV in Manchester."He's the lesser-known candidate, but he has that rock...

Today Peggy Noonan makes a glancing reference to something I've been meaning to write about for a while with respect to Rudy Giuliani: On 9/10/01 he was a bum, on 9/11 he was a man, and on 9/12 he was a hero. Life can change, shift, upend in an instant. Noonan is over dramatizing for effect, of course, but a while back I got an email from a self-described liberal in NYC saying much the same thing - namely, that in the mythical afterglow of Rudy's performance on 9/11 people have forgotten that (to paraphrase my emailer's formulation) "on September...

As Mayor Giuliani looks over the acres of gleaming tractors, mammoth cotton harvesters, and hightech cow milking equipment at a fair in California's vast agricultural heartland tomorrow morning, he will surely feel like he's a long way from Manhattan. The prospect of a visit from the man billed as America's mayor already has local folks in California's central valley atwitter. "Honestly, this is probably the biggest name we've had," the chairman of the World Ag Expo in Tulare, Calif., Bruce Shannon, said yesterday. Mr. Shannon allowed that Mr. Giuliani had "probably not run into a lot of combines and tractors"...

Looks like he got an enthusiastic reception.

Rudy Giuliani Has Got What You Need Posted by Mark Radulich on 02.15.2007 It won't matter what Giuliani thinks about about abortion if Iran drops a bomb on us. And quite frankly I'm much less worried about Islamic terrorism with President Giuliani in charge than President Brownback or Clinton.The story right now being bandied about by the mainstream media and the talk radio world is that the GOP has no front-runner for the 2008 Presidential election or that the front-runners are not exactly inspiring anyone. The three most prominent names right now are obviously John McCain, Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani....

In 1993 it became obvious that if Rudy was to avenge his narrow defeat for Mayor four years earlier, he would need more Democratic voters to cross party lines and support him. His campaign strategists knew I was disenchanted with the incumbent and put a full court press on me to meet with Giuliani. I was the elected head of the Democratic Party in a large Democratic district whose vote could be pivotal if it turned out for the I met him and we talked for about an hour. He impressed me then as he does now with his intelligence,...

New York, Feb 1 - The Rudy Giuliani Presidential Exploratory Committee announced today that Ed Goeas, Dave Sackett and Brian Tringali from The Tarrance Group, a prominent research and strategic consulting firm, are joining the committee as its pollsters. Goeas and partners Sackett and Tringali currently also serve as pollster to five Republican Governors, ten U.S. Senators, and forty-two Republican Members of Congress. “We’re thrilled The Tarrance Group has come on board and will lead our polling efforts. Ed Goeas, Dave Sackett and Brian Tringali are truly superior in their field, have stellar reputations and make an outstanding addition...

  Click to view larger picture Associated Press Some polls have Rudolph W. Giuliani ahead in key primary states like New Hampshire, Iowa, California and New Jersey. WASHINGTON A year ago, top Republicans had two questions about former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and his presidential prospects. Where is he? And how can he win the nomination of a party filled with conservative Christians? But after a slow start, Giuliani has begun campaigning, and it's now clear where he is: at the top of the polls. And because of shifts in the political winds, more political pros are saying...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, speaking of "the kind of president I will want to be," rallied California Republicans on Saturday with praise for President Bush and a declaration that victory over terrorism is "the great moral issue of our time." Giuliani, who earned renown for his leadership after the World Trade Center attacks, drew cheers from delegates at the California Republican Party convention by evoking the courage of rescue workers on Sept. 11, 2001, and calling for new resolve in the war on terrorism. Giuliani never formally announced he was running for president, yet concluded...

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — More Michigan residents have a favorable opinion of Republican presidential candidates John McCain and Rudolph Giuliani so far than they do of Mitt Romney, according to a poll released Friday by Lansing-based EPIC-MRA. Fifty-nine percent of the 600 likely voters surveyed statewide said they had a favorable opinion of McCain, while 55 percent said the same of Giuliani and 38 percent said that of Romney. The poll, conducted Jan. 31 through Feb. 8, had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points and sampled voters of all political stripes, not just Republicans....

Rudy Giuliani answering press questions at Gaggle after his speech to the California Republican Party Convention in Sacramento, February 10, 2007 on You Tube More on this Blog site - FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog

Sacramento -- Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, arguing that America is in desperate need of a Ronald Reagan-style optimistic vision, told California Republicans on Saturday that he wants to be a president who will "win the world for a set of ideas ... that I believe come from God." "We're for freedom, we're for the future, and in order to do that, we need leadership that uplifts us and moves us toward the future," Giuliani told the lunchtime crowd at the state GOP convention, all but formally declaring his candidacy for his party's presidential nomination. "You get...

It was October of 2000 and New York was a city divided. For the first time in history, the Yankees and Mets were facing off in the World Series. The city was hosting a pep rally in midtown for fans of both teams and Mayor Giuliani was on hand for the festivities. Other mayors might have been impartial by pledging allegiance to both teams. But not Rudy. He ascended to the podium, holding up a hat with a Yankees logo on one half and a Mets logo on the other half. "This is what I call the coward's hat," Giuliani...

Republican primary voters should rally around the GOP field's most accomplished supply-sider, the all-but-announced Rudolph W. Giuliani. Having sliced taxes and slashed Gotham's government, New York's former mayor is the leading fiscal conservative among 2008's GOP presidential contenders. Before Giuliani's January 1, 1994 inauguration, New York's economy was on a stretcher. Amid soaring unemployment, 235 jobs vanished daily. Financier Felix Rohatyn complained: "Virtually all human activities are taxed to the hilt." Punitive taxes helped fuel a $2.3 billion deficit. Mayor-elect Giuliani sounded Reaganesque when he announced he would "reduce the size and cost of city government" to balance the budget....

Giuliani Strikes a Note With California GOP Testing the Waters, Former N.Y. Mayor Garners 4 Ovations SACRAMENTO, Feb. 10 -- Rudolph W. Giuliani came west to learn whether his brand of Republican politics has a chance among party members significantly more conservative than himself. By the time he had received a fourth standing ovation Saturday at the California Republican Party convention, the answer seemed clear. Equating the U.S. fight against terrorism with the Civil War and the Cold War, Giuliani told about 750 of his party's faithful that failure in Iraq would turn that country into a "massive headquarters for...

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani received a warm welcome Saturday from California GOP activists, who responded to his strong leadership in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Being mayor, he said at the California Republican Party convention, ''prepares you as best you can be prepared to be the president of the United States.'' Giuliani spoke for nearly 45 minutes -- touching on health care, crime, terrorism and Iraq -- in a speech laden with references to a possible bid for president. He mocked inaction in Washington, saying he would be a decisive leader. ''Presidents make...

Given the more liberal tendencies of Rudy Giuliani on abortion and guns, conservatives have expressed serious misgivings about his run for the nomination. However, the main effect that a President can have on these issues involves his or her outlook on the judiciary. The federal court system has been the main battleground for both issues, with Roe specifically precluding any kind of legislative action. Court nominations have become one of the essential considerations for presidential contenders -- and it may be more important for Giuliani than any other Republican candidate. Giuliani has hinted that he would nominate jurists in the...

} When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani speak at the California Republican Convention this weekend, some party leaders from Solano County will be there and listening carefully. Approximately 1,300 delegates from across the state are expected to fill the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Sacramento beginning today through Sunday. Among them will be Mike Gomez, the chair of the Solano County Republican Party Central Committee, and Lynda Rose McMahan, chair of Solano Republican Women's Federated. A busy itinerary awaits the group in the state capital, including the selection of new party leadership. Gomez said one...

Rudy Giuliani: Supply-Sider-in-Chief Republican primary voters should rally around the GOP field's most accomplished supply-sider, the all-but-announced Rudolph W. Giuliani. Having sliced taxes and slashed Gotham's government, New York's former mayor is the leading fiscal conservative among 2008's GOP presidential contenders. Before Giuliani's January 1, 1994 inauguration, New York's economy was on a stretcher. Amid soaring unemployment, 235 jobs vanished daily. Financier Felix Rohatyn complained: "Virtually all human activities are taxed to the hilt." Punitive taxes helped fuel a $2.3 billion deficit. Mayor-elect Giuliani sounded Reaganesque when he announced he would "reduce the size and cost of city government" to...

[snip] Giuliani transformed a city whose budget and workforce were larger than those of all but five or six states. He and police chief William Bratton famously cracked down first on quality of life crimes like panhandling and public urination. Teenagers who leaped over the turnstiles at subway entrances were arrested — a departure from the practice under Mayor David Dinkins. Giuliani later quipped that the police under his predecessor had become "highly skilled observers of crime." Those turnstile jumpers turned out to possess a huge number of illegal guns, which were confiscated, and criminals throughout the city discovered that...

Slow and steady wins the race, as the old adage goes. That is certainly the approach that former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani has been taking with his possible White House run in 2008. Let’s hope that the adage holds true for Giuliani in the next couple years.In November, Giuliani created a presidential exploratory committee to “test the waters.� Since then, sources in the Giuliani camp have said that he recently filed a “statement of candidacy� with the Federal Elections Committee, a step that puts him on the same legal level with other Republican hopefuls as Mitt Romney, former...

Rudy's Run By The Editors Rudy Giuliani is a compelling candidate for the Republican nomination for president in 2008. He saved New York City, by restoring law and order and breaking with the disastrous urban liberalism of the 1970s. He will forever be honored for his leadership after the 9/11 attacks. And his effective, no-nonsense management style and straight-talking persona are enormously appealing. Our colleague John Podhoretz is correct when he points out that conservatives want to like Giuliani, and we would add that there is a lot to like. But there are serious obstacles to Giuliani’s winning the embrace...

The latest Public Policy Polling survey in North Carolina shows John Edwards leading his Democratic opponents in a presidential primary with 34%, followed by Sen. Hillary Clinton at 31% and Sen. Barack Obama at 18%. The "surrounding hoopla" around the entry of Clinton and Obama into the race "appears to have helped them... Much of the change can be attributed to black voters and women. One month ago John Edwards led among blacks and women, but after their announcements, Clinton and Obama surged in these large Democratic constituencies. Clinton is now ahead among blacks with 48% support, and Obama is...

In Case You Missed It: Congresswoman Candice Miller Endorses Mayor Rudy Giuliani New York, Feb 8 - “Today I’m announcing my endorsement for Rudy Giuliani for President of the United States. I really have taken a lot of time and really thought about who I would be supporting and working for during this presidential campaign because of course I think the issues and the challenges that are facing our nation so very, very intense, so incredibly intense. I have spoken with all the major candidates, I have carefully evaluated their positions, I’ve looked very carefully at how their stance on...

SACRAMENTO — Presumed Republican presidential candidate Rudolph W. Giuliani is seeking to broaden his fundraising base beyond Wall Street, aggressively prospecting in California with stops at a country club here and homes in Orange County and Del Mar in coming days. A review of donors to the former New York mayor's presidential exploratory committee and to a political action committee he controls shows that his main contributors have been blue-chip law firms, investment houses and financial services companies in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Those states account for three-fourths of the money he has raised. But in making his...

Rudy Giuliani's announcement that he will seek the Republican presidential nomination brings to my mind a book I wrote in the early 1990s, "The Conservative Crack-Up." When I wrote the book, Ronald Reagan's successor, President George H. W. Bush, was ignoring many of the constituent ingredients of the Reagan Revolution, for instance, tax cuts. The various factions of the conservative coalition were disgruntled and threatening to take a walk. Once again liberal pundits were diagnosing the conservative movement as moribund. Ever since the conservative movement's ascendancy within the Republican Party in 1964, these grim diagnoses have been handed down episodically....

February 8, 2007 - Clinton, Giuliani Early Favorites In Pennsylvania, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Race Is Close In Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida In an early look at the 2008 presidential race, Pennsylvania voters back former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani by a narrow 47 - 44 percent over New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. Arizona Sen. John McCain gets 46 percent to Sen. Clinton's 45 percent, a tie. Clinton is in a close race with either Giuliani or McCain in three swing states polled by Quinnipiac (KWIN uh-pe-ack) University: She leads McCain...