Posted on 12/01/2007 5:01:26 PM PST by Jay777
Rudy Panic set in for many Republicans this week, with conservative leaders both nationally and in Iowa concluding they need to settle on a single champion to prevent Rudolph W. Giuliani from winning the GOP presidential nomination.
They fear that victory by the socially liberal former New York mayor could permanently shatter the largely successful coalition of social, religious, economic and national defense conservatives that, more often than not, has worked electoral magic for Republican candidates at all levels.
"The main driving force behind all of that is a belief that Rudy Giuliani is positioned to win the nomination and a belief that, and I describe it this way, the four most central planks in our Republican platform would be sacrificed in the process: life, marriage, guns, border security," said Rep. Steve King, Iowa Republican. He said the calls and e-mails in Iowa grew "utterly intense in the last week" as Republicans urged one another to settle on an anti-Rudy candidate.
A new poll showing a statistical tie between Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee for the Jan. 3 Iowa first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses is fueling the frenzy.
"What conservatives have to realize is that Giuliani is now relying on Mike Huckabee to take his most viable opponent, Mitt Romney, down in Iowa, and that anyone voting for him there in the caucuses will be inadvertently, and ironically, helping the New Yorker," David A. Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union, said earlier this week in a surprise endorsement of Mr. Romney.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
I have hung with Hunter for months now, and I can see no reason that he's not doing better--not media bias, not party intrigue, nothing. This guy should have been top tier from day one, and he can't get out of the basement. To me that says his campaign is poorly organized.
Part of the job of a candidate (and a President) is to change public perception, to change much of the electorate's view of him from "politician I heard about on the news" to "the guy who should lead the free world." If Hunter can't change the GOP base's perception enough to get him into the top tier, I don't see how he'll be an effective nominee.
I don’t see that he has shirked his duty as candidate. He’s constantly on talk shows getting the name out there, he’s been in every debate, and I believe he was even the first to declare. He won some of the early straw polls. I’m not a political expert, but I can say personally I’ve sent his campaign nearly $1,000 since he declared. What more could he do, and why do you think he is the only reason he is not polling better?
McCain might be able to beat her, but we're supposed to judge electability in the general by a state the Dems have locked up every election cycle, and judge it so in December of the previous year? Sorry, not buying.
Rush has stated a number of times that he doesn’t endorse GOP candidates in primaries.
What part of "sounds the most conservative of the top five" are you having trouble with?
If Rush endorsed Hunter he still would go nowhere, because if he could win he would have gone somewhere by now.
Considering that the President of the United states would then be Hillary or Barack Hussein Obama, that's like saying "No, darn it, we're not going to make them take the field goal, we're going to seel them the stadium for a dolar and leave before halftime."
What are the people at the Conservative Union thinking? Let’s endorse someone who has the same record as Rudy to beat Rudy.
If there are any 2 candidates in this race that are alike it’s Rudy and Mitt!!!
How about supporting real conservatives Dave Keene or scrap the ratings. This is a primary.
100% BS.
Um...Jim Webb is a favorite of social conservatives?
Usually I don’t correct spelling, but boarders are people who pay to live in a bedroom at your house, and borders are the lines between countries.
No one has offered a valid reason for why Hunter is ignored given the other choices. I not one inclined toward conspiracy theories, but the fact that the post-debate coverage all but omitted the Hunter's response to the Gay General's question -- which was given to Duncan Hunter, not one of the others -- is quite, quite telling. This is esp. so when one considers the coverage the 30-second secondary responses by Romney and Huck. How does the Duncan Hunter campaign control what the MSM chooses to cover? They can't.
I believe the very fact that the question was directed specifically to Hunter - and not to one of the tier-one guys - says something as well...
People on here said Clinton was a nobody until he won the nomination for the Democrats.
Yes Rush danced all around it and you could tell he was agonizing over how to put it softly so it didn’t completely sound like an outright endorsement. He clearly said that Fred Thompson is the only real conservative among the front runners.
Link to the entire audio clip:
http://conservablogs.com/blogsforthompson/
Fred and Hunter are both good conservatives but we are now only a month out from the first primaries and Hunter is still low single digits. He is OUT OF THIS. We either support Fred big time, or we get a liberal for our candidate. Fred is a good man. It’s time to get behind him. Rudy will shatter our party. If Rudy wins the nomination we might end up with a 3rd party running, a mess of write-ins and a whole lot of republicans who stay home. The dems will run away with it. Fred can keep the base and a good slice of the middle with him through the primaries which is what we have to have. His policies and history are solid. Our nation will take no steps backward and maybe a few forward with him at the helm.
I like Hunter too, but he is NOT going to come back at this point. It is too late.
If it's not him, it's the electorate ignoring him. They would only do so if they believe there's no way he's electable.
Seel=sell
Senator Jim Webb is no conservative. He voted for the DREAM Act. Then there are his books and attitude towards marriage.
I hope the winner is smart enough to put him in at Homeland defense or ICE.
Ann Coulter pointed out this week that she doesn't trust Fred Thompson and thinks he was a weasel in voting against conviction on Bill Clinton's impeachment, and said that at least Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney can't get any worse! Interesting perspective.
BTW, her birthday is coming up.
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