Free Republic

Matthew Mahoney, $30,000-a-month executive director of the Senate Republican Campaign Commmittee and one-time head of Giuliani's presidential field operations was relieved of overall responsibility for the NY Senate's GOP campaign and told to concentrate on fund-raising and administrative chores....(rather than pushing the ex-mayor for governor). The demotion was also tied to Giuliani's failure to deliver on pledges to raise substantial amounts of cash for Republican efforts to hold the Senate. Giuliani was supposed to announce the creation of a fund-raising committee to collect cash for the Senate GOP, which some believe is designed to bolster the ex-mayor should he run...

One-time GOP rivals John McCain and Rudy Giuliani bonded over hot dogs and twizzlers in front row seats by the New York Yankees dugout Sunday, providing a snapshot of a possible Republican ticket. A reporter disguised as a fan shouted to McCain, "How about Rudy for vice president?" The presumptive Republican nominee, casually dressed in sunglasses, a collared shirt with rolled sleeves and his Navy baseball cap, just smiled and waved.

Rudy Giuliani is launching a new fund-raising committee to dole out cash to New York GOP candidates - a move that could help him collect political chits as he weighs a run for governor, The Post has learned. It's the first major political move by the former mayor since his run for president flamed out in January. The Giuliani camp is expected to announce the creation of the committee as early as Monday. The same day, he'll hold a small fund-raiser at the Grand Havana Room on Fifth Avenue for his existing federal political action committee, Solutions America. Sources close...

Bloomberg, Clinton, And Giuliani Shut Out Of White House WASHINGTON (AP) ― Damn Yankees. After 19 months of primary campaigning, that seems to be the attitude of the nation's voters. A year ago, three New Yorkers -- Republican Rudy Giuliani, Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton and independent Michael Bloomberg -- loomed large in the presidential sweepstakes. With Clinton's departure from the race, they officially have gone 0-for-3 -- a shocking bagel hole for the Big Apple. In January 2008, Clinton and former New York Mayor Giuliani were seen as the clear front-runners of their respective parties. They had the big...

In today's Kentucky presidential primary John McCain received 72% of the vote. Huckabee 8% (dropped out). Ron Paul 7% (did not campaign). Uncommitted 5%. Mitt Romney 5% (dropped out). Rudy Giuliani 2% (dropped out). Alan Keyes 1% (did not campaign).

......the feds likely won't be looking into disbursements from the $4.5M "discretionary fund" in Bloomberg's 2008 city budget.....while a memo notes the disbursements "can create a mistaken impression that the Mayor's Office is funding its own 'member items' " ....... a Quinnipiac poll found that more than half of the public believe Bloomberg was somehow involved in the City Council's $200M slush-fund follies. One more reason not to trust City Hall.

"I had an understanding with Mr. Rudolph Giuliani, when I became Archbishop of New York and he was serving as Mayor of New York, that he was not to receive the Eucharist because of his well-known support of abortion."

Some Dems float the New York Statehouse as an option. Some Democrats terrified that their bloody primary campaign will doom them in November are floating a consolation prize for Hillary Clinton: governor of New York. The travails of New York Gov. David Paterson have opened up a new potential career path for Clinton, according to well-informed Democratic Party insiders who refused to allow their names to be used when discussing contingencies. They want her to consider the option if she concludes after the April 22 Pennsylvania primary that she cannot overtake Barack Obama for the party's presidential nomination. Hillary Clinton,...

GIULIANI WEIGHING 'SPECIAL' RUN FOR GOVBy MAGGIE HABERMAN March 28, 2008 -- In the latest twist in New York politics, Rudy Giuliani is eyeing a run for governor in a special election this fall should Gov. Paterson be forced to resign, sources say. A top adviser to the former mayor, who pulled the plug on his presidential bid in January, yesterday dangled the possibility of Giuliani's running in a special election. It would happen in a year in which presidential nominee John McCain would be at the top of the GOP ticket. The Post reported this week that state lawmakers...

I am not on the inside of any presidential campaign, but I consider myself to be a good student of politics. And as a writer, I have the luxury of going against the grain on campaigns and issues. I am also not a Republican—so I don´t expect the leaders of the Grand Old Party to take my advice. But as a political writer, I have an obligation to inform, and hopefully entertain my readers. And plenty of readers will find the idea of a McCain-Giuliani ticket entertaining, if nothing else. It´s no news that John McCain has locked up the...

Times Square is crammed with tourists, and not just for New Year's Eve. These days, they're eager to gawk at the glittering lights of Broadway and visit attractions like Madame Tussauds Wax Museum and the MTV studios. But 15 years ago, the place was considered a cesspool, overrun with crime and home to sex shops and peep shows. Drug addicts shot up on the street. Locals avoided the neighborhood. The man who has taken the credit for revitalizing Times Square is GOP presidential hopeful and former Mayor Rudy Giuliani. He has made Times Square a symbol for how he tamed...

John McCain is the GOP candidate for president. But who will run for Veep? One of the smartest decisions George W. Bush made was choosing Dick Cheney. Contrary to the Cheney image peddled by the hysterical Left, a sort of a projected Darth Vader on the screen of their childish nightmares, in reality Dick Cheney is wise, experienced, thoughtful, calm, humorous, and ready to step up to be president. Cheney is not a hot electoral commodity; he excels at governance. So does Rudy Giuliani. McCain has his pick of running mates, but Rudy stands out. He is younger than McCain,...

Dear Jim..OK, the GOP now has its candidate. McCain isn't the first choice of the majority of us on FR, and even now, there are spirited, yet for the most part, civil exchanges on the threads as to whether or not some will support the GOP nominee. One of the more unfortunate, and unpleasant events on FR was the mass banishment and/or leaving of a great many Freepers who were supporters of Rudy Guliani for the nomination. I'm posting this to see if you'd be open to the idea of inviting them to return, and see how others might feel...

What is it with these New Yorkers running for president? First, Rudy Giuliani pins his entire presidential bid on a late-voting, big-state strategy and flames out in Florida before the first flicker of fire. Now, Hillary Rodham Clinton might as well be stealing pages from Giuliani's laughingstock playbook - and she looks headed for the same demise.

Charles Hill talked to the Yale Daily News about the disappointing finish he experienced as a member of Rudy Giuliani's team, Hill, one of the policy stars Rudy attracted for his advisory boards in the presidential primary campaign, agrees with the conventional wisdom that the Florida strategy was a mistake. However, he argues convincingly that it was a secondary strategic error: The candidate’s focus on Florida — at the expense of campaigning in the early primaries — was a mistake, Hill said in an interview with the News on Friday. But it was also part of a larger failure on...

Gay Republicans are in a state of mourning over Mayor Giuliani's exit from the presidential race, but they are moving swiftly into Senator McCain's fold despite concerns that he has not always been faithful to their agenda. "Giuliani was my man," a political organizer in San Francisco's gay community, Christopher Bowman, said. "I'm heartbroken he will not be the nominee of the party." A organization that is effectively the party's gay caucus, the Log Cabin Republicans, posted a message at the top of the group's main Web page Wednesday saluting Mr. Giuliani for his bid and his "service to our...

(snip) KRAUTHAMMER: Giuliani will not help him among conservatives or evangelicals. But he is not going to be deployed in Georgia. He will be deployed in New York and on the West Coast, in areas in which he has appeal. Look, these two guys are the big sheriffs. So he reinforces that. He acts as a surrogate. And they are also representatives of the Republican agnostics. Giuliani has his problem with abortion, of course. McCain's apostasies are too numerous to actually count. And so each of them together has this independent Democratic outreach which will be helpful in the general...

**** Many people voted against him because they never had a chance to meet him.....many others voted against him because they had. NAMES REDACTED Manhattan **** Who managed Giuliani's campaign? Willie Randolph? Oceanside *** Giuliani proved to be a disaster.....He couldn't say a sentence without interjecting 9/11 into it. He came across as stiff and phony. Somerset, NJ *** As Giuliani tried to sell himself....I yelled, "Tell them about the price of tolls and the mass transit in NY. "Tell them how you ran a great police commissioner and a successful school chancellor out of town."Defeat .....a wonderful way to...

The pundits are absolutely stunned. The man they months ago decided would be the Republican nominee is, um, not. Now they are writing columns and editorials and articles about how the man who had it locked up could so quickly give it up. They are shocked. Well, I am not so shocked. Even when the pundits, the polls and the political markets showed Rudy Giuliani on top, it was obvious that he would not get elected – either in the primary or in the general. The few of us who saw Giuliani going nowhere were not geniuses or psychics, we...

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=McCain%20Leno&uploaded=w

Rudy catches a buss from wife Judi in Florida Tuesday night. She brought enough political baggage to fill a Louis Vuitton trunk. Indeed, part of Rudy Giuliani's presidential flameout can be traced back to his Judi - the woman he fell for in a cigar bar in 1999 while he was the married mayor with a wife and two young children at home. "She was a major part of the reason for Giuliani's collapse," said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics. "Rudy wanted to head up the 'family values' party, and Judi didn't fit...

Giuliani's withdrawal marks the end of his political career.....Giuliani said "I'm not thinking about public office right now. Never say never." Giuliani's team was in a state of disbelief at his precipitous fall.... Asked what the future held, one confidant remarked, "I can't answer. I'm sitting shiva right now." He is expected to devote considerable time to campaigning for McCain.....an insider contemplated Giuliani in the Cabinet, possibly Homeland Security. ......one source said Giuliani Partners, the consulting group that launched his business empire, would likely be downsized.... a prominent Democrat lawyer said he thought Giuliani's poor performance would impact his bottom...

The collapse of Rudy Giuliani’s presidential bid is surely one of the most striking developments of the 2008 campaign. Strategic mistake? I don’t think so. Rudy lost because he dissed social conservatives. In fact, the reason Giuliani missed those early primaries is because he dissed social conservatives. Giuliani’s attempt to take apart and reconstitute Ronald Reagan’s winning political coalition was his original sin. And Rudy’s primal transgression continues to shape the dynamics of 2008’s Republican presidential race. With Reagan’s erstwhile coalition now cast out of the garden of amity, only recognizing and understanding Rudy’s fault will allow us to find...

It isn't much of one, but he'll take what he can get tonight. It comes from Tom Bevan at the RCP blog: Giuliani dropping out helps McCain, right? Well, not so fast. According to the exit polls, 49% of those who voted for Rudy today picked Mitt Romney as their 2nd choice while 44% picked McCain. And, interestingly, those who voted for Huckabee overwhelmingly picked McCain as their top 2nd choice over Mitt Romney, 54% to 32%. If that pattern holds outside Florida, having Rudy out and Huck still in could actually give Romney an unexpected boost going into February...

Now that the Sunshine has set, two old friends come to an understanding. McCain topper Rick Davis quietly negotiated the agreement. HALPERIN’S TAKE: 10 things Giuliani could have done differently. Giuliani, in Florida concession speech, talked about his effort in the past tense, but said nothing explicit about dropping out — or The Deal.

Following up on this speculation by Bill Bennett, Time's Mark Halperin reports: Giuliani expected to endorse McCain, as early as Wednesday — in Los Angeles or Simi Valley.

DELRAY BEACH, Fla. -- Giuliani was mobbed by a couple dozen senior citizens as he disembarked from his campaign bus to go inside Lox Around the Clock bagel shop Tuesday. The New York accents were thick and it was a bit of a homecoming for Giuliani, who originally had rested his Floridian hopes on transplanted Northeasterners, and who he courted heavily on primary day. The Giuliani sighting was the second of two exciting moments for the crowd. Jon Voight -- who has been traveling with Giuliani for several days and tossed a football with staffers at the previous event --...

Fact Check has reviewed the last-minute ads from the John McCain campaign in Florida and doesn't much like what it sees. They call the campaign "misleading" and complain that the ads take other points out of context. Mostly, though, they complain that the ads make opinion sound like fact: On the eve of the crucial Florida GOP primary, John McCain is attacking Mitt Romney with some out-of-context or misleading statements on radio and the Internet: A Web ad says Romney's health care program in Massachusetts is "not very good" and "is failing." But official figures indicate that roughly 200,000 previously...

While the rest of punditry dumps on Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani for his Florida strategy - which, to put it mildly, does not seem to be working - I have to wonder if Giuliani's biggest mistake was not touting himself as the only supporter of abortion rights in the Republican primary. I think he'd be faring better today if he had run as a security hawk and a fiscal hawk, but social moderate. After all, GOP presidential hopefuls John McCain and Mike Huckabee oppose abortion rights. Ditto Republican candidate Mitt Romney - even if he promised in 2002 that,...

MIAMI — Early Tuesday, Rudy Giuliani began what very well could be the last day of campaigning of as a presidential candidate. The latest polls have Giuliani running third in today's GOP presidential primary in Florida, the state where he has invested the most time and money. He has refused to say what he will do after today if he does not do well. "Call me Wednesday morning," he said in an interview with The Palm Beach Post. On Monday Giuliani's national campaign chairman raised the possibility that if the polls are correct, the former New York mayor might quit...

Rudy Giuliani gambled the entire campaign on the idea that he could wait out the early states and focus on the first major winner-take-all primary in Florida. That gamble plays out today, and most of the polling shows that Rudy won't come close to a victory, meaning he will head into Super Tuesday with almost no delegates at all. He remains confident of victory, but ...: Also campaigning in Florida was Giuliani, who led throughout 2007 but rapidly lost ground once voting began this month. Despite the polls, Giuliani insisted he can come from behind: "This is a place where...

FORT MYERS, Fla. - Rudy Giuliani loves to prove people wrong. He's trying to do it again in Florida. Polls show the former New York mayor, last year's national front-runner, trailing badly in the state where he has bet almost everything in his pursuit of the Republican presidential nomination. If he wins on Tuesday, he will have earned the biggest, brashest "I told you so" of his political career. Lose, and Giuliani may be uttering his final words of the campaign. "Wednesday morning, we'll make a decision," he told reporters between campaign appearances. "In the past, I've done the impossible...

Rudy Giuliani appears to be pondering an end to his long pursuit of the Republican presidential nomination. In a meeting in the back of his chartered plane en route to St. Petersburg, Fla., a short while ago, the onetime, longtime GOP front-runner told a small group of reporters, including The Times' Louise Roug: "The winner of Florida will win the nomination."

Over a year ago and many times since, I wrote that I could give no endorsement, because I had honestly not made up my mind about which candidate to support. I also told the CapQ community that if I did make a decision, I would announce it as soon as I made it so that they knew where I stood. The deadline for that decision rapidly approaches, since Minnesota caucuses on February 5th, and I have decided to caucus for Mitt Romney. This decision did not come easily. Some have complained about the choices available to the Republicans, but I...

Over a year ago and many times since, I wrote that I could give no endorsement, because I had honestly not made up my mind about which candidate to support. I also told the CapQ community that if I did make a decision, I would announce it as soon as I made it so that they knew where I stood. The deadline for that decision rapidly approaches, since Minnesota caucuses on February 5th, and I have decided to caucus for Mitt Romney. This decision did not come easily. Some have complained about the choices available to the Republicans, but I...

Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh was heard the other day saying on his nationally syndicated program that he may not endorse a Republican candidate for president this year. Limbaugh may be doing the right thing. There isn't one contender in the GOP bunch right now that satisfies the Republican base. John McCain is a Republican in name only. His campaign finance reform bill soured him to those who feels it tramples on free speech. He is fiscally liberal and his stance on immigration leads one to believe he is not an advocate for the sovereignty of this great nation....

Even with their candidate out of the race, Fred Thompson’s supporters can make a big impact in Florida. They should do so by supporting Rudy Giuliani. More than any other candidate, Rudy matches Thompson’s conservative credentials in the three most important areas: he offers a conservative economic policy, an explicit promise to nominate only “strict constructionist” judges, and a strong dedication to national security. On the economy, social issues, and defense, a Giuliani presidency will take the nation in a clearly conservative direction—and he can actually beat Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama in November. With a win—or a strong showing—in...

We look upon authority too often and focus over and over again, for 30 or 40 or 50 years, as if there is something wrong with authority. We see only the oppressive side of authority. Maybe it comes out of our history and our background. What we don't see is that freedom is not a concept in which people can do anything they want, be anything they can be. Freedom is about authority. Freedom is about the willingness of every single human being to cede to lawful authority a great deal of discretion about what you do.

The Talk Shows Sunday, January 27th, 2008 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and former Gov. Mike Huckabee, R-Ark. MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. FACE THE NATION (CBS): Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y.; former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. THIS WEEK (ABC): Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. LATE EDITION (CNN) : Gen. David Petraeus; Paulson; former Gov. Mitt Romney, R-Mass.; Huckabee.

Somewhere in the packed Citrus Mutual Auditorium today where fire marshals were mercifully absent, were a strange breed of supporters. "Hey, aren't you a Giuliani supporter?" I asked a person I recognized from the Lakeland ice cream shop rally for Giuliani almost two weeks ago as he pushed through the crowd. "Well, I, uh, well, you know," he said back over his shoulder. Yes I did know. I found another and another and then former Lakeland Mayor George Burt who didn't mind talking about it. "Well ten members of my family have moved over to Romney,'' he said with a...

Florida governor to endorse McCain TRIBUNE-REVIEW Salena Zito ORLANDO, Fla. -- The Associated Press is reporting that Florida Gov. Charlie Crist will throw his support behind John McCain. He joins Sen. Mel Martinez in what may prove to be the push McCain needs over Mitt Romney as the two battle it out for first place in the Sunshine State. Getting Crist’s support was considered by all of the candidates a huge catch. Crist enjoys over a 70 percent approval rating.

In four days, on the night of January 29th , Rudy Giuliani will know the fate of his political career. The Republican Presidential candidate and former Mayor of New York City is pushing all of his chips into the middle on the state of Florida. Anything but a first place finish will for all intents and purposes end the former frontrunner’s chance at the Republican nomination. Just two short months ago Giuliani led Florida by a full 20 percentage points over Mitt Romney, but as of today Giuliani trails McCain and Romney by an average of about 5%. This represents...

Charlie Crist...a man who spent the last year hanging out with Rudy Guiliani...endorses John McCain for President of The United States. Breaking...

'America's Mayor' lifted a nation after 9/11 - but this presidential candidate can often seem more Mafia don than statesman. The last time Rudolph William Louis Giuliani III was due to face Hillary Clinton in an election, his campaign ended prematurely amid a month-long public soap opera that included the declaration that "I don't really care about politics right now". Giuliani's soap-opera antics have undermined his image It was the year before the September 11 attacks, and Rudy - as everyone but his mother calls him - was famous for having cleaned up the Big Apple, clamping down on squeegee...

For 50 days, Giuliani had the Sunshine State nearly to himself........he’s sucked up to Miami's Cuban vote, pandered in Cape Canaveral about the space program, tried to scare retirees in South Florida. There he is riding in a fire truck in a Miami parade, trailed by angry firefighters who blame him for multiple failures when NY was attacked.......in the Panhandle, he's the consummate Yankees fan trying to look down-home on the Redneck Riviera. Yet, the more they see of Giuliani, the more his poll numbers tank...... Rudy’s campaign is in meltdown. Amazing how much voters bring up his tawdry personal...

John McCain 30% Mitt Romney 28% Rudy Giuliani 18% Mike Huckabee 14% Ron Paul 6% Other 2% Conducted: Jan. 23-24 Sample: 550 likely & actual voters MoE: ± 4.3% Among Conservatives, Romney leads McCain by 9 points. Among Moderates, McCain leads Giuliani by 16 points. McCain leads by 18 in SE FL and by 28 in NW FL. McCain and Romney are tied in SW FL. Romney leads by 13 in Central FL and 16 in NE FL.

Rudy Giuliani needs a breakout performance in tonight's debate to reverse what looks like a precipitous slide into oblivion in the state he deemed crucial to his fortunes. Polls have Rudy anywhere from a statistical tie for the lead to far back in fourth place, but most of the trendlines have gone in the wrong direction. CNN takes the more pessimistic view: Two new polls out Thursday show Giuliani competing for third in Florida -- tied with barely-present Mike Huckabee and behind John McCain and Mitt Romney. Giuliani, who has finished in the single digits in every contest so far,...

Will America's taxpayers underwrite hurricane insurance for Florida homeowners? The idea went nowhere in the Senate last year, but Florida's January 29 primary has inspired Republican Presidential candidates to become suddenly and deeply concerned about the issue. Hold on to your wallets. Readers will recall that early last year Florida Governor Charlie Crist pushed a bill through his legislature to socialize the state's disaster insurance market. Refusing to admit that an increased risk of hurricanes will naturally result in higher insurance premiums, the allegedly Republican Governor signed a bill that shoved aside much of the private insurance market while putting...

Why would Rush, conservative spokesman and all around respected fellow, even by his enemies, ever consider voting for Rudy for President.As strange as it might seem, Rush, a New Yorker for many years, and now a "New Yorker", (one from NY) he actually had a chance to see what Rudy did for the City, and NY is as involved as many countries.....His stand on the bad guys was always strong and unyieldingHis tax cutting and attention to "life style" crimes and things that impact the man on the street, (which I should point out is you and I)is documentedHis dealings,...

Rudy Giuliani has hit the skids in a Florida freefall ..... Despite hovering over Florida voters for weeks, Giuliani is tied for third place with the scarcely visible Mike Huckabee in a statewide poll of 800 likely voters. She Hillary .....42 % Obama............ 23% . Obama does well among Black voters, who favor him 48% - 27%.. McCain ...........25% Romney .......... 23 % Giuliani ........ 15 % Romney was the second choice for born-again Christians, suggesting that his Mormon religion is not a political liability.