I said it before and I will say it again; I like Rudy Giuliani. He is just not my first, second or third choice for president.
For what it's worth (at the end of the day - 1 vote), I have endorsed Fred Thompson. Now the press has been trying to label Fred as 'lazy'. That's strange considering that Fred has racked up more delegates than Rudy so far. I believe party because Rudy has not fought for any that have been up for grabs so far:
With Rudy Giuliani finishing a poor fifth in Iowa and figuring to be no better than third in New Hampshire, his campaign is telling Republicans to be patient and wait for the former mayor of New York to win in California, New York and New Jersey on Feb. 5.Those three states will send 326 delegates to the Republican conventions, compared to 232 delegates from all the states voting prior to Feb. 5. Thus, Giuliani could get back in the race by grabbing a big share of the California-New York-New Jersey jackpot.The question is whether Giuliani will be viable on Feb. 5 if he fails to win a primary before then. His best chance for an early win will be in Florida on Jan. 29. - Robert Novak, Townhall
So in effect Rudy is only bothering to campaign in the states with the largest population and in effect saying F-U to the rest. This kind of validates my problem with Rudy concerning gun rights as the states he is concentrating on are less receptive to gun ownership rights.
This is not necessarily Rudy being lazy. He probably decided that he does not need the votes of the smaller states and just won't bother with them during the nomination process. Oddly enough, the electoral system that we use to elect a president was created to limit the possibility of candidates being able to ignore rural areas with small populations and just campaign in the major cities. This is the system that elects a president who does not receive the most votes overall.
That system works pretty well for the general election where some small states can be won by either a Republican or Democrat and every vote is needed because some states will go to one party or the other no matter who is running. However, for the primaries, every state has points up for grabs for each party. If Rudy is nominated, it is highly likely that those states that are most responsible for his nomination will end up voting for the Democratic challenger, like his home state of New York and New Jersey. However, points are points and for now Rudy is concentrating on the states with larger populations to take advantage of votes that will not be available to him in the general election.
For the moment, Rudy does not have to listen to the rest of us. Of course, he will have to try and win over enough of the city voters to win the general election, so he will need to hold positions they approve of. These positions are normally not very popular in the rest of the country, which just might be the very reason Rudy has been avoiding the smaller contests, so as to avoid having to expose his true positions prior to being nominated, at which point he will have all our votes, because the only other choice will be a Democrat with positions even further to the left of him. This is similar to how Hilary had been running her campaign, except for the fact that she started with the first race and was called out for not taking straight positions on anything. So, for the moment, it seems that Rudy has made a good move for himself. That just does not mean it is a good move for the rest of us. Rudy did have his questionable position on amnesty for illegal aliens shoved back at him last night. (Thanks Fred for getting Rudy to confirming my belief that he would not do anything about illegals but redefine what an illegal was.)
That system works pretty well for the general election where some small states can be won by either a Republican or Democrat and every vote is needed because some states will go to one party or the other no matter who is running. However, for the primaries, every state has points up for grabs for each party. If Rudy is nominated, it is highly likely that those states that are most responsible for his nomination will end up voting for the Democratic challenger, like his home state of New York and New Jersey. However, points are points and for now Rudy is concentrating on the states with larger populations to take advantage of votes that will not be available to him in the general election.
For the moment, Rudy does not have to listen to the rest of us. Of course, he will have to try and win over enough of the city voters to win the general election, so he will need to hold positions they approve of. These positions are normally not very popular in the rest of the country, which just might be the very reason Rudy has been avoiding the smaller contests, so as to avoid having to expose his true positions prior to being nominated, at which point he will have all our votes, because the only other choice will be a Democrat with positions even further to the left of him. This is similar to how Hilary had been running her campaign, except for the fact that she started with the first race and was called out for not taking straight positions on anything. So, for the moment, it seems that Rudy has made a good move for himself. That just does not mean it is a good move for the rest of us. Rudy did have his questionable position on amnesty for illegal aliens shoved back at him last night. (Thanks Fred for getting Rudy to confirming my belief that he would not do anything about illegals but redefine what an illegal was.)
A President ideally should appeal to all people. Of course this is not possible in a country of 300+ million people. However, it looks like Rudy isn't even trying. That is a shame, because as the former Mayor of New York, he probably has the most experience at doing so. This is a good enough reason to label Rudy as being lazy.
There is only one reason to have Rudy as the Republican nominee; His ability to win New York State. At the moment, I have not seen this as a realistic possibility. So if New Yorkers won't vote for Rudy, why should I?
There is only one reason to have Rudy as the Republican nominee; His ability to win New York State. At the moment, I have not seen this as a realistic possibility. So if New Yorkers won't vote for Rudy, why should I?
Giuliani 2008 - 24 Aug 07
My thoughts on amnesty for illegal aliens can be found here.
No comments:
Post a Comment