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According to sources (who have been proved correct based on the link herein), Mayor Rudy Giuliani has filed a Statement of Candidacy with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) today to run in the 2008 Republican presidential primary. There is no turning back now for the Mayor, and sources claim further that he will formally announce his candidacy at?a luncheon speech to the California Republican Party state convention this coming Saturday in Sacramento.
February 5th, 2007 at 2:27 pm
so it continues…
February 5th, 2007 at 2:38 pm
Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Go Rudy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rudy, Rudy, Rudy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ok, I just had to get that out of my system.
February 5th, 2007 at 2:42 pm
So much for the “Rudy won’t run as a Republican” nonsense.
February 5th, 2007 at 2:47 pm
No that he’s pretty much offically in the race this early what are his chances to ge on the stage at RNC convention in st. paul minn.?
February 5th, 2007 at 3:14 pm
DaveG, I’d expect any candidate unwilling to designate themselves as a Republican would deserve some scrutiny from supporters and detractors alike. Rudy brought that upon himself.
February 5th, 2007 at 3:28 pm
murphy,
“unwilling to designate themselves as a Republican”
That sounds very desperate.
I think it would be more productive for you to campaign for someone who you support.
Who do you support?
February 5th, 2007 at 3:42 pm
Uh, GOP Activist, are you denying that Rudy intentionally left the party affiliation box blank?
I’m not saying this should be the defining reason for someone to vote against Rudy…I’m saying that he’s only got himself to blame for doing something dumb which deserves scrutiny. A simple “oops” would have clarified things, but instead his campaign insisted they left the box blank on purpose. I’d give the ugly eye to any candidate (even Romney) who did such a thing a year away from the primary.
February 5th, 2007 at 3:48 pm
murphy,
Who do you support?
February 5th, 2007 at 3:53 pm
Murphy, without deeming to speak for DaveG, I think “unwilling to designate themselves as a Republican” may be a bit strong when it comes to the Giuliani campaign. The Giuliani Exploratory Committee in their previous Statement of Organization with the FEC merely failed to designate a political party, which is not a requirement of the filing. And in the much more important Statement of Candidacy filed today with the FEC, the Giuliani campaign has identified itself as Republican.
Be that as it may, according the entire purported imbroglio the scrutiny you suggest shows that the lack of a party designation in the filing was almost certainly inadvertent and a technical oversight rather than a political tactic reflecting a lack of fealty to the Republican Party on the part of Giuliani and his staff; there is no evidence that the omission occurred on purpose. And after all, Mayor Giuliani campaigned up through early November of 2006 in the mid-term elections as a diehard Republican and has continued such partisanship up until today.
This is much ado about nothing when it comes to Giuliani.
But what may be significant here is that the McCain and Romney campaigns that are touting this are engaged in the same old tiresome gotcha, status quo, and inside-the-beltway politics that have deteriorated the party’s popularity across the country. And I think and hope that Republican caucus, primary, and state convention voters will be looking for a more dynamic, mature, and reform-minded approach to politics and policy in 2008. So this episode may well reflect that the McCain and Romney campaigns are utilizing a misguided strategy from day one. We’ll see.
February 5th, 2007 at 4:00 pm
“McCain and Romney campaigns that are touting this are engaged in the same old tiresome gotcha”
Republius great point,
McCain and Romney are going to have to make a very strong argument as to why they can win the general.
I think Rudy is doing that right now.
These negative attacks are not going to be productive. They need to spend more time telling us how they are going to win in this very tough political environment.
February 5th, 2007 at 4:03 pm
Republius,
I think “unwilling to designate themselves as a Republican” may be a bit strong…
True, it’s a very innaccurate “blanket statement”. I had meant it w/r/t the specific incident in question. My comment in #5 was woefully ambiguous.
…the lack of a party designation in the filing was almost certainly inadvertent and a technical oversight…
That’s the odd part. If the Giuliani campaign had said, “Oops, our bad, just look at our record for how Republican we are”, it wouldn’t be worth the pixels I’m writing with. But they said they did it on purpose. I just think it’s odd for a candidate noted for his partisanship to avoid disclosing his party affiliation.
So my question is, is leaving party affiliation empty typical in early campaigns? I have no idea, but I’d guess not.
February 5th, 2007 at 4:16 pm
YEEEEE HAWWWWWW !!!!!!
I got that out of my system PROUDLY!!!!
I’m so excited I just cant wait one whole bladeblah year to get this primary thing really going.
America is at WAR, ladies and gentlemen, with elements of militant and vicious jihadi Muslims and in case anyone forgot, they are more than willing to attack us right here at home, civilians and all. We need a tough, strong Commander in Chief to guide us tin these difficult times and the BEST man for the job is Rudolph Giuliani.
He has said, and I’m sure he will repeat endlessly, that on social issues he would be looking to nominate Justices to the SupCt in the mold of Scalia, Alito and Roberts. He was mayor of one of the bluest cities this side of Berkeley, and still cut welfare rolls, lowered crime and lowered taxes.
I still cant quite see what the conservative right wants out of Rudy, unless its an oath signed in blood that he will never have lunch with a gay person or chat with ssomeone who once had an abortion.
GO TEAM RUDY !!!!
February 5th, 2007 at 4:17 pm
So murphy,
Can you make a good argument for Romney?
February 5th, 2007 at 4:22 pm
So many of the Rudy supporters, I find, tend to use raw emotion to back them up as opposed to logic and reason.
I’m not criticizing, just observing; I notice this in real life, as well.
February 5th, 2007 at 4:22 pm
If you read between the lines of the explanation given by Team Rudy, it’s seems they left certain optional parts of the filing blank because they wanted to be sure that they were in compliance with regulations regarding how much money they had spent.
This story is about as important as they illegal aliens cutting Mitt’s grass. Which I also defended Mitt by stating (correctly I might add) that it was nothing more than a BS hatchet job.
February 5th, 2007 at 4:46 pm
…they left certain optional parts of the filing blank because they wanted to be sure that they were in compliance with regulations regarding how much money they had spent.
If true, that would make more sense than anything I’ve heard so far in the “he didn’t mean it” or “so what” categories. Thanks.
For my own edification, Kavon, do you know what the regulations are on spending money? I had thought that someone “playing it safe legally” would opt on the side of more disclosure, while nondisclosure would be allowed for someone not yet at some spending threshold. I can’t imagine why disclosing information would require additional spending beyond what Rudy has done so far, and there’s obviously no cap on Rudy spending too much given what McCain and Romney are doing.
February 5th, 2007 at 5:07 pm
question does this mean his in for sure and the rudy campaign a rent a campaign airplane or what does this mean with today’s announcement?
February 5th, 2007 at 5:08 pm
My understanding is that if they had completed the form, they would have been held accountable to the regulations concerning money. Since they left the optional parts blank, they got to wait until the official filing to be in compliance.
They probably just didn’t have the figures back from whatever accountant was responsible for it, so they figured they might as well hold off since completing the form wasn’t required yet. I’m not saying that’s exactly what happened, but it’s was something along those lines.
February 5th, 2007 at 5:12 pm
Greg,
Yes. Rudy is officially a candidate for President with this FEC filing.
February 5th, 2007 at 5:29 pm
GOP Activist: “So murphy,
Can you make a good argument for Romney?
Yes he can as he has done so upon a number of occasions.
Can you? Make a good arguement for Romney, I mean.
February 5th, 2007 at 5:32 pm
“So many of the Rudy supporters, I find, tend to use raw emotion to back them up as opposed to logic and reason.”
Yes and No
Yes, there is a lot of enthusiasm for Rudy and I also back that up with polling data.
Rudy wins on both counts.
Go Rudy, Rudy, Rudy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ok, that’s just my enthusiasm.
LOL
February 5th, 2007 at 6:00 pm
GOP Activist,
R4 ’08’s very own Heavy M delivered, in my judgment, one of the strongest (and most clear/coherent) cases for Mitt Romney anywhere:
http://race42008.com/2007/01/12/in-which-i-comprehensively-explain-why-i-will-be-voting-for-willard-mitt-romney/
February 5th, 2007 at 6:01 pm
“So many of the Rudy supporters, I find, tend to use raw emotion to back them up as opposed to logic and reason.”
Hah.. as if the Rudy HATERS of the world… who by the way are almost ALL fixated on the topics of abortion and/or gays… arent ruled by EMOTION, also known as FAITH, versus logic and reason.
And by the way, Im not sure they give some sort of “logic and reason” test at the polling booth before you cast your vote, anyway.
February 5th, 2007 at 6:28 pm
Murphy, my guess is that you are absolutely correct in assuming that most presidential campaign Statements of Organization filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) do contain a party designation.
But I would further guess that, assuming it was an inadvertent omission in this instance, the Giuliani campaign simply did not want to call attention to it by clarifying where they stood, realizing that it was not mandatory or critical and would be superceded in any event by the Republican designation in their Statement of Candidacy.
Having previously lost possession of a 140-page internal campaign document, I am confident that the Giuliani campaign did not want to subject itself to another snide crack to the media by John Weaver as to their competence.
Letting negative events, especially relatively insignificant ones like this, go without comment minimizes their media shelf life. And that, frankly, reflects good campaign discipline.
February 5th, 2007 at 7:03 pm
Republius,
It was not an inadvertent omission, unless they are lying through their teeth. They have said that they deliberately left that box blank.
Remember last month when Romney’s team issued a statement attacking the gadfly running MassResistence? It was an early mistake by a campaign that hadn’t quite got things completely under control yet. This is the same sort of thing.
Giuliani’s people goofed. They will recover. But the longer his supporters attempt to paper over it by claiming it was “an inadvertent ommision”, the longer it will take to sink beneath the waves.
February 5th, 2007 at 7:18 pm
marK, I am unaware of any Giuliani campaign spokesperson who said publicly that they left the party affiliation part of the FEC Statement of Organization unchecked on purpose. Perhaps you can provide the quotation or link us to the report?
If I need to stand corrected we should do so as soon as possible. But absent proof I am going to assume that this is what I have been claiming from the get go – much ado about nothing and merely gotcha, status quo, inside-the-beltway, negative campaign tactics from the McCain and Romney camps.
February 5th, 2007 at 7:49 pm
Presuming marK doesn’t mind me citing for him…
http://www.newsday.com/news/printedition/stories/ny-usrudy025076775feb02,0,4517658,print.story
Granted, if the fuzzy regulations concerning financing which Kavon cited are true, this becomes less of an issue for me.
February 5th, 2007 at 9:04 pm
I just read that Romney and McCain are dropping out since they read GOP Activist correctly point out that they are behind in many recent polls. Why even try with only 1 short year away from the 1st primary.
In a not so related story, I heard that USC football may cancel the season if they are not number one in the preseason ratings.
The point is that we put way too much stock in polls one year out of an election. More can be said of polling trends, which will point out that Romney is gaining steam. And the biggest this is ones position on the issues, and ones record which will give more relevance to a Romney win in the primaries.
February 5th, 2007 at 9:20 pm
rudy just announced he’s in on on fox news!
February 5th, 2007 at 9:29 pm
Just heard Rudy on Fox,
WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
February 5th, 2007 at 10:02 pm
is this offical rudy’s in with this foxnews annoucment or a step closer to deciding on 08 run I was confused what this means ?
February 5th, 2007 at 10:11 pm
As much as I wanted to see Rudy on Hannity tonight, I just couldn’t miss 24.
Does anyone have the transcript?
February 5th, 2007 at 10:15 pm
Dave… Are you serious???
February 5th, 2007 at 10:19 pm
murphy, the quote that “we didn’t have to fill in that box” does not address whether it was done intentionally or not by the campaign. Of course the filing did not require that a party designation be claimed.
And certainly it is a huge leap to contend that such an omission reflected a desire to perhaps run an independent party candidacy.
I see nothing in that quote that prevents the possibility that it was inadvertent and an omission.
February 5th, 2007 at 10:27 pm
Mike, dude, it’s 24. Watch it once and you’ll understand
Anyway, just caught the Rudy video online.
February 5th, 2007 at 10:43 pm
Rudy did not announce, but he is a step closer. I think he is going to formally announce in CA on Saturday, as indicated on this blog.
Dick Morris also stated that he now believes Rudy will win the nomination and that Rudy is the only candidate that can defeat Hillary.
Yeah Rudy!!!!!!!!!!!!!
February 5th, 2007 at 10:43 pm
It’s replayed at 11pm
February 5th, 2007 at 10:45 pm
This is a link to the video:
http://www.foxnews.com/hannityandcolmes/index.html
February 5th, 2007 at 10:51 pm
Purely for the sake of discussion. . . Would marking down “Republican” on these forms actually prevent someone from running as an Independent later on? If a candidate starts out in one party, raising cash and all, can’t he switch parties and take that money with him? I ask this because it’s been suggested that omitting the “R” designation was Rudy’s way of possibly running as an independent at a later date, and I don’t see how this would even matter in that event.
February 5th, 2007 at 10:54 pm
Sorry guys,
The video is not working right now. I think they are getting too much traffic. Try it again later or watch the re-broadcast at 11pm.
February 5th, 2007 at 11:19 pm
I’ve come to the conclusion that, as much as I like Giuliani, I could not vote for him in a primary even if I became convinced he was the only viable GOP candidate. I do not like the way he’s discussing abortion, and it highlights one of the fears I’ve had of potential Giuliani presidency. He’s trying to sell his position rather then adopting a hands off stance. I cannot accept a charismatic, titular head of the Republican Party, trying to sell a sort of “safe, legal, and rare” rhetoric. He’ll win too many converts and the pro-life movement will collapse into the abyss.
February 6th, 2007 at 10:38 am
Matt,
I respect your position, but I think you are in the minority.
As the polls have indicated Rudy is capturing the hearts and minds of everyone.
February 6th, 2007 at 12:40 pm
Republius, You are starting to sound like Clinton questioning the definition of the word ‘is’. Let it go, man. They made the wrong decision. For whatever reason, they goofed. G..O..O..F..E..D Accept it. Move on.
GOP Activist. If I read the polls correct, Giuliani is still not the first choice of two out of three Republicans, let alone Democrats. So how can you say that he is capturing the hearts and minds of ‘everyone’?
February 6th, 2007 at 1:34 pm
should we take rudy seriously and should the DNC take him seriously?. Is he doing the run or not? I am still confused?
February 6th, 2007 at 5:11 pm
IT IS SIMPLE RUDY is the ONLY one that can go toe to toe with Bill’s wife!
July 3rd, 2009 at 4:39 pm
[...] Race42008 reports that Rudy Giuliani has filed a statement of candidacy with the FEC, paving the way for an official Presidential run. [...]