http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/05/29/politics/purehorserace/main2863443.shtml
Giuliani Gets Freeped Out: If you are looking for hardline conservatives online, there may be no better place to go than FreeRepublic.com. The Internet forum has been a popular gathering place for the right since Bill Clinton’s impeachment. But if you’re one of those conservatives who’s been swayed by Rudy Giuliani’s tough words on national security, you may want to look elsewhere.
According to a story in the New York Observer, Giuliani supporters claim they’ve been banished from the site, with their accounts deactivated. The former mayor has gone from placing second in one of the site’s unofficial straw polls to being the only candidate with a “truth file” posted on the site, which includes links to articles that, overwhelmingly, paint him in a negative light.
The fissure at FreeRepublic.com could be a preview of things to come if Giuliani continues to lead in polls and even win the Republican nomination. If one of the most popular Web sites among conservatives is comfortable taking an openly anti-Giuliani stance, it suggests a significant break in the GOP as a whole is possible.
Then again, FreeRepublic.com has been accused of similar tactics before — in 2000, supporters of one aspiring Republican presidential candidate were reportedly shunned by the site’s owner, Jim Robinson. Who was that candidate? Why, none other than George W. Bush. — David Miller
>>The fissure at FreeRepublic.com could be a preview of things to come if Giuliani continues to lead in polls and even win the Republican nomination. If one of the most popular Web sites among conservatives is comfortable taking an openly anti-Giuliani stance, it suggests a significant break in the GOP as a whole is possible.<<
When CNN was covering Fred Thompson this morning they cited a survey that 49% of Republican voters are dissatisfied with the Republican field. They didn’t cite a source for the poll but I’m not surprised to see numbers approaching 50%