Mediabistro’s TVNewser is reporting:

What is a presidential candidate to do when he’s no longer running? Try hosting a TV show!

Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani will guest host America’s Nightly Scoreboard tonight on Fox Business Network. The program airs live at 7pm ET and is replayed at 10pm ET. David Asman is the usual host for America’s Nightly Scoreboard.

We hear the guest hosting job will just be for tonight’s show.

Right now, articulating McCain’s position on health care, and displaying his in depth understanding of the issue. 

The importance of the Northeast to Sen. McCain’s presidential prospects combined with LJ’s post below detailing the senator’s efforts to convince his money men to pay off Rudy’s campaign debts have caused my political spider sense to kick in. Could Sen. McCain be planning to offer his friend and onetime rival Rudy Giuliani the Number Two spot on the ticket? It’s certainly a reasonable selection in a race against Obama. Consider the following arguments in favor of a Giuliani selection:

1) Rudy failed in the primaries because social conservatives distrusted him on abortion while independents and centrists were turned off by Giuliani’s bellicosity on Iraq and laissez faire economics during a year when voters wanted politicians to feel their pain. But because the vice president has no constitutional authority to sign or veto legislation or to commit troops to war, Rudy’s policy liabilities become non-issues if he were to take the Number Two spot on the ticket. This is especially true given Giuliani’s age (he’ll be 72 in 2016, meaning that Vice President Rudy would likely never become the GOP standard bearer).

2) Rudy would most definitely fit the bill as a veep ready to take the reins of the presidency at a moment’s notice should the unthinkable befall President McCain while in office. He’s also a personal friend of Sen. McCain and someone who McCain can trust and who would not have his own agenda while in office.

3) As a white ethnic with a working class Catholic background from the Northeast, Rudy could help bring into the fold Hillary-supporting Democrats and independents in states like New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania who don’t want to vote for Barack Obama in the fall. Rudy could do so by reaching out to these voters on a cultural level. His very presence on the ticket would send the message that a McCain presidency would be friendly to all sorts of Northeastern voters, from fiscally conservative, socially tolerant metropolitan voters to gritty, politically moderate white ethnic working class voters in places like Brooklyn and Philly.

4) Rudy’s heterodoxies on issues like abortion would help create the perception that McCain is running something other than a base campaign and deviating from traditional Republicanism, which would benefit the senator in a year when most independents have a negative view of Republicans. This is the same effect that a Tim Pawlenty, who often irks pro-growth conservatives, would have on the ticket. Basically, any such veep selection represents a “Sister Souljah” moment for McCain, which he needs in a year like this, like it or not.

5) Rudy’s hapless campaign, for all its faults, did establish the Mayor as a supply-sider, which would help McCain shore up an element of the base that distrusts him due to his votes on the Bush tax cuts earlier this decade.

All in all, a McCain/Giuliani ticket would make a lot of sense given Obama’s weakness among Northeastern voters and white ethnic working class voters. These voters seem at present to be more open to McCain than they were to President Bush in 2000 and 2004, but it may take a cultural intermediary like Rudy to close the deal and assure these voters that McCain isn’t going to be Bush’s third term.

Reports Jon Martin:

On Friday McCain manager Rick Davis sent an email to the senator’s top fundraisers requesting that they help Hizzoner retire the debt he incurred from his lackluster campaign.

“While this is an unusual request, it is extremely important for the McCain campaign and the party,” Davis wrote in a message to the campaign’s finance leadership team. “We need to help Mayor Giuliani retire his debt as soon as possible so we can move forward with everyone spending 100% of their time helping to get John McCain in the White House. The time Rudy Giuliani has to spend raising money to pay down his debt is time he could be spending raising money and reaching out to voters for us.”

Giuliani, who raised far less money than his campaign had planned on and never contributed any of his cash to the race, reported to the FEC last month that his former campaign had $4 million in cash but $3.1 million in debt.

In the email, Davis directs the McCain donors to make their contribution to Rudy’s website — which is being kept up exclusively for purposes of retiring his debt.

While Billy Crystal was filling in for Johnny Damon in today’s Grapefruit League game against Pittsburgh, fellow lifelong Yankee fan and former New York mayor, Rudy Giuliani, was also stepping into the batter’s box, pinch hitting for John McCain in Pennsylvania.

NBC/National Journal’s Matthew Berger reports:

With McCain called back to Washington to vote in the Senate, Rudy Giuliani pitched in and headlined a $1,000-a-plate luncheon for the Arizona senator, and said he believed the Republicans can win Pennsylvania. (Watch Video)

“I would consider this for John a very doable state, a state he could win” Giuliani told reporters after the luncheon. “Someone like John McCain that has outreach to independent and to Democratic voters, this is a perfect state for him.” (Indeed, a recent Pennsylvania poll shows McCain leading both Clinton and Obama in the Keystone State.)

Asked about the potential of a McCain-Giuliani ticket, or even a McCain-Romney ticket, Giuliani demurred. “The choice of vice president is up to John McCain,” he said. “I’m sure he’ll make a very good choice. I’m not going to comment on that at all.”

No stranger to New York controversies, Giuliani said his thoughts were with the Spitzer family. “I feel great sadness for the governor and for his family and for his children,” he said. “He made a decision he believed was the right one, and I just pray for them.”

Although he didn’t rule it out, Giuliani said he wasn’t thinking about running for governor himself in 2010. “I’m not considering running for anything right now,” he said. “I’m just back in my law firm, back in business, getting used to my private life, and it’s quite enjoyable. So I’m not thinking about running for anything right now.”

Rudy Giuliani and Tom Ridge will be joining McCain at his Philadelphia fundraiser tonight, per the McCain campaign.

Jerry Gleason of The Patriot-News reports:

Republican presidential candidate John McCain will run strong in Pennsylvania against either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, former New York Gov. Rudy Giuliani said today at the West Shore Country Club.

Giuliani was substituting for McCain, who canceled his appearance at the $1,000-a-plate campaign fundraiser due to a Senate vote on extending the 2001 tax cuts that are due to expire in 2010 and a possible vote on eliminating earmarks. McCain also canceled his planned Harrisburg factory tour.

Earmarks are funds provided by the Congress for pet projects or programs that circumvent the normal allocation process and are considered wasteful, pork-barrel spending.

“No one is more vigilant on doing away them than John McCain,” Giuliani said. “Eliminating them will control spending and make it more accountable.”

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani talks to the local press, Thursday, on behalf of the U.S. Senator John McCain’s presidential campaign at the West Shore Country Club in East Pennsboro Twp.

Giuliani said current polling indicates that McCain would run ahead of either Clinton or Obama in Pennsylvania.

“This is a good state for John McCain. It’s a state he can win,” he said.

“There are a lot of reasons to vote for him. The fact that he will be strong for the economy and national security are the over-riding ones.”

Giuliani said he wouldn’t speculate on McCain’s choice of a running mate.

“The choice of a vice president is up to John McCain,” he said. “You don’t run for it, you don’t speculate on who it will be.

“There are a lot of good choices.”

How to be a gracious loser:

Of course, as we have noted here on several occasions — Mitt Romney seems to be following the Ronald Reagan 1976 playbook. His CPAC speech has been compared to Reagan’s ‘76 convention speech — and now — his endorsement is being compared to Reagan’s support of Ford …

But while Ronald Reagan’s loss — and his re-birth in ‘80 — is a fairly recent model to use as a comparison, the archetype is almost as old as time. As Jung would put it, this entire narrative has long been a part of our “collective unconscious.”

In essence, whether he’s doing it consciously. or not, Mitt Romney is seeking to tap into a mythological narrative called the “Hero’s Journey.”

If you’ve read Arthur or the Odyssey — or have seen Star Wars or Rocky — you are familiar with the idea. Before reaching the “promised land,” a hero must first endure his “wilderness years.” This is essentially a right of passage or initiation (I’ve written that Mitt Romney finally passed his “Initiation” into the conservative movement.)

Of course, the last stage of the “Hero’s Journey” is when the hero reaches his destiny and in a sense, rises from the dead. If you’re a movie fan, this is the part when Rocky finally wins or when Han Solo and Luke Skywalker are given their awards. Or if you like politics, it’s the day Reagan wins after everyone thought he was finished in ‘76.

In Mitt Romney’s scenario, he becomes the Republican standard-bearer, and ultimately is elected president.

(I should add, Rudy has been a spectacularly gracious loser as well)

How not to be:

Mike Huckabee is rapidly showing all the nasty characteristics that I warned everybody about. See here, his response to Mitt Romney’s gracious endorsement of John McCain. Huck whines that Romney “attacked” him — ignoring that all of Romney’s negative ads, etc., were absolutely 100% issue-based — while trying to play the martyr who never made a personal attack on Romney. Of course, Huck is the guy who repeatedly did attack Romney in personal terms, especially raising questions about Romney’s religion. The crack about Mormons believing weird things about Satan, etc., remains the lowest blow of any campaign this year. Gimme a break.

I have no love for Huckabee, I won’t deny it, but I could have if he had shown perhaps an inkling of gentlemanship these last week. He could have kept running without attacking Romney, yet he shows no signs of stopping. Mitt’s out, no longer a threat and all Huckabee can do is lob bombs at Romney- back handed and front handed. Last night on O’Reilly, Huckabee made the laughable assertion that it’s ironic that the two candidate who are left in the race are the ones who ran the most civil campaigns! Is he nuts? I think the civility awards would actually go to Ron Paul who has been fair to every candidate and Rudy Giuliani.

I am not sure what specific action of Huckabee shows him to be a person of good character. I am not saying (at east here) that he is not but what shows that he is? As a matter of fact, I can’t think of one scenario in which he has shown the ability to work for the common good. I would love to be proven wrong, but so far all I have seen is a guy who remains in the race so he can continue kicking around the guy who dropped out for the good of the party.

I never considered supporting Rudy Giuliani for President this time. He didn’t match up closely enough with me ideologically to support in a multi-candidate primary, no matter how electable he would have been in a general election. On social issues like abortion, he was too liberal for me. On some other issues, he was too conservative. I agree with John McCain and disagreed with Rudy on waterboarding. I also disagreed with him on some civil liberties issues like wiretapping and things of that nature. I also thought Rudy’s abrasiveness would have made it difficult to negotiate and build alliances with foreign countries. I did agree with Rudy on most fiscal issues and thought he did a good job as Mayor of New York.

Despite my differences with Rudy, I think more of him now than I did at the beginning of the campaign. He has his bad points, but he has his good qualities too. He gave a nice concession speech in Florida, something Hillary did not have in her heart to do in South Carolina. He said he ran an uplifting campaign, and he did. He ran the most positive campaign of all Republicans. His attacks were restricted to the Democrats. He was, and is, a team player. Even with candidates from much different backgrounds and belief systems than his, he would look to find good qualities. He once said he thought Mike Huckabee had a positive attitude. I hope Rudy continues to be a player in the Republican party and perhaps part of President McCain’s administration. But Rudy will never be President. Though people lament his strategy of bypassing early states, the failure was deeper than that. In our two-party system, a man like Rudy Giuliani simply cannot get elected President. He is too conservative to win a Democratic nomination and too liberal to win a Republican nomination.

Best wishes for the rest of your life Rudy. You ran an uplifting campaign and deserve a lot of credit.

Dear Aron,

Over the past year, as I traveled around the country, people from all walks of life welcomed me into their homes and communities with open arms. From house parties to parades to town halls and rallies, I have shared in some wonderful moments with you all and for that I am eternally grateful.

Thank you for sharing your concerns with me. Thank you for working with me to provide our children with a brighter and more prosperous future. Thank you for your support and trust and faith. And thank you for being a part of this wonderful journey.

A New York Republican named Teddy Roosevelt once said “aggressive fighting for the right is the noblest sport the world affords.” Like most Americans, I love competition. I don’t back down from a principled fight.

But there must always be a larger purpose.

Elections are about more than just a candidate. Elections are about fighting for a cause larger than ourselves. They are about identifying the great challenges of our time and proposing new solutions. Most of all, they are about handing our nation to the next generation better than it was handed to us.

Although we were unsuccessful in our endeavor, the fight to strengthen America goes on. Our nation’s next President must understand and make a commitment to keep us on offense in the Terrorists’ War on Us. He must understand that stimulating our economy requires cutting taxes, because you make better decisions with your money than Washington bureaucrats. He must be committed to ending illegal immigration and securing our borders. And he must use free-market principles to make health care more affordable for all Americans.

I believe John McCain is that man. He is the right leader to move us forward, unite our party and transform Washington. I hope that you will join me in supporting him to be the next President of the United States.

As I look forward to the road ahead, I am optimistic because I believe America’s best days are still to come. Our country has a bright future, but we must work together to ensure that our shared prosperity creates new and better opportunities for us all.

Best Wishes,

Rudy Giuliani

Senator John McCain’s acceptance speech following Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s endorsement:

“I thank you Rudy and I am deeply honored. I am deeply honored by your friendship, which has been for many years. I, like all Americans, will never forget the defining moment of recent American history — the tragedy of 9/11. And I saw Rudy Giuliani unite this nation in a way that made us all proud. And all of us were recommitted to defeating the terrible evil that attacked New York City on September 11th. I had the honor of spending time with him in New York City as he not only restored the spirits and the courage and the commitment of the people of New York City, but of the people of the United States of America.

All life is full of anecdotes. My favorite anecdote was in the World Series of that year when Rudy came with me to Phoenix, Arizona — a packed stadium of 40-some thousand rabid Diamondback fans. On the Jumbotron was the face of Rudy Giuliani. Every one of those fans stood and applauded and cheered and cheered and cheered because this man is a national hero. And I’m honored by his friendship. And I’m honored to know a person who played such a great role in uniting the United States of America after one of its greatest tragedies was inflicted on it.

So, I want to say, I not only thank him for his friendship. I want to thank him for his leadership of America. I want to thank him as we wage this struggle to secure the presidency of the United States. It will be a clear choice this November and I believe that my life has prepared me — a life of service and a life of dedication to lead this nation in the transcendent challenge of the 21st Century: the great threat, and the evil of radical Islamic extremism which threatens everything we stand for and believe in. And my strong right arm, and my partner, and my friend in this effort will be the former mayor of New York City, an American hero — Rudy Giuliani. I am deeply honored. Thank you very much.”

So, what was the first question McCain was asked by the media following his speech?

“Could this be the Republican ticket this fall?”

McCain tried to deflect the reporter’s question with self-deprecating humor, quipping “You know, my ego is rather massive, but not quite so large as to be thinking about that likelihood at this time.”

UPDATE (1/31/08): Just Like Matthau and Lemmon
In a joint appearance on The Tonight Show with John McCain, Rudy Giuliani leaves the door open for a run as McCain’s vice president.

“The responsibility of leadership doesn’t end with a single campaign, it goes on and you continue to fight for it.”-Rudy Giuliani

Hizzoner has officially withdrawn from the 2008 presidential race and has thrown his full support behind his good friend, Sen. John McCain:

“This is a man who is prepared to be president,” Giuliani said of his “old friend.”Giuliani said McCain gives the Republican Party the best chance to hold onto the presidency.

“I am very proud to endorse my friend and fellow Republican — a hero — John McCain,” Giuliani said at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley California, two hours before the Republican presidential candidates were to face each other in their final debate before the Super Tuesday contests next week.

Giuliani described McCain as “the other best candidate.”

“I made it clear before I had to make this decision [to drop out] that had I not run, I’d be supporting John McCain,” Giuliani told reporters on a flight to Burbank, California, for the debate.

With the California debate only about an hour from commencing, rumors are swirling of another big endorsement (no pun intended):

Meanwhile, two Republican sources told CNN that California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is in discussions about endorsing McCain.

One of the sources said, “you can safely describe the conversations as progressing and productive.” The second source described the endorsement as “more than expected” and said the conversations were aimed at arranging a Thursday announcement.

Race42008 is please to present the following editorial from longtime reader MetroRepublican.
__________________________________________________________________________________

The conventional wisdom was that Rudy Giuliani could only win the nomination in a split field. That belief was dead wrong.

Occasional polls in 2007 asked respondents about 2-man matchups in the GOP primaries. Rudy Giuliani always beat John McCain, Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson in these 2-man matchups by healthy margins.

I have no doubt if this nomination had been a 2-man race with Rudy and any other candidate, Rudy would be the favorite among Republicans.

Even in a split field, if we had held a national primary on January 3, Rudy would be our nominee.

The only reason our best, and most favored, candidate is not our nominee is a combination of three main factors: (1) The bad draw Rudy got in the earliest states and how well they happened to match up with his competitors, (2) A weird dynamic that came about in a largely 3-way race with McCain and Romney, (3) The behavior of the MSM with regard to Rudy’s campaign.

1. Bad Draw

IA: Populist, Evangelical state with pacifist tendencies. Rudy’s a secular capitalist hawk, the exact opposite. Enter Huckabee. [Wow, TLG and I think alike almost to the word.]

NH: Great state for Rudy! Except it has a love affair with McCain, often called the President of NH. And Mitt Romney’s in the race — and no Massachusetts politician has ever failed to win the NH primary. Combine this with the weird 3-way dynamic Rudy has with these (see below), and the state is simply unwinnable for him, as Rudy proved with throwing a few million at it.

MI: The other state McCain’s got a history with, plus Romney’s home state. Combine this with the weird 3-way dynamic. Are you seeing how bad this draw was?

NV: When you combine the caucus + Mormon factor, Mitt would have to dominate this, as I said months before the results came in.

SC: The most military-friendly state in the union, with McCain running strong. The second most Evangelical state in the union, with Huckabee running strong.

Are you seeing how incredibly unlucky Rudy’s draw was, given how these states perfectly matched up with his opponents?

(more…)

Race42008 presents the following guest editorial from longtime reader Alex Knepper, aka “ThatLibertarianGuy”.
__________________________________________________________________________________________

As it stands, it looks as though the Race 4 2008 has ended on the Republican side. John McCain has the nomination virtually locked up, having defeated Mitt Romney head-on even as Rudy Giuliani siphoned off national security voters and moderates, all of whom will flock to McCain on Super Tuesday, handing him the nomination.

As the regulars on this site know, I have been supporting Mayor Giuliani in the comments section since May and have been there to defend him whenever someone attacked. The man who served in the #3 spot in Ronald Reagan’s Justice Department, busted the mafia as a New York prosecutor, governed as arguably the most successful big-city mayor in the history of the country, and will go down in history as a heroic figure on 9/11 would have been a strong conservative candidate for the GOP and would have fundamentally shifted the Republican Party in a capitalist, America-first direction.

But that dream is over. The Giuliani campaign ended with a thud and the mayor finishes as the least successful candidate of the former top six. But why, exactly, did this happen? There are a few key reasons:

1) The Incredible Failure of the Field to Sink John McCain
“When your opponent is drowning, you throw him an anchor,” the old political saying goes. Now, we all can recall the McCain Death Watch of Summer 2007. But what’s remarkable — and absolutely inexplicable — is that all of his opponents, moreso than McCain himself, seemed intent on raising him from the dead!

Throughout the debates, the major Republican contenders, figuring McCain permanently politically unviable, tripped all over themselves to praise McCain profusely — presumably in order to make themselves look good by praising an American hero.

That backfired.

It’s not an accident that McCain remained viable enough to be ‘risen from the dead’: he was never dead. No ‘former frontrunner’ is “dead” six months out from the first votes cast, as we now see all too clearly. McCain invested his time and resources wisely and successfully reclaimed his mantle as the heir to the nomination. But it didn’t have to be that way, if only the rest of the field had sunk McCain when it had its chance.

(more…)

UPDATE: NBC News and the National Journal are reporting that its official: Rudy will drop out tomorrow and endorse McCain.

As reported by The Page

Can you feel the suspense? Are you junkies just a teeennnyyy bit nervous???

Which candidate will take home the trophy??? I was bored, so here are the nominees for Best Picture:

Good luck to all the candidates…

Per Amspec Blog:

In today’s Wall Street Journal, the column by our friend John Fund contains this enlightening revelation: More recently, Mr. McCain has told conservatives he would be happy to appoint the likes of Chief Justice John Roberts to the Supreme Court. But he indicated he might draw the line on a Samuel Alito, because “he wore his conservatism on his sleeve.”

Wow. This supports every single thing I and so many other critics of McCain’s “Gang of 14″ deal have been saying: It indicated not an interest in fighting for conservative judges, but a capitulation. There is absolutely no reason to believe that a president John McCain would EVER appoint conservative judges. The best we could expect from him — the BEST — would be along the lines of O’Connor and Kennedy. And that would be all up and down the federal courts, not just at the Supreme Court. To not be looking for and demanding judges/justices like Alito is to shoot the finger at every conservative in the country — or, worse, the political equivalent of subjecting us to waterboarding.

But what can you expect from the same senator, McCain, who said as recently as 1999 (to the San Fran Chronicle editorial board) that “in the short term, or even the long term, I would not support repeal of Roe vs. Wade, which would then force X-number of women to undergo illegal and dangerous abortions.”

Seeing as how there are numerous pro-abort liberals who nevertheless acknowledge that Roe, as constitutional law/legal reasoning, is utter nonsense, this window into McCain’s real views shows a man with absolutely no understanding or even concern about the Constitution.

On the other hand, I have been trying to work out a theory, which I haven’t quite been able to finish putting together in full, that Rudy Giuliani would OPERATIONALLY be more pro-life than McCain or even Huckabee. It’s sort of the “only Nixon could go to China” thing: With a highly partisan Democratic Senate, only Giuliani could appoint an originalist without the originalist AUTOMATICALLY being blocked/filibustered on the grounds that the president obviously was looking for an anti-Roe justice.

It is also true that Giuliani has proved to be a man of his word on public policy: What he says he will do, he does. In that light, it is more believable coming from him than it would be from another pro-choicer when he says he would veto any relevant bills that try to drop the Hyde Amendment or Mexico City language (i.e., the two key pro-life statutory matters handled by the president and Congress). He would actively promote parental notification, oppose partial-birth abortion, and work particularly hard to promote adoption.

While we are on the subject of McCain vs. Giuliani (meaning I have gotten off subject, because originally this was just a post alerting readers about just how godawful McCain is on the subject of judges), it is also worth noting that Giuliani is equally as strong on defense as McCain — actually, stronger, considering that Rudy doesn’t want to let jihadist terrorists have access to our domestic courts, but McCain does — and that he is far, far better on economics. He’s both a tax cutter and a spending cutter, succeeding at both endeavors even in liberal New York City. There, of course, he also cut crime, fought smut, took stands against Arafat and Castro at public events, helped break some corrupt union influence, promoted school choice, eliminated racial quotas, and (as prosecutor) broke the back of the mob.

McCain? He merely pounds his chest and boasts about his war record and his moral superiority, all while blocking energy exploration and trying to kill the American pharmaceutical companies (he called the “the enemy”) that develop so many life-saving drugs for all of us. Plus, he joins his “beloved” (HIS word!) Sen. Lindsey Graham to smear a Republican judicial nominee, Jim Haynes of the Pentagon, who was given the ABA’s highest rating and who is the very model of a qualified, wise, thoughtful, brilliant, and yes, judicious lawyer — all on behalf of a purely private vendetta of Graham’s, the same Graham who called opponents of illegal immigration “bigots” and who follows McCain like a lovesick puppy.

Oh… and McCain lies about Romney’s record, as well as lying about his own.And now we learn McCain would “draw the line” against choosing another judge like Samuel Alito.

So why would ANY conservative ever vote for this guy?

UPDATE from Hillyer: McCain Lies Again

2nd UPDATE: Gang of 14

In today’s NRO, David Frum says the time is now for Rudy Giuliani:

This is a difficult hour for the United States. It’s not just the strain of war. On domestic issues, too, discontent runs strong. The incomes of ordinary Americans have stagnated over the past six years. Health-care and energy costs have surged. In many cities, gang violence has surged. Over two-thirds of Americans now describe the country as “on the wrong track” — astonishing for a non-recession year.

In this difficult hour, the Bush administration seems to have lost its way — and its nerve. On issues ranging from the reconstruction of New Orleans to the Iranian bomb, the administration seems paralyzed, crippled almost as much by a lack of positive ideas as by the president’s record-scraping personal unpopularity.

Historically, Americans have trusted Republicans as the party of prudence and sound management. Iraq, Katrina, earmarks, and airport body searches of Eagle Scouts and wheelchair-bound grandmas have corroded that reputation. As a party, we are now widely perceived as uncaring, improvident, corrupt, and incompetent. Republican identification has sharply slumped, and Democrats enjoy large advantages in almost every way pollsters can measure. The conditions are all in place for an epochal Republican disaster in 2008. Unless something happens to change the game radically, we are looking at a real possibility of a big Democratic presidential win combined with gains in both houses of Congress, an outcome that has not occurred since 1964.

Democrats are beginning to talk of a new government health-care monopoly paid for by canceling the Bush tax cuts. These are not pleasant facts, but they are facts all the same. They present us as conservatives and Republicans with the toughest challenges we have faced in years.

How can we hold the line on government while addressing America’s genuine health-care needs? How can we sustain the competitiveness of the American economy against a Democratic Congress quivering to impose new taxes and new regulations? How can we win a war on terror that the congressional majority seems already to have written off as lost? Rudy Giuliani is the answer to these challenges.

No living elected official has solved more public problems with more outstanding success than Rudy Giuliani. If there is one person Americans associate with competence in government, it is Rudy. As the primary race has warmed up, some have tried to diminish the mayor’s accomplishments. But in fact, the closer you look, the more amazing they become. Yes, the crime rate for the whole country declined in the 1990s. But New York, with a little less than 3 percent of the nation’s population, accounted for 15 percent of the nation’s decline in homicides. Much of the improvement in former high-crime zones like Chicago, Washington, and Miami occurred precisely because New York’s success inspired other mayors to follow where Giuliani had led.

It is not just crime. Giuliani restored civility to New York’s public spaces, reformed welfare, broke the grip of organized crime on trash collection and food wholesaling, restored academic standards in the city university system, chased the sex industry off the streets, held the line on taxes, and set in motion one of the greatest property booms in city history.

In 1963, President Kennedy challenged those who suggested that Communism could out-compete freedom: “Let them come to Berlin.” Today, Republicans can challenge those who assert that liberals can out-manage conservatives: “Let them come to New York.” Giuliani achieved his success by combining a fierce commitment to core values with an impressive flexibility in his methods. He listened to advice, tried experiments, built on what worked, discarded what did not work. He showed that a leader can be strong without being rigid.

Giuliani’s accomplishment was put to the ultimate test on 9/11. Compare what happened in New York that day with what happened in New Orleans four years later. The mayor did not panic. Public order was consistently maintained. There was no looting, no lawbreaking, no criminal activity. An evacuation of about half a million people from lower Manhattan proceeded smoothly and safely. The local economy recovered almost immediately. The disaster zone has not only recovered, but erupted into new life.

Giuliani’s record is the best possible reply to Democratic criticisms of Republican governance. It is also the best hope to recover lost supporters. Giuliani’s urban ethnic background resonates in key states like Florida and New Jersey, where local polling suggests he does best among the leading Republicans in head-to-head matchups against Hillary Clinton. Romney, Thompson, McCain, and Huckabee are candidates of many excellences. But they cannot possibly hope to win in a year like 2008. Rudy Giuliani can do more than hope.

(more…)

National Review’s Jim Geraghty: “I think this Rudy web video is awesome, and every candidate, except McCain, should be doing their own version dealing with the New York Times editors’ endorsement.”

As we’re less than 24 hours before primary day in Florida, let’s pause for some pragmatic reflection –

Both John McCain and Mitt Romney, the reputed Republican frontrunners, are running hard for the coveted GOP nomination. But what will they win with that nomination? They will inherit a divided party, that they themselves have had a hand in dividing. On top of this, every poll indicates that the GOP brand is toxic this election.

Running as a conventional Republican won’t be worth spit. We need a candidate who transcends the usual partisan appeal, who’s appeal is his personal reputation as a leader; someone who can reach out to the vast middle-ground of independents. The “base” of the GOP isn’t going to elect the next president. The appeal needs to be beyond “the base.”

This could be a “change” election, which will 1) rid our political culture of the Clintons once and for all; 2) revitalize conservatism around its classic principles of limited government, fiscal responsibility, and the expansion of liberty; and thereby 3) remake the GOP into a contender on the national scene again. Does anyone seriously think Mitt Romney or John McCain can accomplish that? Rudy’s the only one who can, and will, if given the opportunity.

Rudy has run the most substantive campaign, the most positive campaign, the most optimistic campaign of those in the field. He is the most conservative candidate on the broadest range of issues (fiscal policy, the economy, health care reform, government reform, tax reform, education reform, judicial philosophy, federalism, national security), and is the most accomplished conservative in the field….And yet Republicans appear willing to kick him to the curb, if we’re to believe the sloppy polling that has been done so far this year, and the biased bloviating of pundits on Faux News Channel.

Absent Rudy, the only thing that can revitalize conservatism and the GOP is a cleansing defeat, of Goldwateresque proportions. I could live with a cleansing defeat if it were to anyone other than Hillary. I cannot stomach seeing the Clintons’ with their bloated narcissitic personality disorders back in the Oval Office. But that’s what we’ll get with Willard, and most likely McCain.

With Mike Huckabee down and Fred Thompson out in Florida, Tuesday’s Sunshine State primary promises a three-way brawl among Rudolph Giuliani, John McCain and Mitt Romney. Voters there, and beyond, should regard these three candidates like lamps in a traffic signal.

– Romney is the red light. The former Massachusetts governor’s tax-and-spend record should stop Republican voters in their tracks. Romney presents himself as a corporate super-mechanic who can lift the hood and make a stalled sedan NASCAR-ready. Too bad Romney left his state in the repair bay after four years of parts and labor.

Rather than reinvigorate Massachusetts with broad-based tax relief — as did his Republican gubernatorial predecessors, William Weld and Paul Cellucci — Romney launched a tax-hike binge reminiscent of Daddy Bush’s 1990 “read my lips” raid on America’s wallets.

Romney enacted 126 brand-new or increased fees, having requested 70, totaling $473 million. Thus, Massachusetts residents pay more for marriage licenses, gun registrations, blindness certificates, home-deed registries, power-meter inspections and even milk-dealer permits. Romney also signed 19 tax increases worth $519 million. Romney taxed gasoline, corporate trusts, nonprofit organizations, online software, sales catalogs, securities companies and more.

Romney also saddled Massachusetts with a government-run health-insurance scheme. Those who have ignored its individual-coverage mandate now face $219 in tax penalties, which could soar this year to $912. The Pacific Research Institute’s Sally Pipes calculates that RomneyCare cost taxpayers $619 million in 2007 — 31 percent above projections.

All this bought economic stasis. Manufacturing employment fell 14 percent under Romney, twice the national figure, ranking Massachusetts 48th among the states. As Romney left office, 124,100 fewer employees were working, versus February 2001, before Massachusetts entered recession. As Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom has admitted: “Did we recover all the jobs that were lost? No.”

– This race’s yellow light is McCain. Call him “Bob Dole 2.0″ — a beloved war hero and veteran Beltway insider with an uneven tax record. The Arizona senator voted to extend President Bush’s tax cuts and now wants them permanent. Yet, he rejected them in 2001 and 2003. According to Senate records, McCain cast 52 substantive and procedural votes for higher taxes. He backed Internet-access taxes, the “death tax,” a surtax on incomes above $1 million and $755.67 billion in tobacco taxes. He also spurned lower taxes on incomes and capital gains, and repeatedly voted to delay and shrivel other tax cuts.

On spending, however, McCain is delightfully parsimonious. He fought 2003’s $558 billion Medicare drug entitlement and is one of Congress’ loudest voices against extravagant, idiotic federal boondoggles.

– The green light is Giuliani. New York’s former mayor is a stalwart fiscal conservative who recently proposed America’s largest tax cut — ever.

As mayor, Giuliani pitched 64 tax cuts, and then charmed, scared or otherwise persuaded an overwhelmingly Democratic City Council to enact 23 of them totaling $9.8 billion. The top tax rate dropped 20.6 percent (vs. Romney’s 0 percent reduction). Also, the overall tax burden (tax revenue’s share of personal income) fell 17.1 percent under Giuliani, while it rose 10.8 percent under Romney.

On Giuliani’s watch, real, per-capita spending declined 0.9 percent. He shrank Gotham’s government and produced a $2.9 billion budget surplus, largely through spending reductions and higher revenues generated by accelerated economic growth that his tax cuts triggered.

Likewise, Giuliani unleashed an employment machine. He helped private-sector payrolls soar 15.2 percent (vs. Romney’s 0.5 percent) — great news for 411,600 job seekers. Moving 58 percent of public-assistance recipients from welfare to work also benefited taxpayers. More important, this strengthened the character of the 643,348 people who underwent this transformation.

Giuliani’s proposed optional, one-page tax return collapses today’s six rates (up to 35 percent) into three: 10 percent, 15 percent and 30 percent. This significantly would lower everyone’s taxes. A family of four earning $80,000 would enjoy a 24 percent tax cut of $2,207. Single Americans making $35,000 would save 13 percent on their taxes.

Giuliani also would index and eventually excise the alternative minimum tax and electrify the economy by chopping corporate taxes from 35 percent to 25 percent, and capital gains taxes from 15 percent to 10 percent.

How swiftly will America travel the road ahead? GOP voters will help decide — by lighting that path red, yellow or green.

___________________________________________________________________________________

New York commentator Deroy Murdock is a columnist with the Scripps Howard News Service and a media fellow with the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace at Stanford University.

Interesting perspective from Jeffery Anderson over at Townhall.com:

Thompson Supporters Should Back Giuliani

Even with their candidate out of the race, Fred Thompson’s supporters can make a big impact in Florida. They should do so by supporting Rudy Giuliani.

More than any other candidate, Rudy matches Thompson’s conservative credentials in the three most important areas: he offers a conservative economic policy, an explicit promise to nominate only “strict constructionist” judges, and a strong dedication to national security. On the economy, social issues, and defense, a Giuliani presidency will take the nation in a clearly conservative direction—and he can actually beat Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama in November. With a win—or a strong showing—in Florida, Rudy will be positioned to do very well on Super Tuesday a week later, when New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and California (all strong states for Rudy) all vote. And Thompson supporters can greatly enhance Rudy’s chances in Florida.

It may be surprising to think of Giuliani as the candidate who is closest to Thompson, given their disagreement over abortion. But the Supreme Court long ago took this issue out of representative legislatures’ hands—in a plainly unconstitutional ruling. So a candidate’s position on this issue is now dwarfed in importance by his commitment to appointing judges who will abide by the Constitution and thereby return this issues to legislatures. And Rudy, more than John McCain or Mitt Romney, has firmly committed to appointing law-abiding judges. That is why prudent, pro-life conservatives, like Dennis Prager, have endorsed Rudy.

For all of his noble qualities and his commitment to reform, McCain is a maverick whose breaks from conservatives—on campaign finance, illegal immigration, etc.—are almost always in a left-leaning direction. No Thompson supporter could truly feel confident about the judicial nominees McCain would present to his former Senate colleagues. Romney is less of a maverick than McCain, but he is every bit as unpredictable. Without being unfair, one thing that can surely be said about Romney is this: one can rarely quite pin down what he thinks or what he’ll do. Giuliani, meanwhile, is committed to nominating a particular type of judge—the law-abiding rather than the law-making kind—and Rudy is a man true to his word. If he weren’t, he would have changed his position on abortion before the campaign.

On national security, no one can question Rudy’s credentials. No one can question his proven record of executive leadership in arguably the second-toughest executive position in America—a city whose metropolitan-area population is greater than all but three states (New York included). Rudy took on crime, he took on Democrats, and he transformed a crime-ridden metropolis into the safest large city in America. His record of successful executive leadership is something no other candidate can match. George Will called his tenure in New York “the most successful episode of conservative governance in the past 50 years.”

On the economy, there can be no doubt Rudy is the most conservative candidate. In New York, he consistently cut taxes and balanced budgets. Romney raised taxes 8% during the span of his tenure in Massachusetts,[1] imposed a government-mandated healthcare plan, and received a “C” from the small-government-minded Cato Institute. McCain voted against the recent Bush tax cuts, and he seems to have a limited commitment to limited government. Mike Huckabee increased taxes 19% during the span of his tenure in Arkansas, increased spending 65%—more than Bill Clinton did—and received an “F” from Cato.[2]

On the other hand, Rudy’s tax cut would be the largest in American history. His Fair and Simple Tax (FAST) form—similar to Thompson’s proposal—would allow Americans to complete their taxes on one page. He would cut corporate taxes from 35% to 25%, capital gains from 15% to 10%, and allow tax-free private savings accounts for general savings, retirement, education, and access to affordable, portable, private healthcare.

Rudy was recently praised by the Wall Street Journal, which asserted that he and Thompson have proposed the best tax plans and are the best “at explaining how taxes affect the economy.”[3] Steve Forbes writes that, “With Fred Thompson now having dropped out…there can no longer be any question which candidate is offering the best tax plan.”[4] Americans for Tax Reform president Grover Nordquist calls Rudy’s plan “a monumental leap forward for the American taxpayer and the U.S. economy,” and the Club for Growth calls it “a bold and innovative proposal that will…promote economic growth for Americans across the economic spectrum.”[5]

There’s a reason the New York Times, the nation’s liberal paper of record, just eschewed Giuliani and endorsed McCain. The Times could instead have endorsed Romney, but the Times, like everyone else, presumably can’t really tell where Romney stands. So they decided to go with the candidate who sometimes breaks with conservatives, rather than the one who consistently avoids taking positions. (If a candidate is to be characterized by slipperiness, the Times prefers that the candidate be named Clinton.) Thompson’s supporters should migrate to the man the Times wants nothing to do with, the man who ran New York as a conservative, is true to his word, and will clearly lead America in a conservative direction on social, defense, and economic issues: Rudy Giuliani.

I want to lift an item from this evening’s “Essential Reads” and highlight it:

Rudy: Demise rumors are ‘premature’

ORLANDO — Rudy Giuliani has a message for those who doubt his floundering presidential campaign can survive.
“The rumors of my demise are premature,” Giuliani told USA TODAY, paraphrasing Mark Twain’s famous line.

Public opinion polls here show Giuliani, who has staked his White House bid on doing well in Florida, stuck well behind John McCain and Mitt Romney in Tuesday’s Republican primary.

The former New York City mayor said in an interview that he would “surprise people” by winning Florida and racing ahead to the de facto national primary on Feb. 5, known as Super Tuesday.

“If you win Florida, it’s the gateway to the Feb. 5 states,” Giuliani said, referring to his home state of New York and 21 other states that will vote in just over a week. “This is a question of momentum, right?”

Vanessa Acosta, a Miami lawyer who heard Giuliani speak before the Latin Builders Association, said she knows voters in the state who generally like him, but don’t understand why he didn’t compete harder in previous contests such as Iowa and New Hampshire.

“He lost his lead in Florida because he neglected the rest of the country,” Acosta said. “People get the fact you’ve got to win the rest of the country.”

Outside a Spanish restaurant in Sarasota, Darla Correll said she fears Giuliani’s slipping poll numbers are becoming self-fulfilling and that people may now vote against him because he’s seen as losing. Correll, a dental hygienist from Venice, said she supports Giuliani but doesn’t like polls because “they can sway people one way or another.”

Giuliani said he will keep making his case in what he considers to be a competitive three-man race. He plans to fly around the state Monday, following a bus tour of southeast Florida on Sunday.

“We’re going to win this election by getting the vote out,” Giuliani said Sunday outside of Paisano’s Gourmet Pizza in Port St. Lucie. “If we win here, we’re going to win the nomination.”

Port St. Lucie residents Irene and Michael McCambridge, two of the many transplanted New Yorkers the Giuliani team is counting on, expressed hope for their former mayor but are skeptical.

“He has a good chance, but I don’t know,” said Irene McCambridge, a retired secretary. “He has to work hard.’

Her husband, a former property manager in New York, said Giuliani needs a victory Tuesday. “He needs a jump start,” Michael McCambridge said.

Giuliani said he has no regrets about skipping the early nominating states, adding that Floridians are more receptive to his message of better security and lower taxes.

He also has tried to attract Florida votes with proposals for a one-page tax return form and a national insurance fund for catastrophic events like hurricanes.

On the stump, Giuliani says he is fighting back against “the pundits” and “the experts,” some of whom have already written his political obituary. “You’re the experts,” he told voters in Sarasota.

Giuliani said he sees “an opportunity” in the sniping between McCain and Romney, who have sparred over who can best deal with the economy and the war in Iraq. He pointed out that McCain says Romney doesn’t have enough national security experience, while Romney says McCain lacks experience with economic issues.

“I have experience with both,” said Giuliani, who won plaudits for lowering crime rates and improving New York’s economy — well before he made a national name for himself after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Giuliani said that “at some point” he can’t precisely recall, he and his advisers decided that Florida offered “the best opportunity” to make his play for the race. “It was better to concentrate on one big state and try to get our points across there,” he said.

Giulaini said he takes hope from the record pace of early voting here, which began Jan. 7.. He and his aides also noted that pollsters missed Hillary Rodham Clinton’s comeback win over Barack Obama in New Hampshire’s Democratic primary.

“So far, everything has been unorthodox about this election,” he said. “It hasn’t gone at all like people thought it would go, right?”

Still, Giuliani refused to call Florida a “must win.”

“I don’t think any candidate ever says that,” Giuliani said. “You evaluate where you are after it happens.”

I received news from someone on the ground with Rudy’s campaign last night who said that the internal polling for the campaign showed that within the previous 48 hours, Rudy took over first place, with Romney and McCain in a pitched battle for second; that Rudy’s level of support is secure, given the monumental success of identifying Rudy voters and getting them out to vote early; that internal polling in McCain’s camp confirmed the same; and that the commercial polls were flawed in one way or another. His victory will be carried on the shoulders of those early voters, so ignore the exit polling the networks will be drooling over Tuesday night. Whether this report is correct or not, we’ll know in about 48 hours, but there’s a greater confidence in Rudy’s campaign in Florida now than there was late last week.

The truth is that Rudy has been engaged in the campaign every day for almost a year now. The media spun that he “distanced” himself and receded into the background from IA through SC. To the contrary, Rudy was there, meeting with voters, campaigning, coming up with positions on the important issues facing the country. He was there if the media had been willing to cover him, but they’ve chosen to give him the “Bush” treatment…basically ignoring him in the hope that this will marginalize him. The media, being the lazy and biased SOBs they are, wanted to report on the horserace aspect of the campaign, and Rudy chose not to play their game. I’ll be sorely disappointed in Republican voters if they have been manipulated by the media in regard to this.

I trust on Tuesday the good people of Florida will pull the lever for Rudy, and will give the finger to the national media and their polls.

From today’s Herald Tribune:

When political experts break down the GOP primary election in Florida, they often talk about whether conservative voters will break for Mike Huckabee, John McCain or Mitt Romney.

But Bill McCollum, Florida’s Attorney General and a staunch conservative, said they should be also talking about Rudy Giuliani.

Though Giuliani is more moderate on social issues like abortion, “any other way he’s very conservative.” McCollum said his efforts to clean up New York City and his fiscal policies - namely cutting taxes and spending - are very much from conservative thinking.

If he wasn’t McCollum said he wouldn’t be pounding the pavement for Giuliani as he was on St. Armand’s Circle this morning where Giuliani was addressing a crowd of supporters.

McCollum is an anti-abortion Christian conservative who, while in Congress fought to keep an anti-abortion plank in the GOP platform and led the effort to impeach President Clinton in the 1990s.

Giuliani’s rally in Sarasota this morning was his second event in Sarasota in about 12 hours. Last night Giuliani was the keynote speaker at the Sarasota County Republican Party’s Lincoln Day fundraising dinner. Saturday was likely his last stop in the area before Tuesday’s primary election.

Being on St. Armand’s Circle, so close to the waterfront homes, Giuliani knew what issue to hit on to get the crowd revved up: a national catastrophe fund

He said the nation needs a national catastrophe fund “that will act as a back stop so people can get insurance,” he said. “The federal government needs to be there as a backstop.”

Here is an Op-Ed from today’s Tampa Tribune by Robert J. Natter, former Commander in Chief of the U. S. Atlantic Fleet and First Commander of U. S. Fleet Forces Command, on why Rudy is the best choice for POTUS:

As the former commander of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet, I have devoted my professional and personal life to the defense of our nation. From that perspective, I know the next president must be someone who can fulfill the role of commander-in-chief from the first day in office. That person is Rudy Giuliani.

Three unique qualities plainly set Giuliani apart: his executive experience, his proven record of leadership, and his understanding of where we need to go as a nation.

With many senators competing for the nation’s highest office, it’s easy to overlook the simple but crucial fact that the president of the United States is the nation’s chief executive.

Being mayor of New York City might well be the second-most demanding executive position in the country. Rudy Giuliani took office with a mandate to clean up the city, and that’s exactly what he did. His real-world experience in running a very complex city has prepared him better than any other candidate for the extraordinary responsibilities of commander-in-chief.

He has dealt extensively with the U.N., and he understands the necessity of reaching out to our allies and friends, strengthening partnerships, and developing new relationships. Yet, he also knows America is a sovereign nation, not subject to “global” rule.

He understands that if we sit back and wait for the terrorists, we won’t have to wait for long. This was plainly demonstrated by the attack on one of my Atlantic Fleet ships -the USS Cole - the Pentagon and the World Trade Center (twice).

He understands that threats beyond Iraq and Afghanistan - in the Middle East, in the Pacific Rim, from a resurgent Russian military - mandate that America be prepared.

He understands the danger of concentrating the Atlantic Fleet in a single location, and has advocated safely home-porting our nation’s newest aircraft carrier (the new U.S.S. George H.W. Bush), in Mayport, Fla.

From day one, he supported the successful surge in Iraq. Meanwhile, he understands that while promoting democracy is “the right long-term goal of U.S. policy,” it “cannot be achieved rapidly or sustained unless it is built on sound legal, institutional, and cultural foundations.”

The best preparation for executive responsibility is prior executive responsibility, and the best predictor of exemplary leadership is prior exemplary leadership. The best person to serve as our next commander-in-chief is Rudy Giuliani.

*Admiral Robert J. Natter, who is involved with Rudy Giuliani’s campaign, retired in December 2003 from the U. S. Navy after serving as the Commander in Chief of the U. S. Atlantic Fleet and as the first Commander of U. S. Fleet Forces Command.

What They’re Saying … About Mayor Giuliani