"While he may gain votes in a few of the more moderate red states, he'll lose votes among the #1 GOP voting bloc in a big chunk of the country....southern/midwestern Christians.....due to his moral shortcomings, among other stances on important issues."
If you think the South would elect Hillary over Rudy, you're dreaming. Rudy is polling well everywhere--especially in the South, the Northeast, the mid-Atlantic, and the West Coast. My own blue state, PA, has Rudy in a significant lead over Hillary--and this is not likely to change since both candidates are already so well known. Besides, most Christian voters have become astute politicians--realistic enough to realize that to avoid disaster in '08 we need to field a very powerful candidate.
Sorry for the double post.
I'm thinking Rudy's gonna have a difficult time in the primaries in the South over "fill in the blank with a non-Rudy/McCain GOP candidate (both the frontrunners will have the same South problem)" long before he would ever have to face Hillary.....but in closely contested southern/midwestern states like FLORIDA, he'll not get the vote out in the manner he needs to to win those states because he just won't energize the Christian vote. It comes down to who can get the votes out and I don't see him convincing Christians...southern Christians that he's their guy enough to get ALL of 'em out like he needs to.
I get it, you support the guy and think he's some sort of magic candidate that will win in a landslide, taking away all these blue states that nobody else can, and return the Congress to the GOP. Tall order.
I'd like to see the blue states he'd win. CA, OR, WA, MN, IL, WI are lost. ME, MA, NH, VT is lost. MD, DE are lost. That leaves PA, NJ, and NY...and FL and OH as maybes. MI might be up for grabs with the right candidate.
Swing states are OH, FL, PA and all polling I've seen shows them within the margin of error of the poll....statistical tie.
I don't see it happening....but my biggest beef with this article is the notion of actively trying to sink Rudy based on one's feelings on one issue (assuming he won the primary), allowing Hill to rule the roost for 8 years...as a viable notion of "victory".
Ugh.....