Free Republic

EW YORK -- Mary and Cornelius Jefferson were turning in for the night last June 24 when they heard the deafening boom of a battering ram tearing the front door of their Bronx apartment from its hinges. "They kept on banging until the whole door had splintered," said Mrs. Jefferson, 63. "I thought they were coming to rob us, coming to kill us." When the door gave way, it was not robbers but police officers who burst in, armed with pistols and a search warrant. The warrant -- based on the word of a paid confidential informer with a criminal...

A new Republican presidential poll shows former mayor beating McCain; Clinton tops the Democratic roster WASHINGTON - Rudolph Giuliani navigated the first choppy waters of his campaign to sit atop a new Republican presidential poll yesterday that shows him easily beating one-time front-runner John McCain, the Arizona senator who tumbled to third place over Iraq. But the Los Angeles Times-Bloomberg poll also suggests conservative skeptics are still casting about for an alternative to the moderate Giuliani, with a second-place showing by someone who isn't even in the race - actor and former Tennessee senator Fred Thompson. On the Democratic side,...

March was undoubtedly a rough month for Rudy Giuliani (and April's not shaping up so great, either). But, the fact is he's still doing extremely well in the polls. Much was made of Mr. Giuliani's drop to 31% in the Gallup poll at the end of March, from 44% in the same poll at the beginning of March. However, in the first Gallup poll taken in April, Mr. Giuliani's back up to a quite-robust 38%. John McCain is still on his way down (to a low of 16% in the Gallup poll). And Mitt Romney is still a flat line...

The same Beltway experts who declared Sen. John McCain of Arizona the GOP front-runner, even as he under-polled fellow presidential contender Rudolph Giuliani, now parrot equally dodgy concepts. When Republicans meet "the real Rudy," they will abandon New York's former mayor like cattle fleeing a burning barn. Then, the wobbly Washington wisdom continues, Giuliani's three marriages, and his less-than-solidly-right-wing views on gays, guns and gametes will torpedo his buoyant presidential hopes. These seers now detect unhappiness with the GOP aspirants. They cite a recent Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll in which 26 percent of Republican primary voters were dissatisfied with...

Former U.S. Rep. Bill Zeliff is joining Rudy Giuliani’s presidential campaign. A source in the campaign told UnionLeader.com that the former Jackson innkeeper “will help with federal and New Hampshire issues as an adviser and will help raise money in Washington, D.C.” Zeliff, a Republican, was first elected to New Hampshire’s 1st District U.S. House seat in 1990. He left the House after three terms and ran unsuccessfully for the GOP nomination for governor in 1996. Zeliff has been a Washington lobbyist for the past 10 years, currently employed by The Livingston Group, headed by former Republican Rep. Bob Livingston...

Rudolph Giuliani's wife, Judith, will ``continue to play an important role'' in his presidential campaign, his spokesman said -- despite grumbling from within the ex-mayor's circle that her involvement is creating tensions in the organization. Friday's statement of solidarity came from campaign spokesman Michael McKeon one day after Giuliani's third spouse confirmed publicly that she has been divorced twice, not once, as widely reported when they wed. She was married to a man named Jeffrey Ross, now of Florida, from 1974 to 1979. ``She's going to continue to play an important role in the campaign, traveling with her husband, introducing...

Ex-NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani has agreed to participate in a third Republican primary debate. He'll attend the May 15 forum in Columbia, SC hosted by Fox News, the network that routinely chyrons him as "America's Mayor." Giuliani had previously agreed to attend the 5/3 debate at the Ronald Reagan library near Los Angeles. He's also decided to attend CNN's rescheduled New Hampshire debate in early June.

For the moment, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani sits on double-digit leads over the rest of the Republican presidential-hopeful pack in several national polls. Why? "It appears to me that Rudy is going aggressively after the conservative vote," says Pennsylvania Republican and former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum. "He has not ceded that ground to anybody." Santorum, known nationally for his social conservatism, says Giuliani does a good job of reminding people how he governed as a conservative on crime, welfare and taxes in New York City. Santorum also believes Giuliani has scored points on social issues with his comments...

The other night I was having dinner with two friends in an Upper West Side restaurant when an extraordinarily loud group of about a dozen people settled into the next table. THE LONG KNIVES HAVE BEEN out for Giuliani ever since he started proving liberals wrong in the 1990s, and it's only going to get worse. "Him?" was the one-word headline on the cover story in New York last week, followed by, "New Yorkers may be surprised by how far Rudy Giuliani has come already. But that's only because we know him." As a footnote, it should be pointed out...

Conservatives see flaws in 2008 Republicans Thu Mar 1, 2007 5:53 PM ET By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent WASHINGTON (Reuters) - At their first gathering since November's election thumping, conservative activists on Thursday found little to cheer about in a 2008 Republican White House field they largely viewed with skepticism and distrust. The opening day of the annual Conservative Political Action Conference brought together some sharp critics of the early Republican presidential favorites, who have sparked doubts about the depth of their conservative principles. "There is some disillusionment, some demoralization and a hope that other conservatives jump in the ring....

Mayor Giuliani Announces Theodore Olson as Chair of Justice Advisory Committee New York, Mar 1 - The Rudy Giuliani Presidential Exploratory Committee today announced that former Solicitor General Theodore Olson will chair the Mayor’s Justice Advisory Committee. In supporting the Mayor’s candidacy, Olson said Giuliani has the strength and conviction to lead the country. “I’ve known Rudy Giuliani for over 25 years and I trust his principles and his judgment. Since our days working together in the Reagan Administration, I’ve been able to see firsthand Rudy’s strength of character and demonstrated leadership. I am confident Mayor Giuliani is the proven...

Earlier this week, Simon — who previously worked with Giuliani in U.S. attorney’s office in New York in the late 1980s — signed on as a Giuliani domestic-policy adviser. Unsurprisingly, the conservative Bill Simon has in his portfolio of duties outreach to his friends and colleagues on the Right. Simon explained why conservatives should be — and are — considering Giuliani: “As people get to know Rudy and people get to know his record, they realize things they sometimes didn’t know. And for conservatives like us, I think often what they realize is that his fiscal record is extraordinary. He...

Contrary to what the ever vacillating Dick Morris and some others have to say, Rudy will beat Hillary Clinton... Morris thinks that the Mrs. Clinton will win because she will bring new women voters to the polls and that's that, it's over. He frequently muses that she will bring 20 million women to the polls that never voted before and that will sweep her to a huge, record breaking victory. .... will bring in new female voters, but I don't believe she will bring in only new Hillary Clinton voters. I think she also brings in some anti Clinton female...

Giuliani Accused Of 'Notorious Adultery' NEW YORK, June 21, 2002 (AP) Former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's estranged wife has filed for divorce, citing adultery. The filing by Donna Hanover, 52, came more than a year and a half after Giuliani filed to divorce her, citing cruel and inhuman treatment. Hanover's lawyer, Helene Brezinsky, said her client rejected the grounds on which Giuliani's divorce was based. "If there's going to be a divorce, let's have the truth about why — Rudy's open and notorious adultery," she said. Giuliani spokeswoman Sunny Mindel replied: "There is no purpose in responding to this mudslinging." Hanover's...

One also knows a political leader by the action he takes. As mayor, Mr. Giuliani took on the nanny state that city government had become, reducing the dependency that had one in seven New Yorkers living off government support. As for New York's huge welfare rolls, he more than halved them and had more than 100,000 welfare recipients finding work annually by 1999. He cleaned up the crime-ridden streets, cutting crime by 64% and murder by 67%. By cutting spending and taxes, he turned an economic basket case into an economic marvel. In eight years he reduced or extinguished 23...

Not since Teddy Roosevelt took on Tammany Hall a century ago has a New York politician closely linked to urban reform looked like presidential timber. But today ex–New York mayor Rudy Giuliani sits at or near the top of virtually every poll of potential 2008 presidential candidates. Already, Giuliani’s popularity has set off a “stop Rudy” movement among cultural conservatives, who object to his three marriages and his support for abortion rights, gay unions, and curbs on gun ownership. Some social conservatives even dismiss his achievement in reviving New York before 9/11. An August story on the website Right Wing...

Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 As delivered by Rudolph W. Giuliani September 11, 1996 --------------------------------------------------------- Thank you. I'm very pleased to have the opportunity to discuss the Welfare Act that was recently passed by Congress and signed into law by President Clinton. I was also very pleased to have lunch with a number of faculty members and the exchange was very helpful including some ideas that I will now bring back to Corporation Counsel. There are aspects to the Welfare Reform Bill that, as just a matter of policy, I disagree with and I think could...

Rudy Giuliani, Immigration Liberal We've been keeping a close eye on all the recent talk about Rudy Giuliani's attempts to bring some level of conservative nuance to his essentially liberal social positions on abortion, gay rights and gun control as he pursues the Republican nomination. But what about immigration? Giuliani strongly supported a guest worker program supported by President Bush and said during a newly interesting appearance on Meet the Press the following: "There isn't a mayor or a public official in this country that's more strongly pro-immigrant than I am, including disagreeing with President Clinton when he signed an...

Washington. Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani addressed his Democratic past on Tuesday and offered one reason for his political conversion — the economy and taxes. "I don't think anything separates us more right now between Republicans and Democrats than how we look at taxes," the former New York mayor said. "What we understand as Republicans is that, sure, the government is an important player in this, but we are essentially a private economy. What Democrats really believe ... is that it is essentially a government economy."

Giuliani's fight of his life Paul Harris MIAMI 25-Feb-07 IN POST 9/11 America, seeing Rudy Giuliani in the flesh can feel like meeting a living saint. That day in early September 2001 is sacrosanct in the national psyche and Giuliani is the holy symbol of American resilience; American defiance; American courage. As Giuliani walks on to a stage in front of a business crowd in Miami Beach it is impossible not to think back to the fall of the World Trade Center. Not that Giuliani lets his audience forget. He is in Miami to lecture on the principles of leadership....