Posted on 12/12/2005 10:04:19 AM PST by Goldwater-Reagan Republican
Sen. John McCain is preparing for a 2008 showdown with former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who so far who leads him in the presidential race according to most polls.
While the two men remain personally friendly, sharing dinner recently at a Manhattan bistro, Newsday reports that McCain's team is monitoring Giuliani's every move - including keeping track of how much face time the former mayor gets on TV.
Meanwhile, McCain insiders aren't shy about trashing the former mayor's presidential prospects.
"In my humble opinion, Rudy wouldn't get out of the gate," longtime McCain strategist John Dennehy tells the paper. Dennehy helped engineer the Arizona senator's 2000 primary win in New Hampshire.
Some openly suggest that the man dubbed "America's mayor" for his stellar performance after the 9/11 attacks may eventually end up working for McCain.
"I think Rudy would make an attractive secretary of state or secretary of defense in a McCain administration," said former McCain aide Marshall Wittmann.
McCainiacs have good reason to be concerned. A recent Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll showed Giuliani would win the coming primary battle, beating McCain, 34 percent to 31 percent.
Another problem for the Arizona maverick: 20 percent of Republicans said they wouldn't vote for McCain under any circumstances. Only 8 percent said the same thing about Giuliani.
Meanwhile, survey after survey shows that while both men could beat likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, Giuliani's margin of victory is almost always greater.
Team McCain intends to counter the former mayor's advantage by painting their man as the rightful heir to president Bush's conservative mantle, and by focusing on Giuliani's liberal positions on abortion, gay rights and gun control.
"The difficulty for Rudy, and it's huge, is that he's pro-choice, and Republican primary voters will never pick anybody who doesn't oppose abortion - period," Wittmann told Newsday.
Team McCain seems to realize that it doesn't have time to waste when it comes to getting the jump on Giuliani.
The senator's political organization is moving full speed ahead into campaign mode and has "steadily expanded [into] a national team of hundreds of political professionals and volunteers," Newsday says.
McCain's people are keeping such a close eye on their main rival that they're even monitoring "how many minutes of network airtime Giuliani gets compared with their man."
They're also on the alert for any indication that the former mayor is beginning his own campaign, with McCain aides routinely checking their contacts around the country for signs of Giuliani activity.
Meanwhile, even as "America's Mayor" routinely outpolls McCain nationally, Newsday says his organization remains so small it "could fit comfortably into a minivan."
And while Giuliani himself says he won't make a decision till 2007, some of his aides say they're not sure he even wants to enter the race.
Referring to the scrutiny that forced his former police commissioner, Bernard Kerik, to withdraw his nomination for Homeland Security Czar, one Giuliani insider tells Newsday: "Does he really want to go through that, too? My gut tells me he's not going to run."
Two gun banning metro sexuals battling it out? Let the fur fly.
McCain is HISTORY. Don't waste a moment on the subject - move the hell on!
War of the Rinos!
The nut versus the Nazi.
Neither one has a chance
We can do better then this!
Just say NO to demonRATS and RINOs.
Throw me in with that 20%.
RINO fighting RINO, huh?
Let the blood spill as they gore each other to their political deaths.
OHHHH I do hope that Giuliani makes fodder food out of McPuck.....
I so hope the people of Arizona will send him back to his 'ranch' to sit the rest of his days, and they send someone to Washington Doesn't Care that will do them some good, lets hope Arizona isn't like Mass. with Kennedy and Kerry...
How many primary losses will it take before MeCain goes 3rd party?
I might well vote for hillary before I voted for McCain. Well, on second thought, I surely wouldn't vote for McCain.
Having an uncontrollable madman with his finger on the nuclear trigger is not something we want to see happen. At least clinton just had the habit of losing the football. Sure as anything, McCain would blow his top, grab it, and start pushing buttons.
The PROBLEM is that he isn't a "maverick" (positive connotation)...
He is a f*cking RINO (the MOST NEGATIVE of connotations from a conservative point of view).
A RINO Rudy ain't any better.
McCain is a Senator, so he'll lose. The voters elect candidates with executive experience, and McCain has none. IMO it's Guiliani's to lose unless Jeb Bush comes in. IMO Jeb is the best governor in America.
100% right on the gun haters... Buy A LOT of guns the next 3 years... it looks like we have a rocky road ahead..
Giuliani needs to serve his party first by running against Hillary for the Senate in 2006 and beating her. If he does that (and only if he does that), I'll vote for him in 2008 (he'll have already saved us from Hillary in advance in that scenario).
McCain gets by vote under no circumstances. None. Nada. Don't care who the Dems are running. Absolutely, positively never voting for McCain. And that's irretractable.
First, I'm surprised the number is that low. Perhaps McCain has rehabilitated his image somewhat among Republicans.
Second, count me in that 20%.
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