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Monday, April 28, 2008

Rudy Criticized for Taking Communion

Posted by: Matt Lewis at 3:56 PM

"New York Cardinal Edward Egan says Rudy Giuliani should not have received Holy Communion during the pope's visit because he supports abortion rights."

During the primary campaign, I heard rumors that this might happen during the campaign (think John Kerry).

Apparently, Giuliani had some sort of understanding with the Cardinal that the Cardinal feels was violated ...

Tags: Rudy

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Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Given the state of things... should THIS MAN run for Governor?

Posted by: Kevin McCullough at 11:05 PM

http://zioneocon.blogspot.com/giuliani%20speech.jpg

Gov Rudy?

Given the generally hardened viewpoint of the Lovely Bride - particularly when it comes to the whole adultery/prostitution thing. She tells me - they're not even close to the same thing - and he should take this opportunity...

The jury is still out for me.

Personally I'd rather him knock Hillary out of the Senate because after she's demoralized in this year's primary she will literally then be out of places to go live off my tax dollars...

But that's just me...

Tags: Spitzer governor Rudy Eliot adultery Giuliani prostitute

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Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Talking Rudy's McCain Endorsement

Posted by: Matt Lewis at 6:18 PM

I was just on MSNBC with David Shuster, talking about Rudy's endorsement of John McCain -- and other timely stuff ...

Update: I just heard on Hardball that Rudy Giuliani will help McCain in a very real way -- by giving him some of his donors. These are folks who may have "maxed-out" to Rudy already, but will be brand new donors to McCain ...

Tags: mccain Rudy

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Monday, January 28, 2008

Rudy Must Win Florida ... Or Else

Posted by: Matt Lewis at 1:55 PM

This won't surprise anyone, but Rudy Giuliani has to win Florida ...

... Trouble is, Rudy is currently in a distant third place in every major poll.

And unless Rudy wins Florida, polling indicates he will not even win his own home state of New York. That, of course, would be embarrassing. ... Which is why Rudy Giuliani will likely drop out of the race if he fails to win Florida tomorrow. And if Rudy drops out, I've got to think there is a decent chance he will endorse John McCain.

So what went wrong?

Looking at this RCP poll average, it is clear that Rudy's strategy of essentially conceding the early states was severely flawed. As you can see below, until the voting began, he was far ahead in Florida. However, he began losing support after New Hampshire (at the same time as Huckabee, Romney and McCain started improving down there). But it looks like it was right after Michigan -- around January 15 -- when Rudy finally surrendered first place (despite the fact that Rudy was in Florida at that time) ...

Photobucket

I also believe Giuliani missed a huge opportunty the other night at the MSNBC debate. This was his one shot to make a splash, but he essentially sat on his hands. Talk about a missed opportunity ...

I've gone on record as saying that Rudy Giuliani proposed the boldest and best tax plan of any Republican. Unfortunately for Rudy, his plan (which was released the day after Michigan) received little attention. The point is, everyone was focused on the action ... Iowa, New Hampshire, Michigan, South Carolina ...

Still, it's possible the polls are wrong. Maybe Rudy will pull off a miracle tomorrow. But if he doesn't, Rudy will look back at this election and wonder "what might have been ..."

Tags: Rudy

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Monday, January 28, 2008

McCain Well-Positioned for Super Tuesday

Posted by: Matt Lewis at 11:32 AM

Democrats don't have winner-take-all primaries on Super Tuesday, but Republicans do -- and I think that's very good news for John McCain. Here's why ...

Assuming Rudy Giuliani does not win Florida tomorrow, the winner-take-all "delegate rich" Republican primaries in New York (101), New Jersey (52), and Connecticut seem to favor John McCain. (As Jon noted, he leads in the polls there). Arizona (53), McCain's home state, is also winner-take-all contest ...

Assuming he's still in the reace, Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee will probably favor Mike Huckabee, thus depriving Mitt Romney of wins in those states.

Romney's money would be very important in California (173), were it a winner-take-all state. However, the state will likely give delegates to several candidates. Each of the state’s 53 congressional districts (including very liberal districts like San Francisco) are allotted three delegates. A plurality in a district gives a candidate all three delegates. Instead of Romney winning all the delegates, the Republican candidates will probably divvy them up.

Of course, tomorrow's Florida primary could completely scramble all this. But it's interesting to consider, nonetheless ...

Tags: mccain huckabee Romney Rudy

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Friday, January 25, 2008

Romney back out in front in Florida

Posted by: Kevin McCullough at 3:28 PM

Workin' it...

Rasmussen Reports, which for me is the pound for pound most accurate polling done today, has Mitt Romney back out in front of McCain by nearly the complete margin of error.

But for the time being forget the actual polling numbers and consider the little tidbit towards the end of the report concerning the "markets" leanings. In a very savvy move Rasmussen allows a free market approach to the prediction process and that "markets" are indicating a 56% chance of a Romney victory as opposed to the 42% chance McCain has at present. That number for McCain is deflated from nearly 70% immediately following the win in South Carolina.

Surprisingly - in this do or die for Rudy Giuliani - he's given only a 7% chance.

Tags: mccain Mitt john Romney Rudy Reports Giuliani Rasmussen

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Thursday, January 24, 2008

Rudy's New Ad: "Only One"

Posted by: Matt Lewis at 2:21 PM

More Reagan name-dropping ...

Tags: Rudy

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Thursday, January 24, 2008

Candidates Fend-Off Attacks, While Trying to Stay on Message ...

Posted by: Matt Lewis at 12:50 PM

As we gear up for tonight's MSNBC debate -- and Tuesday's election in Florida -- it is interesting to note that while each candidate is trying to execute a strategy -- their enemies and opponents are trying to stop them from executing that strategy ...

One example of this involves the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF). Way back in July, I authored a Politico column, outlining how the IAFF was trying to derail Giuliani's candidacy. Though the initial attacks failed to hurt Rudy Giuliani, now that Giuliani is fighting for his life in Florida, the IAFF has begun sending anti-Rudy mailings to Floridians.

Talk about kicking a man when he's down ...

Meanwhile, Mitt Romney is also having to fend-off attacks, while trying to advance his message of being a "turn-around" expert. As you have probably noticed, Romney is currently going head-to-head with John McCain -- but just when Romney thinks his background positions him to win in Florida, there is a fly in the ointment ... Mike Huckabee has begun Mitt Romney's business experience, saying that at Bain Capital, Romney used offshore corporations to avoid paying U.S. taxes.

So far, John McCain has benefitted greatly from the fact that (with the exception of Romney) the other GOP candidates have not taken many hard shots at him. This has certainly contributed to his recent success, and has allowed him to stay on message to a larger degree than other candidates ...

Tags: mccain huckabee Romney Rudy

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Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Rudy's New Ad for Florida

Posted by: Matt Lewis at 11:21 AM

Nice drumming ...

Tags: Rudy

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Saturday, January 19, 2008

For whom the Election Bell tolls...

Posted by: Kevin McCullough at 6:34 PM

Early evening results... Romney cruises to third win, second in a row, in Nevada. Huck is poised to score a come from behind win tonight in South Carolina, with McCain expected to be a close second.

Anyway you slice it Romney comes out of the night with the most delegates, but loses South Carolina badly - a state that no GOP President has lost in the recent era.

Of course Rudy has kissed off everything till now and intends to launch in Florida. Fred pledges to stay in with a 3rd place finish or better in South Carolina, he's predicted to finish fourth as of 6:22pm.

We'll be on and off throughout the evening, and the TownHall blog will have constant updates for the rest of the night.

QUITE an election cycle... destined to be exciting to the end...

Tags: huckabee Romney south Rudy nevada carolina Giuliani

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Thursday, January 17, 2008

Republicans Focus on Economy

Posted by: Matt Lewis at 1:44 PM

It seems the economy has become (at least, for now) the top issue in the race for President. Perhaps sensing the zeitgeist, today in South Carolina, John McCain unveiled his new economic stimulus plan, which is quite similar to earlier tax plans offered by Fred Thompson and Rudy Giuliani.

It includes cutting the Corporate Tax Rate from 35 to 25 percent, allowing first-year deductions of Equipment and Technology Investments, and establishing permanent tax credit equal to 10 percent of wages spent on research and development.

Jack Kemp had this to say about McCain's plan:

"John McCain's pro-growth stimulus plan is exactly what our economy needs today. As president, John McCain will provide principled leadership to ensure our economy remains the envy of the free world."

In other news, Rudy Giuliani has a new Florida ad about his fiscal record, which takes a clever little shot at Mitt Romney (one of the quotes in the ad praising Giuliani is from Romney):

In response, Romney's campaign emailed a Palm Beach Post column out, which points out the full context of the quote. (It's less flattering than the quote Rudy used ...)

... Romney's campaign has also issued their own "strategy for a stronger economy."

Tags: mccain Rudy

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Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Rudy Campaigning Hard in FLA

Posted by: Matt Lewis at 3:41 PM

Here's a touching moment from Rudy on the trail today in Florida:

And here's his new ad, titled: "Jumpstart," which will air in Florida.

Keep in mind, if Rudy just wins Florida, he could immediately vault to the head of the pack in terms of the Delegate count ...

Tags: Rudy

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Monday, January 14, 2008

Rudy on the Second Amendment

Posted by: Mary Katharine Ham at 11:43 AM

Glenn and Helen caught up with Rudy while he was charging across Florida looking to regain his lead there after a rough couple of weeks (or is it months?)

He touches on guns, health care, economic policy and more. Go listen to see what the folks in Florida are hearing from him and judge whether he's got the mojo moving forward.

Tags: '08 Rudy florida Giuliani

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Monday, January 14, 2008

Jon Voight, The Actor?

Posted by: Matt Lewis at 11:09 AM

The Giuliani campaign today notes that "Academy Award-Winning Actor Jon Voight Endorses Mayor Giuliani."

(Wouldn't it be funny if it was actually John Voight, the periodontist who sold Castanza his car ...)

Tags: Rudy