Joe Bruno is endorsing John McCain, as is seemingly the entire NY GOP. Of course, true to his nature, Bruno did so using public resources. Really. Liz has the details:
State Senate GOP Leader Joe Bruno is, I believe, first out of the box with a formal statement endorsing John McCain for President now that favorite son Rudy Giuliani is dropping out of the Republican primary.
Bruno reports that he spoke to both men this morning. He says Giuliani confirmed that he's ending his campaign and throwing his support to senator from Arizona.
Interestingly, Bruno says he's speaking not just for himself but for the entire Republican majority in the Senate, suggesting that he and his colleagues discussed this scenario in advance.
Also interestingly, this explicitly political statement was distributed at the Capitol using government stationery and e-mail accounts by government employees -- which seems to me a highly questionable use of public resources.
Par for the course for Uncle Joe, I guess. I'm sure you really wanted to pay for Bruno to announce his support of John McCain.
(Side note: Light posting from me today. I've got a ton of stuff to do today. I wish I could tell you it was all fun B-Day kind of stuff. It's not. It's mostly all fightin' City Hall, please let my neighbors and I come home stuff. Those with keys to the FP should feel free to post away.)
Today is my birthday. Really. It is. While I'd be pretty happy to be able to move back into my building, I'll take dancing on Rudy's political grave as a present. Fortunately, there's a "Rudy Retirement" party tomorrow night here in NYC at the home of the original Drinking Liberally, the most aptly named Rudy's Bar. There I plan to both celebrate getting old as well as do some dancing on that proverbial grave...
There will be paper on the walls so that you can graffiti your favorite Giuliani memories or write him a nice farewell comment. I'll also be shooting video of folks saying goodbye to Rudy and his campaign.
If you are NYC, come on out and celebrate Rudy's exit from the race! Oh, and buy me lots of drinks.
You are invited to...
THE RUDY RETIREMENT PARTY (there's never been a party that's wanted him as a member)
Share the sweet taste of hubris-laid-low with a sip of schadenfreude as we celebrate the early retirement of Rudy 9iu11iani & dance on his political grave.
Rudy has climaxed his political power play & that's reason for New Yorkers to party...at a bar called Rudy's, of course.
Who: Progressive partisans and partiers, & New Yorkers who waited for this day.
What: A reason to raise your glass high as hubris and the voters of Florida lay Rudy low ...Once they got to know him, the rest of America felt the same way about him that New Yorkers have felt for years.
Record video tributes, share memories (and watch the Democratic debate while you're at it)
Where: Rudy's Bar - (what could be better?) home of the original Drinking Liberally 9th Ave btw 44th & 45th, backyard, in the heated tent
When: Thursday, 1/31
7:30 onward (at least midnight)
How: Through everything Rudy couldn't stand: artistic expression, free speech & public joy.
MSNBC is reporting (no link yet) as well as many (trusted) folks by email that not only is Rudy done, he will endorse John McCain tomorrow in California.
Whew! America and the world dodged a bullet there. More on this tomorrow and then you'll never have to read me write about Rudy again. Ever.
We're now but three short hours away from the Giuliani campaign losing the last shred of any probable rationale for staying the race.
Of course, we may also learn that Rudy's "strategy" was to not actually contest any states at all. Sadly, if they were to make this claim, there are probably plenty of media folks who would buy it.
11 hours from now, the polls in the Florida panhandle, which is in the Central Time Zone, will close and so will Rudy Giuliani's campaign for president. The only thing open to debate is whether he will drop out tonight after losing by double digits to both John McCain and Mitt Romney, tomorrow morning or if he will put himself through the humiliation of losing to McCain all over the country, including his home state of New York, on February 5th. Rudy himself has been dropping hints in the past few days that tonight is the night that he packs it in.
Rudy Giuliani, with his political life hanging in the balance here, hinted broadly Monday that he could end his presidential bid as soon as Wednesday.
Asked by reporters on his campaign jet to reflect on the uphill road ahead if he loses Tuesday's Florida Republican primary, Giuliani said, "When it's Wednesday morning, we will make a decision. The reality is that voting hasn't even started yet. I believe we are going to win."
But the former mayor also made clear the primary would mark a critical crossroads for his flagging campaign here, which has seen his poll numbers sink from first place to a distant third.
...
Giuliani, while sounding upbeat, declined to offer a simple yes when asked if he would be attending a major GOP debate tomorrow in California.
"We fully intend to participate in the debate," he said as aides hustled him away.
Take this to the bank. Rudy Giuliani will not be on stage at that debate. He's going to get crushed tonight in Florida. His campaign has been burning through cash like crazy down there only to see his numbers continue to slide. Donors are either maxed out or no longer interested.
"We are going to California," Carbonetti told me a few minutes ago at Wolfie Cohen's Rascal House in Sunny Isles Beach, Florida where Rudy shook hands with voters and ate cereal.
When the New York Times endorsed Hillary Clinton and John McCain, there was certainly a noticeable snub in the group: The Times choosing McCain over former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani for the Republican endorsement.
"I probably never did anything the New York Times suggested I do in eight years as mayor of New York City, and if I did, I wouldn't be considered a conservative Republican," Giuliani said during a Republican debate Thursday night hosted by MSNBC in Boca Raton, Florida.
"I changed welfare, I changed quality of life, I took on homelessness -- I did all the things that they think makes you mean and I believe show true compassion and true love for people."
First off, conservative Republican Rudy? Really? That's news to a lot of people - including the Republicans. Rudy also played the "New York Times is a liberal rag" card when explaining why he didn't get the endorsement.
No, I think the New York Times did just fine in saying why they didn't give the endorsement to you:
"The Rudolph Giuliani of 2008 first shamelessly turned the horror of 9/11 into a lucrative business, with a secret client list, then exploited his city's and the country's nightmare to promote his presidential campaign," the paper writes, describing Giuliani as "a narrow, obsessively secretive, vindictive man."
That hits the nail on the head. The man who is running on one issue: Sept. 11, 2001.
After two polls yesterday showed a double digit lea for John McCain over Rudy Giuliani in New York, Quinnipiac University has a poll showing them tied.
Arizona Sen. John McCain is tied 30 - 30 percent with former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani among New York State likely Republican presidential primary voters, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney gets 9 percent, with 8 percent each for former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.
Cue ridiculous analysis by Maurice Carroll:
"If he can't make it here, he can't make it anywhere. What happens to Mayor Giuliani's presidential prospects if he doesn't score a resounding victory in his native New York?" asked Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
I think it is now safe to say that, if the New York Republican Primary were held today, Rudy Giuliani would lose by double digits. Marist confirms the Siena Poll from this morning.
REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY 2008
SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN LEADS AMONG REPUBLICANS IN NEW YORK STATE:
John McCain outpaces the Republican field of presidential candidates including former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani among New York's registered Republicans. Despite Giuliani's hopes for a strong showing in New York, right now, 34% of registered Republicans including those leaning to a candidate support McCain compared with 23% for Giuliani. Among Republicans likely to vote in the February 5th primary, McCain maintains his support of 34%, but Giuliani is tied for second with former Governor Mitt Romney at 19%. Former Governor Mike Huckabee receives 15% among Republicans likely to vote
Years ago, I would have referred to such an occurrence as a "faceplant."
Why is Rudy Giuliani still considered by anyone to be a viable candidate? A new Siena Poll shows John McCain Beating the crap out of Rudy in his own home state.
Rudy Falls Behind McCain; Hillary Still Has 2-to-1 Lead
McCain has the support of 36 percent of Republicans, followed by Giuliani at 24 percent, former Governor
Mitt Romney at 10 percent, Governor Mike Huckabee at 7 percent, and former Senator Fred Thompson at
6 percent. Seventeen percent of Republicans remain undecided. Giuliani led McCain 48-15 percent on
December 10. Giuliani leads McCain in New York City 45-23 percent. McCain leads in the downstate
suburbs 39-30 percent and upstate 37-15 percent. Among Republican men, McCain leads 44-16 percent,
while Giuliani leads among women 33-28 percent.
McCain is viewed favorably by 56 percent of New York voters and unfavorably by 27 percent. For the first
time ever in a Siena New York poll, more voters view Giuliani unfavorably, 48 percent, than favorably,
44 percent. Among Republicans only, Giuliani has a 63-31 percent favorable rating, while McCain has an
even stronger 71-19 percent favorable rating.
Oh, and he's getting stomped by McCain in Connecticut as well. McCain is now beating Giuliani soundly in CT, PA, NJ and NEW YORK.
Forget Florida. Rudy can't even win on his own home turf.
I'm watching Rudy Giuliani on ABC's This Week. He's sitting in front of about two dozen smiling but rather lackluster supporters wearing I (heart) Rudy shirts and holding signs that say "Florida is Rudy Country." I can't say that I've ever seen such a thing on one of the Sunday chat shows. This isn't College Football Game Day, it's a show that used to be hosted by David Brinkley, for cryin' out loud. Who at ABC signed off on this? And just how pathetic does it look for the Rudy campaign that they have to stage manage a rather straight forward talk show spot in such a way that says "Look! There are some people that still support Rudy!" And the kicker? It honestly appears that Rudy is wearing eyeliner. Really. And not just a little bit. He looks like some creepy emo kid about 40 years past his prime and wearing a suit.
Though it has tightened somewhat in the last half hour or so, with 61% reporting it looks like John McCain pulls this one off. In other news, Fred Thompson announces that he is definitely...going to take a nap and Ron Paul wipes the damn floor with Rudy Giuliani AGAIN, for the second time TODAY.
Let's face it, if Rudy were a Dem, he'd have been hounded out of the race two weeks ago.
As Rudy Giuliani flounders through the Florida Panhandle, he finds his poker hand desperately short of the staple southern Republican "Guns" and "Gays" cards. What to do? Apparently, he makes a play with the only quasi plausible card he feels he has left, namely the "God" card. It's a stretch for sure, given his, ahem, thrice married status, but give him credit. He's doing it with a straight face and that can't be easy.
- "Fought on the front lines of the culture wars and won: He cleaned up Times Square, driving out prostitutes and pornography, making it safe for families."
- "Pioneered initiatives that increased adoptions by 113 %, while the number of abortions in New York City fell faster than the national average."
- "Fought to stop the use of public funds for the desecration of religious symbols and values."
Awesome.
I do have to give his campaign an "A" for effort though. As a Panhandle native, I have to say that this piece is very weel done and perfectly suited to North Florida Republicans. Not that it will matter much. In any other year, Rudy would probably do fairly well in a GOP primary in the panhandle. Most folks don't really know all that much about our former Mayor and it's not like people in the panhandle don't know anything about messy divorces, let alone, ya know, marrying a cousin. Rudy's tough guy "Your wife will never wear a burkha on my watch" swagger would definitely have some appeal. This year though, he has to contend with McCain who many feel is a more authentic warmonger as well as Rev. Chuckabee who looks like, sounds like and prays like folks in North Florida do. (For the record, I really don't see Romney being a factor up there. He might as well have horns and a big, fat Mormon tail as far as most North Floridians are concerned.)
It's just a bad year to be Rudy Giuliani in the deep, deep south. But, give the guy credit for tryin' like hell to connect.
As Rudy Giuliani furiously treads water in Florida, the large coastal states of the Northeast where he was supposed to be strongest continue to trend away from him. Even Rudy's own home turf of New York appears to be in play and John McCain is making a serious play for the Empire State. Surely, this is not what the NY GOP had in mind when the New York Primary was moved to February 5th last year.
A year ago, Republican presidential candidate John McCain "was being left for dead" by a lot of voters, said Pennsylvania GOP spokesman Mike Barley.
But if there's anything certain in politics, it's that change is likely. And the past six months have shown a remarkable reversal of political fortune for the U.S. senator from Arizona, especially in the Keystone State.
According to a new Franklin & Marshall College Poll released yesterday, Mr. McCain has leapfrogged comfortably ahead of his nearest competitor in Pennsylvania for the GOP nomination, Rudolph W. Giuliani.
Mr. McCain now leads the former New York City mayor by 30 percent to 14 percent. That's a reversal from the last F&M poll in August, when Mr. Giuliani led Mr. McCain by 32 percent to 19 percent. Trailing them are former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee at 12 percent, actor/politician Fred Thompson at 8 percent and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney at 7 percent.
These are the states that Rudy was supposed to be able to put in play in a general election, now it appears he can't even carry them in a Republican primary.
What does this mean for New York? Nothing good for Rudy, it would seem. John McCain sees yet another large, delegate rich state with a closed primary that he could actually win and the McCain machine is making a serious play for the Empire State.
It appears more than a few people are out to ruin Giuliani's day.
The John McCain campaign machine is running at full capacity, not only in South Carolina and Nevada, but right here in the former mayor's backyard.
"In these dangerous and uncertain times, John McCain is the only candidate ready to be Commander-in-Chief on Day 1," was the phone pitch many New Yorkers started hearing recently.
Needless to say, McCain forces are working hard to capitalize on Giuliani's recent woes. It was once unthinkable that he could face a serious challenge here, but his rivals are now smelling blood.
Overall, the race is still wide open. A recent New York Times-CBS poll said 72 percent of Republican voters say they still might change their minds.
A Survey USA poll last week showed Giuliani and McCain statistically tied in New York. It was hard to fathom just 7 days ago. Now, not so much.
Not only is it possible that Giuliani could lose New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania (though he most certainly won't be a candidate when PA votes in April), he could conceivably lose on his own home turf.
But there's only one GOP candidate that beats all the rest at being a loser: Rudy Giuliani.
He has perfected the art of underperforming to the point that his campaign now insists it was all part of his game plan.
He's been reduced to watching from the sidelines and praying for other people to lose - like McCain in Michigan so his momentum would be stalled - rather than getting in the game and winning himself.
In fact, Rudy's campaigned so badly that the latest poll shows him losing New Jersey, which had a front-row seat for his shining moment during 9/11.
Even fringe candidate Ron Paul - the million-to-one long shot everybody picks on to make themselves look good - is beating Giuliani.
Paul, who finished ahead of Giuliani in Michigan, currently has twice as much claim on the Republican nomination as "America's Mayor."
The New York Republican establishment has a lot invested in Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaign. They had hoped that his presence at the top of the ticket in November would help them with downticket races across the state. They had hoped that a strong national showing by Rudy would show that the New York Republican party was somehow still a relevant entity. What they seem to have forgotten is that the more people get to know Rudy, the less they like him. We've seen this phenomena over and over. Giuliani spent a bunch of money in New Hampshire back in November and December and spent quite a bit of time there. His numbers in the Granite State tanked. He spent plenty of money early in South Carolina. His numbers tanked. He's now putting all his chips on Florida, spending what's left of his campaign cash on advertising and criss crossing the Sunshine State in a frenzy. Guess what? His numbers are tanking. Again.
Now it looks as if he could lose, if he's even still a candidate on February 5th, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Rudy's entire rationale, aside from the "President of 9/11" nonsense, was that he was the Republican that could put large coastal states in play. Now it looks as if he may not even be able to win them in a Republican primary.
And his New York Republican backers are starting to freak.
For months, the Republican establishment in New York and New Jersey marched nearly in lock step behind Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former hometown mayor they were confident would become their party's nominee for president.
But as Mr. Giuliani has plummeted from first to fourth - or worse - in some national polls, as he finished near the bottom of the pack in the nation's earliest primaries, and as his lead evaporated even in Florida, the state on which he has gambled the most time and money, those Republican leaders are verging toward a grim new consensus:
If Mr. Giuliani loses in the Florida primary on Jan. 29, they say, he may even have trouble defeating the rivals who are encroaching on his own backyard.
...
But if Mr. Giuliani is relegated to a distant second or worse in Florida, even some of his supporters acknowledge that New York's primary one week later would most likely be up for grabs, with Senator John McCain of Arizona and former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts being Mr. Giuliani's strongest rivals. Like Mr. Giuliani, both are fielding full delegate slates in all 29 of the state's Congressional districts.
"If he carries Florida, he carries New York," said Fred Siegel, a Cooper Union historian who has served as an adviser to the former mayor and written a largely admiring biography of him. But winning Florida would require "a miraculous comeback," he said, adding: "I wouldn't bet on it."
...
A senior Republican strategist, who is allied with Mr. Giuliani and is working with Republican legislative candidates in New York, said Mr. Giuliani's decision to circumvent the early primaries was a "big gamble" that for the moment looked in danger of failing.
"Who knows if it will work," said the strategist, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he had not been authorized by the campaign to speak publicly. "But the danger is what you are seeing now. We're obviously concerned."
And don't think for a second that the McCain folks haven't taken notice.
On Wednesday, Mr. McCain vowed to compete hard in New York. "I'm going there a lot for money," he said. "I ought to go there for votes."
Things are about to get even tougher for Rudy Giuliani in Florida. The International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) are sending their "Fire Brigade" to Florida to follow Rudy around and let Sunshine state voters know their rather low opinion of him. (Side note: Pity poor Liz. She got sent to my hometown to see all this close up.)
Veteran 9/11 Fire Fighters/FDNY Members Head to Florida to Take On Giuliani's 9/11 Myth
The IAFF is sending former New York City fire fighters and family members of IAFF fire fighters killed in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center to follow former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani as he campaigns in the state.
This "Fire Brigade" will expose Giuliani's trumped-up 9/11 credentials as a myth.
"This is about the judgment of our country's next president," says IAFF General President Harold Schaitberger. "Voters in Florida, where Rudy has pinned his hopes for his election, need to know Giuliani's record of poor judgment to understand why we don't believe he's nearly qualified to be our next president of the United States."
Jim Riches, a newly retired FDNY Deputy Chief, will lead the IAFF Fire Brigade.
"No one knows better than fire fighters who were at the World Trade Center that Giuliani failed to prepare first responders before 9/11, and that he is totally unprepared to become our commander-in-chief," says Riches, who responded on 9/11 and lost his fire fighter son, Jimmy Riches, at Ground Zero. "We object to Giuliani using 9/11 as his calling card in this campaign. He was an utter failure that day, and in the days and months leading up to the attack."
Though Rudy is losing 2-1 to Ron Paul and is even being beaten by the somewhat animated corpse of Fred Thompson, he is indeed beating out "uncommitted" by about 5,000 votes. Good for him.
It just keeps getting worse. It now appears that the New York state Conservative Party will endorse Fred Thompson over favorite son Rudy Giuliani. Of course, the endorsement is dependent on Thompson "breaking through" in South Carolina, so the chances of such an endorsement are slim, to say the least. Still, this yet another humiliation for Rudy on his worst day ever.
In an interview to air this Sunday, state Conservative Party Chairman Mike Long tells WNBC's Gabe Pressman the party is likely to give an early nod to Fred Thompson if he manages to "break through" in South Carolina.
"As a Conservative, as the chairman of the New York state Conservative Party, my favorite candidate, naturally, is Fred Thompson," Long said. "He did very well this week in the debate. Certainly, I think in South Carolina. If he does well there, if he breaks through in South Carolina, he changes the face of this Republican race again.
He becomes an important player, then on to Florida and to the Southern states. And I think he has a shot at it. And then if he does that, I believe that us, meaning the New York state Conservative Party, will move forward and make an endorsement at an early stage to try to help him catapult the rest of the country."
Yeah, because the rest of the nation sits on pins and needles awaiting the choice of the New York Conservative Party. Now that I think about it, I'm not sure who looks worse or more irrelevant here.
As Rudy Giuliani flounders through the Florida Panhandle, he finds his poker hand desperately short of the staple southern Republican "Guns" and "Gays" cards. What to do? Apparently, he makes a play with the only quasi plausible card he feels he has left, namely the "God" card. It's a stretch for sure, given his, ahem, thrice married status, but give him credit. He's doing it with a straight face and that can't be easy.
