Giuliani Tracker

McCain: Giuliani Deservedly Popular

Arizona Sen. John McCain says Republican rival Rudy Giuliani is deservedly popular because of his efforts on 9/11, but that it will take more than that to defeat Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton and win the presidency.

 

McCain attributed Giuliani's standing atop the GOP field to the fact that he is so recognized from Sept. 11, 2001.

"I think because he is deservedly a popular individual who was -- his performance after 9/11 was very excellent, and he rallied the country," McCain said, adding that he had praised McCain's performance and even accompanied him to the World Series when the Arizona Diamondbacks defeated the Yankees.

But McCain, without naming Giuliani, expressed doubt that a candidate with his views would become the GOP nominee. McCain contended the former New York mayor is out of step with the party's conservative wing because he supports abortion and gay rights and gun control.

"I'm hoping that whoever is the nominee of our party, that we will support that nominee," McCain said on ABC's "This Week." "But it's hard for me to imagine that someone who holds the views on some of these issues and a record of it, would be at the end of the day the nominee of the party."

McCain emphasized his "consistent, conservative, reliable record" and said he is the most likely to be able to defeat Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., in a general election.

About his own campaign, which at one point had appeared doomed, McCain dismissed talk that he doesn't have enough money to stay competitive.

"I have never won a campaign on money," he said, pointing to his defeat of President Bush in the New Hampshire primary in 2000 despite being outspent.

McCain praised that state and Iowa for being places where voters insist on getting up close and personal with the candidates.

"It's good for America, but it's also very good for my campaign. And I see increased enthusiasm," he said. "I see increasing support, and I think we're going to do very well. And whatever we do, I think we'll have enough money to be competitive."

Pumpkins and Politics for Giuliani

Pumpkins, Halloween rings and politics were on Judith Giuliani's hands Sunday as she campaigned in New Hampshire with her husband, presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani.

 

The former New York mayor and his wife, Judith, stopped by a roadside farm stand on Sunday, buying some pumpkins and candied apples. Wandering through Lull's Farms, Giuliani and his wife picked up decorative pumpkins and compared their shapes with her walnut-sized, orange jack-o-lantern ring.

"Pick one that's shaped like my ring," she told her husband and they dug through crates of dirt-caked pumpkins.

Judith Giuliani later returned to her ring while standing in line to check out.

"You like my pumpkin ring?" Judith Giuliani asked a young girl. "When you push it, it lights up. But I think the battery is dead by now."

Her husband, playing along, told the young girl that Judith was lucky they were already married.

"If we weren't already engaged, I'd say it was the engagement ring," Giuliani said, looking away from a display of fruit salsas and flashing a broad smile.

A voter then ribbed the thrice-married Giuliani and shouted "Again?" in a mocking tone.

The couple seemed not to hear the comment and moved ahead in line.

Giuliani then questioned the clerk about the price for his $26.79 in goods.

"You get the salsa?" Giuliani said, who paid with a $50 bill. "You get the grapes?"

The couple also posed for a picture with a giant pumpkin, painted with Giuliani's face.

"I feel like I know him much better know," said Paula Lalime Marrois, who painted the gourd and calls herself a Giuliani supporter. "I looked at all the details of his face."

The retail stop came between a town hall-style event in Peterborough and a house party in Amherst. Giuliani planned to campaign in the key early voting state on Monday, scheduling a town hall and a round-table on health care.

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Compiled by Philip Elliott.

N.J. Poll: Clinton Widens Lead Over Democrats, Beats Giuliani

THE RACE: The presidential primary for Democrats, Republicans in New Jersey.

THE NUMBERS - DEMOCRATS

Hillary Rodham Clinton, 52 percent

Barack Obama, 21 percent

John Edwards, 8 percent

Joe Biden, 3 percent

Dennis Kucinich, 1 percent

Bill Richardson, 1 percent

THE NUMBERS - REPUBLICANS

Rudy Giuliani, 54 percent

John McCain, 12 percent

Fred Thompson, 6 percent

Mitt Romney, 6 percent

Mike Huckabee, 3 percent

Tom Tancredo, 2 percent

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OF INTEREST:

Giuliani's support among Republicans and those who identified themselves as Republican-leaning dropped 7 percent from a similar poll conducted in August. Clinton's support rose 7 percent among Democrats from the August poll. Clinton leads in a general election matchup between her and Giuliani, 49 percent to 39 percent. Her support among women is also climbing -- she leads Giuliani by 18 points among women, compared with the 9-point lead she enjoyed in August. Sixty-eight percent of Clinton's supporters say they are very sure of their vote; 45 percent of Giuliani supporters say they are very sure, but more than half say they may change their minds before the Feb. 5 New Jersey primary.

'Red Sox' Rudy Gets Clobbered

MyFoxNY.com  --  Former mayor and perennial Yankee fan Rudy Giuliani said his support of the Red Sox is simply because he's an American League guy... but his statement didn't stop local tabloids and sports commentators from giving him a huge Bronx cheer. Now even other presidential candidates and politicians are weighing in... sort of.

WATCH THE REPORT

Mob Bosses Discussed Killing Giuliani in 1986

NEW YORK (AP) -- The bosses of New York's five Mafia families discussed killing Rudy Giuliani in 1986 when he was a mob-busting federal prosecutor, according to testimony Wednesday in the murder trial of a former FBI agent.

The details about the plot -- which never took shape -- were given to ex-FBI agent Roy Lindley DeVecchio by the late Gregory Scarpa Sr., a capo-turned-informant, according to the testimony of FBI agent William Bolinder. DeVecchio is accused of forming an illicit alliance with Scarpa that lead to at least four slayings. He has denied the allegations.

Before Giuliani became mayor of New York, he had a track record of high-profile mob prosecutions. In 1986 -- the same year the mobsters purportedly discussed the hit -- Giuliani indicted the heads of the five families in the so-called "Commission" trial.  Giuliani is now a GOP presidential hopeful.

In testimony Wednesday, Bolinder said that DeVecchio's 1987 debriefing report stated Scarpa told him the late Gambino crime boss John Gotti was for ordering the hit, and had the support of the leader of the Colombo crime family, but the heads of the Bonanno, Lucchese and Genovese groups were against the idea, and it never materialized.

Scarpa had a colorful history, and it wouldn't be the first time that outlandish stories followed him: He purportedly helped the FBI solve the 1964 murders of three civil-rights workers in Mississippi by strong-arming a Ku Klux Klan member.

DeVecchio, 66, has pleaded not guilty in state Supreme Court in Brooklyn to four counts of murder in what prosecutors have billed as one of the worst law enforcement corruption cases in U.S. history. At his request, the trial is being heard by a judge and not a jury.

Prosecutors say Scarpa showered DeVecchio with cash, stolen jewelry, liquor -- and even prostitutes -- in exchange for confidential information, according to an indictment. Scarpa used the inside tips about the identities and whereabouts of suspected rats and rivals to rub out at least four victims in the late 1980s and early 1990s, authorities said.

Information from: Newsday, http://www.newsday.com

Giuliani Keeps Conservative Nature Vague

(AP) -- Republican Rudy Giuliani declined Tuesday to tell a voter where he agrees and disagrees with conservative members of his party, saying it's about more than "just an ideology."

 

The former New York City mayor, who has made conservative Republicans nervous with some of his more liberal views -- his support of abortion rights and gun control, for example -- was asked pointedly at a town-hall-style meeting to outline where his views align with conservatives.

Giuliani chuckled, took a deep breath and then told the questioner it was up to him to figure that out.

"And I ask you to consider doing that, not as a conservative Republican, or as a right-wing something or a left-wing something or a middle-wing something or a tailback," Giuliani said. "Why don't you try doing it as an American voter? Figure out what you agree with and disagree with."

The voter, Peter Sajko, nodded politely as Giuliani went on, describing his record as mayor of New York City, where crime declined and unemployment went down.

"To try to analyze it from the point of view of just an ideology -- a few people do that, but basically my hero was Ronald Reagan, and Ronald Reagan used to say 'My 80 percent friend is not my 20 percent enemy,'" Giuliani said.

Sajko, a 55-year-old registered Republican, said afterward he was not satisfied with the response.

"I think it was 'Let's dodge the bullet here, let's not deal with specifics but let's bring up Ronald Reagan and appeal to the charisma and nostalgia for Ronald Reagan and let's carry it over to Rudy Giuliani,'" Sajko said.

Giuliani also had used the Reagan quote last weekend when he appealed for support at a conference of religious conservatives in Washington.

He offered that group assurances that despite his support for abortion rights, he would seek to lower the number of abortions. He pledged that if elected, he would appoint conservative judges, support school choice and insist on victory in Iraq.

On Tuesday, Giuliani spoke to about 200 employees at the Concord offices of Lincoln Financial Group, a financial services company. Later, he held another question-and-answer session with about 150 people in a high school gymnasium in Lebanon, N.H.

One woman, who pledged her support for him, stood up to tell him she wanted to hear him say the word "choice" when talking about abortion, and he did.

He gave his oft-used explanation: that he personally opposes abortion but does not believe the government should dictate the right.

"I can be against it, I can make the choice differently -- I would -- I can urge someone to make it differently, but as a legal matter, I would leave it" to the individual, he said.

Earlier Tuesday, he filed his official candidacy papers for the state's primary.

Giuliani was greeted at the Statehouse by Secretary of State William Gardner, who is accepting filings during a three-week period that ends Nov. 2.

Gardner has not yet set the date for the state's primary, and said last week he would not do so until after the filing period for candidates to get on the ballot. With states jockeying for earlier and earlier positions, New Hampshire's primary could end up being in 2007.

After filing his papers at the Statehouse, Giuliani ticked off his accomplishments as mayor, including his administration's 1995 zoning law that effectively closed adult entertainment shops or pushed them to the edges of many neighborhoods.

It is a part of his resume that he has been noting more frequently lately, and on Tuesday he suggested he alone cleaned up New York City's smutty reputation.

"I took a city that was known for pornography, and licked it, to a large extent," he said.

Red Sox Rudy

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani is perhaps the most visible Yankee fan in the country. So when during a campaign stop in Boston he proclaimed his support for the Red Sox in the World Series, he sure raised some eyebrows. Giuliani assured skeptics that he wasn't pandering for votes, just choosing to support the American League team.

WATCH THE REPORT

Giuliani Tries to Assure Conservatives

Rudy Giuliani tried to find peace with a restless bloc of the Republican Party Saturday, telling religious conservatives not to fear him for his stand on issues such as abortion or expect he would change purely for political advantage.

 

The GOP presidential candidate sought common ground with his audience by casting himself as an imperfect man who has asked for guidance through prayer.

He offered assurances that despite his support for abortion rights, he would seek to lower the number of abortions. He pledged that if elected, he would appoint conservative judges, support school choice and insist on victory in Iraq -- all issues important to the audience at the Values Voter Summit.

In a 40-minute speech received with polite applause, the former New York mayor invoked, as he often does, Ronald Reagan's admonition that "my 80 percent friend is not my 20 percent enemy."

"My belief in God and reliance on his guidance is at the core of who I am, I can assure you of that," Giuliani said. "But isn't it better for me to tell you what I believe rather than change my positions to fit the prevailing wind?"

It was among his better received lines.

But his reception was in stark contrast to the ovations for former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a one-time Baptist preacher who is a sentimental favorite of many religious conservatives.

Huckabee mixed humor, biblical references and the rhythms of a man used to the pulpit as he implored the crowd to put values above politics and not make expedient decisions.

He called for a constitutional amendment declaring marriage to be between a man and a woman and decried the "holocaust of liberalized abortion."

"We do not have the right to move the standards of God to meet cultural norms. We need to move the cultural norms to meet God's standards," he said, bringing the crowd to its feet.

Giuliani and Huckabee followed a series of speeches Friday by the rest of the Republican presidential field, all of them vying for the support of conservative religious voters, who have a tradition of influence in elections.

In a straw poll of "values voters" conducted online and at the conference by the sponsoring Family Research Council, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney came in first with 1,595 votes, followed closely by Huckabee with 1,565. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas was third with 865 and former Sen. Fred Thompson had 564. The conservative advocacy group did not immediately release vote tallies for other candidates.

For Giuliani, his speech was an important milestone in his search for the Republican presidential nomination. Giuliani supports abortion rights and has moderate views on immigration and gay rights. Married three times and distanced from his son and daughter, Giuliani made a rare reference to his personal troubles.

"You and I know that I'm not a perfect person," he said. "I've made mistakes in my life, but I've always done the best that I could to learn form them."

His front-runner status in the crowded GOP 2008 field has dismayed some social conservative leaders. Some even have contemplated mounting a third-party candidacy if Giuliani is the Republican nominee.

"People of good conscience reach different conclusions about whether abortions should be legal in certain circumstances," he said while vowing to increase adoptions.

"We may not always agree," he said. "I don't always agree with myself. But I will give you reason to trust me."

Giuliani did not mention the subject of gay marriage in his remarks. Gary Bauer, a Christian activist and former presidential candidate, said Giuliani should have addressed the issue. But, he added, Giuliani helped himself by offering assurances on other fronts.

Bauer has been among a group of religious conservative leaders who have contemplated a third-party candidacy if Giuliani emerges as the nominee. On Saturday, Bauer said such a move would be the equivalent of "political suicide."

Still, some conservatives planned to meet later Saturday to continue their discussion.

Some at the conference said Giuliani had helped himself by giving reason for social conservatives to vote for him in a general election even though they might not support him in the primaries.

"He comforted a lot of conservatives," said Bob Kilbanks, an anti-abortion Republican and former congressional candidate in Pennsylvania. "It would be against my conscience to vote for him, but I think he would get a lot of conservative votes and he would come as near to protect life without changing his views and values."

Giuliani has courted evangelicals and other religious conservatives by portraying himself as a strong leader who will confront terrorism with the same vigor he showed in tackling crime and decay in New York.

While acknowledging differences with his audience, he repeatedly cited his faith, noting he attended Catholic schools and even contemplated entering the seminary. He expressed support for social conservative touchstones such as school choice and made clear his opposition to the removal of religious icons and phrases from public places or public discourse.

Giuliani and Huckabee were the last of the White House hopefuls making their pitches this weekend at the conference.

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On the Net:

Family Research Council: http://www.frc.org

Rudy: No Tax Hike for Social Security

Republican presidential hopeful Fred Thompson suggested raising out-of-pocket costs for higher-income Medicare beneficiaries, and rival Rudy Giuliani ruled out a Social Security tax increase Wednesday in auditions for support from influential economic conservatives.

 

"I'm not going to support a tax increase for Social Security," added Mitt Romney, a third contender. The former Massachusetts governor said he saw some merit in raising the retirement age and in scaling back the benefits promised future retirees as part of a rescue plan for the government-run retirement program.

In separate appearances before the Club for Growth -- Giuliani and Thompson in person, Romney via satellite hookup -- the three called on Congress to cut the corporate tax rate. They also supported renewal of the tax cuts that have been passed since President Bush took office and are due to expire over the next several years.

"When you go back to the '20s, to the Kennedy administration, or the Reagan administration or this administration, you can always see that lower tax rates generates ... economic growth and generates prosperity for our country for our people," said Thompson.

With the first voting in White House campaign less than 100 days distant, Giuliani leads in the national polls for the Republican nomination, Romney runs strongly in surveys in the early-voting states and Thompson is a newcomer attempting to emerge as a true conservative.

The former Tennessee senator did not provide specifics of any plans to restrain the growth of Medicare, instead raising the issue by saying, "Can we stick with the same premiums and deductions for higher income recipients on Medicare?"

"All of these will be part of the discussion" when it comes time to overhaul the federal government's largest benefit programs, Medicare and Social Security, he said.

It was the second time in recent days that he has broached a potentially controversial subject.

Earlier, he said he supported changing Social Security so that future retirees receive smaller benefits than they have been promised.

Thompson and Giuliani both said they would appoint a bipartisan commission to recommend changes to Social Security. As did Romney, they also said they support private retirement accounts -- the element that caused Bush's ambitious overhaul plan to collapse in Congress in 2005.

The former New York mayor also said, "I would rule out a tax increase" to help shore up financing of the federal retirement program.

That was a modest shift from remarks in an Associated Press interview last month in which he said he opposed a tax increase yet would look at whatever proposals a commission presented him.

The earlier statement led to an exchange of letters between the campaign and the anti-tax group Club for Growth, whose political action committee has intervened forcefully in recent Republican primary elections on behalf of economic conservatives.

Giuliani's campaign sought to reassure the group that the former mayor opposed tax increases.

"In addition to opposing Social Security taxes, we hope Mayor Giuliani will go one very important step further and offer a detailed free-market proposal for reforming Social Security that includes personal savings accounts and returns choice and freedom to individual taxpayers," Pat Toomey, the club's president, responded by letter.

While Giuliani's campaign denied there was a change in position, the organization pointedly disagreed.

"While Giuliani has frequently stated his general opposition to taxes, he has never declared his opposition to raising Social Security taxes as unabashedly as he did today," the organization said in a written statement.

Giuliani did a mea culpa of sorts on a different issue, saying he had erred in originally supporting legislation that placed limits on campaign donations and political advertising.

"That turns out to be a big mistake," he said of the law that the Club For Growth has opposed.

While all three men courted favor from the conservative group, Thompson and Romney each differed with their hosts on different points.

The former Tennessee senator, an attorney, said he opposed federal legislation to limit the damages individuals can receive in lawsuits, saying the issue should be left to the states. Many conservatives favor such legislation.

On another issue, Romney said, "It makes more sense to adjust the minimum wage from time to time," in part so business can plan and in part to prevent Democrats from reaping political advantage from the issue.

He made his remarks after Toomey reminded him that some in the audience oppose the existence of a federal minimum wage.

Medicare and Social Security are the federal government's two biggest benefit programs, and both face daunting financial difficulties as the post-World War II baby boom generation reaches retirement age.

While Social Security is funded by a payroll tax, Medicare is financed by a blend of payroll taxes, general tax revenue and out-of-pocket payments such as premiums and deductibles.

According to the Medicare Web site, most beneficiaries will pay a monthly premium of $96.40 for out-of-hospital coverage in 2008, but the cost will be higher for individuals making more than $82,000 or couples earning more than $164,000.

Poll: Clinton Beats Giuliani in New Jersey

MyFoxNY.com -- Sen. Hillary Clinton enjoys very strong support among voters in the Tristate area when it comes to the 2008 presidential election. At the New Jersey polls, Clinton, a Democrat, would defeat  any of the major Republican contenders in the presidential election, according to a Fox TV / Rasmussen Reports poll released Monday.

Clinton, a U.S. senator from New York and the former First Lady, polls well against former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former senator from Tennessee Fred Thompson, Arizona Sen. John McCain, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

In each match-up, Clinton polls more than 50 percent, according to the survey of 500 likely voters from New Jersey. Against Giuliani, Clinton wins 51 percent to 40 percent. She edges Thompson with 53 percent of the vote to 35 percent. She defeats McCain 52 percent to 36 percent and she trounces Romney 55 percent to 31 percent.

                                    

The poor showing by these four Republicans could be tied to President Bush's dismal support in the Garden State. The poll showed 51 percent of voters surveyed rate Bush's performance as president as "poor." Nineteen percent said "fair," 15 percent "good" and 14 percent "excellent." More telling with this question is that voters had a definite rating -- 0 percent answered "not sure."

Other notable results from the poll showed that Gov. Jon Corzine, a Democrat and former colleague of Clinton's in the Senate, isn't enjoying strong support.  Thirty-three percent of voters rate his performance as "fair" and a full 30 percent responded "poor."

New Jersey voters also display an almost equal distrust of the two major political parties, perhaps reflecting ongoing and recent political scandals in the state involving arrests for corruption.

When asked which party would they trust more to reduce corruption in government, 33 percent said "Democrats," 29 percent said "Republicans" and 33 percent said "neither" -- that is a statistical tie. Similarly, Democrats and Republicans scored a virtual tie on the question of which party is trusted more to provide property tax relief. Republicans polled at 35 percent and Democrats at 34 percent.

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