Right Side of the Rainbow

Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani is the early leader in the race for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, according to Rasmussen.

Giuliani won the support of 24% of 1,050 Republicans and 203 unaffiliated voters who said they would vote in the GOP primary. U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-John McCain, touted by liberal media as the Republican frontrunner, came in third behind U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, a non-candidate.

The press adores John McCain, who in the service of his prodigious ego has stabbed the president and other Republicans — and Republican values — in the back. Old Media will try in the coming months to demoralize Republican regulars by claiming that McCain’s nomination is inevitable. This is false. In fact, the exact opposite is true. While it’s far too soon to say that Rudy will be the nominee, it’s not too soon to say that McCain won’t be.

I’ll stake my blog on it. I love my little blog, but if McCain ends up with the GOP nomination, I’ll shut this site down. I will have proven myself so disconnected from Republican sensibilities as to be undeserving to comment on them. That’s my “he-knows-what-he’s talking-about-or-he-shuts-up” guarantee. I expect to still be blogging in November 2008.

Rudy Giuliani is favored for the 2008 GOP presidential nomination by a plurality of Republican voters.

From the salons of elite opinion, we hear often that the GOP’s base will not tolerate Rudy’s views on social policy.* That’s wrong. But even were it right, it does not follow that Republicans will reward John McCain’s profound betrayals.

Relatedly, this from the Washington Post:

Republican Rudy Giuliani has assembled a group of high-powered business executives, including billionaire Texas oil mogul T. Boone Pickens, to raise money as the former New York City mayor weighs a full-blown presidential bid.

…

Other members of Giuliani’s finance committee include Barry Wynn, former chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party and the finance chair of Bush’s re-election campaign. The South Carolina primary is a key early contest in the presidential nominating process.

Another committee member is Tom Hicks, a Dallas billionaire and owner of the Texas Rangers baseball team.

…

Anne Dickerson, a veteran Bush fundraiser who has been attached to Giuliani’s political action committee, Solutions America, will be the committee’s national fundraising director.

Formidable, yes?

Deroy Murdock at Human Events:

With his exploratory committee now prospecting for 2008, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani leads the GOP’s White House hopefuls. His standing atop numerous polls remains unchallenged. Also, his recent endorsement by some former critics suggests that social conservatives who explore his record might embrace him as president of the United States.

Surveys consistently demonstrate that Giuliani, not Arizona Senator John McCain, is this race’s front-runner. It’s not even close.

…

“If we assume Rice is not running and allocate her votes,” says pollster Scott Rasmussen, “Giuliani would top McCain 32 percent to 22 percent in the November 4-7 study.”

…

“Giuliani has the highest net-favorable ratings of any candidate on whom we’ve been polling,” he says. “Giuliani’s higher than McCain and higher than Hillary Clinton. He’s even higher than Bill Clinton.”

Of a November 6 poll by Strategic Vision, a Republican firm, Murdock writes:

… Giuliani outran McCain by nine points in Georgia (33 percent to 24); 19 in Florida (46 percent to 27) and Washington State (42 percent to 23); 22 in New Jersey (47 percent to 25); and 23 points in Pennsylvania (47 percent to 24).

My fellow Giuliani Republicans: Do not bridle your enthusiasm. If our man runs, we can do this.

*A note of caution to both Giuliani’s supporters and detractors: We do not yet know whether and how Giuliani might “reframe” his positions on gun control, abortion and gay rights. (We do know that he highlights none of them.) But the notion that he’ll run as an unabashed social liberal is likely to be proven wrong.

By the way, on the question of gun control, I’m a social conservative. I own several firearms, I’m a member of the NRA and I hold a license to carry a handgun. And I support Rudy Giuliani.