The whole NAMBLA connection thing didn't go over with social conservatives among many reasons.
Rudy had been on the board of The Stonewall veteran's association in New York, and actually attended meetings (not just a connection only on paper.
What is The Stonewall veteran's association and why was yet another gay activist group founded when ACTUP has been so succesful? Well The Stonewall veteran's association to lobby against age of consent laws and reunite the man-boy love crowd with the rest of gay society.
This was too well documented to hide, and Rudy would have been pretty instantly destroyed had he won the nomination.
Ted is now fighting for gay marriage, poor Barbara is rolling over in her grave