Mr. Peabody
12-12-2005, 10:29 AM
There's no way Republicans will allow a pro-choice candidate to get the nomination. He would be a good candidate though.
Giuliani in '08 might be an uphill battle against McCain
BY GLENN THRUSH
WASHINGTON BUREAU
December 10, 2005, 10:26 PM EST
WASHINGTON -- Rudy Giuliani and John McCain are the top-polling Republican rivals for the White House in 2008, but the two dinner buddies avoid talking about that topic when sharing tortellini and bresaola at Giuliani's favorite Manhattan bistros.
Their latest get-together took place on Nov. 1 at Elio's, an Upper East Side eatery known for its $30 veal chops. They shared a table with McCain confidante Mark Salter, Giuliani's wife Judith and his aide-de-camp Tony Carbonetti. McCain and Giuliani reportedly chatted about the food, sports and Iraq -- everything but 2008.
The same can't be said for the Arizona senator's operatives, who are girding for a clash between the two titans even though Giuliani could be a year away from making a decision. Some even predict the Straight Talk Express will roll over America's Mayor if it comes down to McCain vs. Giuliani.
"I think Rudy would make an attractive secretary of state or secretary of defense in a McCain administration," Marshall Wittmann, a former McCain aide who is still close to the senator, says with a slightly malevolent laugh.
Wittmann is just one of many McCainiacs questioning the viability of a Giuliani candidacy if the ex-mayor decides to put his lucrative business on the back burner and run. They argue that the former mayor's liberal positions on abortion (he favors abortion rights), guns (he's for strict controls) and gay rights (he drew heat from conservatives for once living with a gay couple and implemented New York's landmark domestic partnership law) put him far to the left of McCain and most GOP primary voters.
"In my humble opinion, Rudy wouldn't get out of the gate," said longtime McCain strategist John Dennehy, who helped engineer the Arizona senator's victorious 2000 primary in New Hampshire.
No hostility
There's no schism between the two men, who bonded in 2000, when Giuliani supported McCain's presidential bid and McCain backed Giuliani's abortive Senate run against Hillary Rodham Clinton. Many top advisers to both, including Carbonetti and McCain's New York-based political guru John Weaver, maintain friendly personal relationships.
Still, McCain's camp has good reason to set its sights on the former mayor: He's currently the senator's most serious threat in the 2008 primaries.
Last month, a nationwide Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll showed Giuliani beating McCain, 34 percent to 31 percent, in the GOP primary. And 20 percent of Republicans polled said they wouldn't vote for the senator under any circumstances, with only 8 percent of voters expressing similar distaste for Giuliani.
"It does seem possible these two guys are headed for some kind of a showdown," said Chuck Yob, a Republican national committeeman from Michigan who maintains a good relationship with both camps.
McCain has steadily expanded a national team of hundreds of political professionals and volunteers. While Giuliani's admirers number in the millions, his organization could fit comfortably into a minivan. His advisers include Carbonetti, a former City Hall chief of staff; longtime friends Peter Powers and Dennison Young; former city Corporation Counsel Michael Hess; and, on occasion, GOP consultant Frank Luntz.
In a bid to pick up President George W. Bush supporters, McCain's backers have been casting him as the president's conservative heir-apparent in key primary states like Michigan, New Hampshire and South Carolina, where the senator suffered his most bitter primary defeat.
The senator's aides underscore the fact he's a pro-gun, anti-abortion conservative who gets an 83 out of 100 rating from the Christian Coalition, even after criticizing the role evangelical Christians played in Bush's 2000 campaign.
Abortion issue a key
McCain supporters think it would only be a matter of time before GOP voters realize Giuliani is to the left of their candidate.
"John and Rudy will never, ever attack each other," added Wittmann, a registered independent who now works for the Democratic Leadership Council's policy arm. "But the difficulty for Rudy, and it's huge, is that he's pro-choice, and Republican primary voters will never pick anybody who doesn't oppose abortion -- period."
So far, Giuliani hasn't shown signs of running; in October, he told reporters it would be a "couple years" before he made up his mind.
"The mayor has been very busy working in his business, and starting up his new law firm, Bracewell Giuliani," said Sunny Mindel, Giuliani's spokeswoman.
But McCain's people are keeping up a wary watch, even monitoring how many minutes of network airtime Giuliani gets compared with their man. They routinely tap their contacts around the country for upticks in Giuliani's activity, sources said.
Recently, there have been signs of political re-awakening for Giuliani. In November, he met with some GOP leaders during a business trip to Michigan, a battleground state that McCain won in 2000. And the former mayor plans to host a $5,000-a-head fundraiser at Manhattan's Club Havana tomorrow to help out seven GOP members of Congress in Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Louisiana and Indiana.
(Giuliani was invited to a recent New York fundraiser for McCain's Straight Talk America PAC but couldn't attend. It's not clear if McCain has been invited to Giuliani's event.)
People who have talked to the former mayor said he seems genuinely ambivalent about a presidential run and was chastened by the harsh public scrutiny that doomed his former Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik's bid to become Homeland Security secretary last year.
"Does he really want to go through that, too?" said a person close to Giuliani's camp. "My gut tells me he's not going to run."
Copyright 2005 Newsday Inc.
Giuliani in '08 might be an uphill battle against McCain
BY GLENN THRUSH
WASHINGTON BUREAU
December 10, 2005, 10:26 PM EST
WASHINGTON -- Rudy Giuliani and John McCain are the top-polling Republican rivals for the White House in 2008, but the two dinner buddies avoid talking about that topic when sharing tortellini and bresaola at Giuliani's favorite Manhattan bistros.
Their latest get-together took place on Nov. 1 at Elio's, an Upper East Side eatery known for its $30 veal chops. They shared a table with McCain confidante Mark Salter, Giuliani's wife Judith and his aide-de-camp Tony Carbonetti. McCain and Giuliani reportedly chatted about the food, sports and Iraq -- everything but 2008.
The same can't be said for the Arizona senator's operatives, who are girding for a clash between the two titans even though Giuliani could be a year away from making a decision. Some even predict the Straight Talk Express will roll over America's Mayor if it comes down to McCain vs. Giuliani.
"I think Rudy would make an attractive secretary of state or secretary of defense in a McCain administration," Marshall Wittmann, a former McCain aide who is still close to the senator, says with a slightly malevolent laugh.
Wittmann is just one of many McCainiacs questioning the viability of a Giuliani candidacy if the ex-mayor decides to put his lucrative business on the back burner and run. They argue that the former mayor's liberal positions on abortion (he favors abortion rights), guns (he's for strict controls) and gay rights (he drew heat from conservatives for once living with a gay couple and implemented New York's landmark domestic partnership law) put him far to the left of McCain and most GOP primary voters.
"In my humble opinion, Rudy wouldn't get out of the gate," said longtime McCain strategist John Dennehy, who helped engineer the Arizona senator's victorious 2000 primary in New Hampshire.
No hostility
There's no schism between the two men, who bonded in 2000, when Giuliani supported McCain's presidential bid and McCain backed Giuliani's abortive Senate run against Hillary Rodham Clinton. Many top advisers to both, including Carbonetti and McCain's New York-based political guru John Weaver, maintain friendly personal relationships.
Still, McCain's camp has good reason to set its sights on the former mayor: He's currently the senator's most serious threat in the 2008 primaries.
Last month, a nationwide Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll showed Giuliani beating McCain, 34 percent to 31 percent, in the GOP primary. And 20 percent of Republicans polled said they wouldn't vote for the senator under any circumstances, with only 8 percent of voters expressing similar distaste for Giuliani.
"It does seem possible these two guys are headed for some kind of a showdown," said Chuck Yob, a Republican national committeeman from Michigan who maintains a good relationship with both camps.
McCain has steadily expanded a national team of hundreds of political professionals and volunteers. While Giuliani's admirers number in the millions, his organization could fit comfortably into a minivan. His advisers include Carbonetti, a former City Hall chief of staff; longtime friends Peter Powers and Dennison Young; former city Corporation Counsel Michael Hess; and, on occasion, GOP consultant Frank Luntz.
In a bid to pick up President George W. Bush supporters, McCain's backers have been casting him as the president's conservative heir-apparent in key primary states like Michigan, New Hampshire and South Carolina, where the senator suffered his most bitter primary defeat.
The senator's aides underscore the fact he's a pro-gun, anti-abortion conservative who gets an 83 out of 100 rating from the Christian Coalition, even after criticizing the role evangelical Christians played in Bush's 2000 campaign.
Abortion issue a key
McCain supporters think it would only be a matter of time before GOP voters realize Giuliani is to the left of their candidate.
"John and Rudy will never, ever attack each other," added Wittmann, a registered independent who now works for the Democratic Leadership Council's policy arm. "But the difficulty for Rudy, and it's huge, is that he's pro-choice, and Republican primary voters will never pick anybody who doesn't oppose abortion -- period."
So far, Giuliani hasn't shown signs of running; in October, he told reporters it would be a "couple years" before he made up his mind.
"The mayor has been very busy working in his business, and starting up his new law firm, Bracewell Giuliani," said Sunny Mindel, Giuliani's spokeswoman.
But McCain's people are keeping up a wary watch, even monitoring how many minutes of network airtime Giuliani gets compared with their man. They routinely tap their contacts around the country for upticks in Giuliani's activity, sources said.
Recently, there have been signs of political re-awakening for Giuliani. In November, he met with some GOP leaders during a business trip to Michigan, a battleground state that McCain won in 2000. And the former mayor plans to host a $5,000-a-head fundraiser at Manhattan's Club Havana tomorrow to help out seven GOP members of Congress in Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Louisiana and Indiana.
(Giuliani was invited to a recent New York fundraiser for McCain's Straight Talk America PAC but couldn't attend. It's not clear if McCain has been invited to Giuliani's event.)
People who have talked to the former mayor said he seems genuinely ambivalent about a presidential run and was chastened by the harsh public scrutiny that doomed his former Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik's bid to become Homeland Security secretary last year.
"Does he really want to go through that, too?" said a person close to Giuliani's camp. "My gut tells me he's not going to run."
Copyright 2005 Newsday Inc.