Free Republic

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...

Rudy spoke to our high school this evening as part of a program by a local organization. I know a lot here don't like him and see him as too liberal, I have to say after watching him that he "gets" it. I'm not yet old enough to vote, but I will be in '08, and I know where its going when I can. He started out the speech with a funny story about his first trial as a prosecutor. He really is a warm guy, and truly does look like he enjoys talking to people. He spent a lot...

The Conservative Case for Rudy Giuliani in 2008 John Hawkins of Right Wing News makes the conservative case against Rudy Giuliani for 2008. Hawkins’ piece largely consists of the same old anti-Rudy arguments wrapped in slightly new packaging, focusing a lot on Rudy’s decade-old socially liberal positions on a few cultural issues, as well as his Manhattanite personal life and some nonsense about unelectability (more on that later). As such, I think this is a great opportunity for someone to lay out the conservative case for Rudy in ‘08. And that someone might as well be me. Giuliani: Pro-growth tax-cutter...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 18 — Senator John McCain is locking up a cast of top-shelf Republican strategists, policy experts, fund-raisers and donors, in a methodical effort to build a 2008 presidential campaign machine, drawing supporters of President Bush despite the sometimes rocky history between the two men. Mr. McCain’s effort to woo a diverse lineup of backers and scare off rivals has augmented his travel schedule on behalf of Republicans — which this week and next includes trips to Iowa, Louisiana, Virginia, South Carolina, Ohio and Florida. The effort is fueling a fund-raising operation that has helped him build loyalty throughout...

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton matches up well against Sen. John McCain in early polling about a possible presidential contest in 2008. A Time magazine poll released Sunday found McCain, R-Ariz., at 49 percent and Clinton, D-N.Y., at 47 percent among registered voters when people were asked which candidate they would support for president if they had to decide now. McCain had a 10-point lead over the Democratic nominee from 2004, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, and a 9-point lead over 2000 Democratic nominee Al Gore in similar matchups. Fifty-six percent of those surveyed said they have a favorable opinion of McCain...