Rudy Heads South

[jlmadyson]

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Political pundits have long discounted former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani's presidential prospects, claiming that his particular brand of tough-talking, socially moderate conservatism would never play south of the Mason-Dixon Line. But Rudy has never been one to listen to conventional wisdom, and lately at least, he has been turning up the heat in southern conservative political circles. In just the last week, he endorsed Texas Republican Gov. Rick Perry for re-election and met with Evangelicals in Florida. Most impressively, he actually outpaced U.S. Senator John McCain in a just-released Georgia poll, garnering the support of 28 percent of Georgia Republicans to McCain's 22 percent, echoing numbers in December's CNN/USA Today/Gallup nationwide poll. The conservative blog, RightWingNews reported last week that while Condoleezza Rice was the top choice of 230 conservative bloggers for the Republican nomination, Giuliani came in second, beating out U.S. Senator George Allen and Newt Gingrich. Nationwide, Rudy earned a 63 percent favorable rating in a Pew Research Center poll in October. In addition to supporting Perry, Giuliani has planted a Texas-sized footstep in the Lone Star State?now with three more Electoral College votes than New York. Last spring, he became a name partner in a Houston law firm, Bracewell and Giuliani, noted for its Bush connections and roster of major energy clients.

These are somewhat surprising numbers with Rudy ahead of McCain in Georgia. I?m thinking McCain will not be able to gain the support he needs if he runs in 08. Personally I would like to see Allen take the ticket, but I'm not so certain I could see him win, maybe though. I believe Rudy has enough support that he might be able to take the ticket although he still has his work cut out for him, especially in the south. If he keeps working the south we may see his support go up over the next two years in key primaries. On the other hand, I believe he could definitely win on the national scale. If the Democrat candidate is the likes of Hillary Clinton I think I would support Ralph Nader for the ticket. Although her presidential numbers from the latest Zogby poll were dismal.