Giuliani starts strong in test of Republican voter allegiances

Washington Post ^ | march 4, 2007 | DAN BALZ

[FairOpinion]

The man who was named Time magazine's "Person of the Year" for his response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks is now leading in a slew of national polls and testing whether cultural and religious conservatives in the GOP will support a candidate who offers strong leadership on security and terrorism rather than ideological purity on social issues.

Whit Ayres, a Georgia-based Republican pollster, said he has been struck by the number of conservatives he encountered who disagree with Giuliani on abortion or gay rights but are still attracted to him as a possible Republican nominee. The issue is whether that appeal can survive through a long campaign in which Giuliani's New York record, his position on issues, his three marriages and his complex business dealings will be subjected to withering scrutiny.

The latest Washington Post-ABC News poll showed Giuliani leading McCain by 44 percent to 21 percent, with former House speaker Newt Gingrich at 15 percent and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney at 4 percent.

Many GOP strategists still question whether Giuliani can survive the scrutiny and develop a message that appeals to voters across the spectrum of Republican conservatism. In his speech Friday at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, Giuliani highlighted his record as a tax cutter, crime fighter and welfare reformer. But he offered little resembling a traditional conservative agenda for the future, other than saying the United States must remain on offense against terrorism. The speech won a polite but hardly enthusiastic response from the audience of activists.

[Mojave]

Your a liar.

[texicali]

we do need some new strategists

[mylife]

The guy is unelectable, The media wants us to buy into Gulliani and then they will devore him leaving us with nothing

Screw that, Id rather lose sticking to principals

[airborne]

That's it???

Poll numbers and the media?

That's it???

[FairOpinion]

It's NOT "anyone but Hillary", it's a proven leader, strong on defending the country against terrorism, vs. treasonous Dems. Pick one.

[nopardons]

He has also led or been in every St Paddy's Day parade, the Steuben Day parade, and every other one that is held in Manhattan. And guess what? He isn't of Irish nor German descent.

[dmw]

Here in OK we use the term heartland because of our location on the map. My point is that in CA there a like 40 million people there as opposed to only 4 million in the whole state of OK. There are many more liberal Christians in CA then there is here in OK. I wasn't trying to dis Christians who live in CA. That wasn't my point at all.

George Allen and Rick Satorum lost for a couple of reasons in my opinion. One freeper who lives in PA admitted he voted for Jim Webb because he is sick of the war. That was his main reason for voting for a liberal democrat instead of voting for Rick who I thought was a darn good conservative. I don't think the recent vote was an anti-conservative vote as much as it was an anti-Iraq war vote.

George Allen was doing fine in VA until he made that macaca comment. He did himself in and has no one to blame but himself. Some people think that conservatives lost because they were too conservative. I don't think that is true at all, but apparently everyone has their own take on it.

True, we had our scandals, but so did the dems. Sadly, we paid the bigger price for it because republicans expect more from their leaders than dems do.

The bottom line is this, if people think that Rudy is going to be the kind of republican that is going to win the White House, I think they will be very disappointed come January 2009. And of course, the Rudy supporters are already letting us know it will be our fault (anti-Rudy folks) because we didn't support a liberal republican.

[Maeve]

If Rudy beats Hillary in polls, let him run in the Democratic primary where he belongs and get the Demonicrat Nomination.

[dmw]

'Your childishness is duly noted btw!'

Yeah, well when I grow up I wanna be just like you! LOL!!

[Mojave]

He has also led or been in every St Paddy's Day parade

You're equating the Saint Paddy's Day parade with supporting the Stonewall riots? That's a lot of Kool-Aid.

[FairOpinion]

"If Rudy beats Hillary in polls, let him run in the Democratic primary where he belongs and get the Demonicrat Nomination."

Your lack of understanding of elections and lack of logic is astounding.

The objective in nominating the right Republican nominee is to nominate someone who can beat the Dem nominee. Do you think Ronald Reagan should have run as a Democrat, because he did beat his Dem opponents?

Your lack of logic is astounding.

[TAdams8591]

I think Hillary fears Romney most.

[FairOpinion]

Hillary has nothing to fear from Romney.

No way is the country going to elect a Mormon for president.

[nopardons]

It wasn't a "planned riot" at all and you don't know a thing about Stonewall; the bar, nor what happened.

Stop making things up.

[texicali]

right now people outside of san diego don't know him

[Maeve]

Your logic is based on absurd suppositions about a man who has never lived up to the most important obligations a man can make -- in marriage.

If you don't have the common sense to see that a thrice married candidate is never going to win, then you are utterly delusional in your devotion to Giuliani.

[gpapa]

"All N.Y.C. mayors send out such letters to ALL groups there"

Of course they do, that is why they are known as liberals, with a different spin applied to each group.

[mylife]

ANYONE CAN BEAT HILLARY

for crying out loud why run a pole cat against a skunk?

[texicali]

the circular firing squad is alive and well

[nopardons]

No, he isn't a RINO at all. He isn't as CONSERVATIVE as you want a candidate to be, but he's far more CONSERVATIVE, on the most important matters, than Ron Paul, for one, is.