Rudy Giuliani: A Proven Track Record On Spending

REAL CLEAR POLITICS

July 25, 2008

Rudy's Back! But Will He Run For Gov?

By Reid Wilson

Full article Reid Wilson RCP

Excerpts:

Mike Huckabee ended his presidential campaign and took a job with Fox News. Mitt Romney finished his bid to become a top surrogate for the candidate he hopes may entrust him with the number two spot on the GOP ticket. Fred Thompson has been low-key since ending his bid, though he will join a post-election cruise sponsored by National Review that's headed to the Carribean. But last week, one former Republican presidential candidate emerged from his post-race cocoon, and it's got some in the GOP buzzing that Rudy Giuliani may not be politically finished just yet.

Giuliani last week launched a new political action committee aimed at keeping his state's Senate in Republican hands, a task that may prove elusive. That news could not come at a better time for the beleagured Empire State GOP, which clings to a 31-30 majority along with a single open seat that leans Republican. But aside from saving the state legislature, Giuliani's move is also being seen as a possible prelude to a run for governor.

It's not the only effort Giuliani has made to increase his national profile in the past week. From escorting John McCain to a ballgame at Yankee Stadium this week to appearing on MSNBC's "Hardball" to meeting with a rising crop of House Republican leaders creating a new fundraising program themselves, Giuliani has emerged once again into the public spotlight of late.

Just the Facts #1: Mayor Giuliani’s Commitment to School Choice Yesterday

RUDY’S COMMITMENT TO SCHOOL CHOICE:

“I Will Provide Access To A Quality Education To Every Child In America By Giving Real School Choice To Parents.”

“We’re going to take the decision-making and we’re going to put it in the hands of the people who really know the children, really love the children, really care about the children, more than anyone else: the parents.”

- Mayor Rudy Giuliani

PROMOTE REAL SCHOOL CHOICE FOR AMERICAN STUDENTS

Establish Federal School Voucher Programs: Rudy proposes establishing a competitive grant process to fund new voucher programs for disadvantaged students—similar to the programs in Cleveland, Milwaukee and Washington, DC—that provide options for students trapped in failing schools.

Provide Choice Within The Disabilities Education Act: Rudy’s plan will allow states to use Federal IDEA funds to enable the families of special education students to seek out appropriate placement in both public and private schools.

Give Educational Options To Military Families: Rudy proposes establishing a pilot program to offer scholarships to children of all active-duty military personnel living on or off base to attend private schools or to pay for the costs of attending public schools to which they are not assigned. This is a critical concern for America’s military families because it affects reenlistment decisions.

Expand Charter School Options: Rudy commits to the expansion of charter schooling, equitable treatment for charter schools in funding and facilities, and efforts to ensure that local districts are not the sole chartering authorities.

The Rudy Giuliani Presidential Committee today announced that Bill McCoshen, former Campaign Manager and Chief of Staff for Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson, has endorsed Mayor Giuliani for President.

McCoshen will serve as Mayor Giuliani’s Wisconsin State Co-Chair.

“Mayor Giuliani has demonstrated the qualities Wisconsin voters are looking for in a leader,” said McCoshen.

“Rudy has the executive experience of leading the country’s largest city and the fiscal discipline that turned the City’s deficit into a surplus by cutting taxes and ending wasteful government spending.

He is a proven leader with a real record of results.”

“Bill knows Wisconsin politics as well as anyone, and we are pleased to have him on our team,” said Giuliani’s Deputy National Political Director Rick Wiley.

“Bill will help build our grassroots organization and increase our growing support throughout the state.”

Former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson serves as Rudy’s National Campaign Co-Chair.

McCoshen also joins Wisconsin State Chair and former U.S. Senator Robert Kasten and fellow State Co-Chairs and former Congressman Scott Klug and former State Senator Cathy Stepp.

About Bill McCoshen:

McCoshen served as Governor Tommy Thompson’s Secretary of the Department of Commerce, the youngest cabinet secretary ever appointed in Wisconsin history.

McCoshen managed Governor Thompson’s successful campaign for a third-term as Governor, resulting in the second highest margin of victory in state history and the largest statewide victory margin since 1922. McCoshen also served as Governor Thompson’s Chief of Staff.

New Hampshire Voter Likes Rudy’s “Optimistic Outlook” For America

Deerfield, New Hampshire resident Kevin Chalbeck writes in The Portsmouth Herald that Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s proven record of getting results makes him the best candidate to take America forward.

“I have decided to support Rudy Giuliani for president. I like his optimistic outlook for a better America for the future.

He has proven his leadership abilities in many ways. He transformed New York City from one of the most dangerous cities, into the safest large city in America.

By restoring fiscal discipline to a city that was out of control, all at the same time reducing or eliminating 23 city taxes.”

New Hampshire House Deputy Republican Leader Joins Team RudyToday

The Rudy Giuliani Presidential Committee today announced that New Hampshire State Representative David Hess is supporting Mayor Giuliani for President. The eight-term Hooksett Republican becomes the second member of the New Hampshire House GOP leadership to back the Mayor.

“Rudy found an ungovernable city when he became Mayor of New York and restored quality of life to its residents,” said Hess, who once lived in the city. “There’s no denying that if you can turn New York City around you can turn anything around. He is the candidate with the most public executive leadership in the race and is singularly prepared to lead our nation.”

“Dave is well-known in New Hampshire as an outspoken fiscal conservative. His support for Rudy reflects the Mayor’s strong credentials on cutting taxes and controlling spending,” said Wayne Semprini, Giuliani’s New Hampshire Chairman. “It is an honor to have the support of Representative Hess, someone who understands the importance of fiscal discipline in government.”

Representative Hess joins House GOP Whip Stephen Stepanek in supporting the Mayor.

About Representative David Hess:

Representative David Hess, of Hooksett, has served eight terms as a member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives. He currently is the Deputy Republican Leader and has previously held posts as Majority Leader and Deputy Majority Leader.

Hess has served for nearly 20 years as the School District Moderator in Hooksett. He also has served on the town’s Budget Committee and was once its Legal Counsel.

Hess was an Assistant Attorney General during the gubernatorial administration of Meldrim Thomson, Jr.

He is a Vietnam-era veteran of the Air Force.

Paul Pate: Rudy “Going for the Win”

James Q. Lynch of The Cedar Rapids Gazette writes that Rudy’s Iowa Campaign Chairman Paul Pate believes Rudy can win the Iowa caucuses. Pate noted, “Romney has dropped $10 million and more early, early on.

We came in a little later and now the momentum is kicking in. So we’re taking it very seriously, obviously, the mayor is. He’s planning on going for the win here in Iowa."

Rudy Giuliani Campaign Launches Third Television Ad in New HampshireToday

The Rudy Giuliani Presidential Committee announced the launch of a new television ad entitled “Challenges.” The ad is airing in New Hampshire and Boston.

Script for “Challenges”:

Voice Over: “The world’s 17th largest economy. Swimming in red ink. Record crime. Runaway taxes. A million on welfare. That was New York. Until Rudy. He cut taxes 9 billion. Welfare 60 percent. Crime in half. The most successful conservative turnaround in 50 years. In America’s most liberal city, Rudy delivered. And he can do it again, in a place called Washington, D.C.”

Mayor Giuliani: “I’m Rudy Giuliani, and I approved this message.”

Transcript: Rudy Giuliani at The Federalist Society Nov 16th

MAYOR GIULIANI: Thank you very much Ted. Thank you. Thanks. Thank you. Thank you very much Ted Olson for that very humbling introduction and for your friendship and your support over the years. Eugene Meyer, Leonard Leo, Steven Calabresi, Lee Lieberman, David McIntosh, and all of you. I appreciate the opportunity to speak to you today.

Congratulations on your 25th Anniversary. It’s been an absolutely terrific 25 years.

(APPLAUSE)

It’s an honor to speak to a group of people who share my viewpoint. I didn’t get that opportunity too often in New York. We’re a city that was 5 to 1 Democrat as Ted pointed out, so it was an uphill battle. The ideas were always rejected, put aside, attacked, but then everybody loved the results.

But I’m happy to be able to speak to people where the ideas I think are very, very similar. I’m also happy to see that seven members of my judicial task force who advise me on everything are addressing the Federalist Society over the course of this conference. I think it shows the very close connection in terms of ideas, outlook, and goals. And I only have one criticism of your conference. You invited very, very distinguished people from President to Supreme Court Justices to lowly presidential candidates, but I’m a big believer in conversions. And you didn’t invite one of the newest federalists. Well, she announced---

(LAUGHTER)

That the best way to deal with driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants, well now wait now. I’ve got to get this straight.

(LAUGHTER)

Rudy Giuliani: First she was for the idea and supported Governor Spitzer who wanted to give driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants. Then she was against the idea. Then she was for and against the idea and then finally she said it should be decided on a state-by-state basis.

(LAUGHTER)

Rudy Giuliani: This is the only time in her career that she’s ever decided anything should be decided on a state-by-state basis.

You know something? She picked out absolutely the wrong one.

(LAUGHTER)

Right? I mean this is one of the areas that is given to the federal government to deal with under our Constitution, the borders of the United States, immigration. So maybe you were right not to invite her now that I think about it.

But the people in this room have their sights on higher goals and not just short-term political approval.

You’re focused on political principle which sometimes gets missed here in Washington and sometimes, quite frankly, it gets missed all over in the kind of arguments and debates and discussions that we have. And I think that’s the reason why you’ve grown so much so quickly because people really want principle and they understand that our society is moved ultimately by ideas. Personalities can project ideas, but the healthiest way in which our society can move is by ideas. The Federalist Society was formed in the early years of the Reagan administration. At the time, I think you could have fit all the members of the Federalist Society in a phone booth. Of course that’s when we had phone booths. I don’t think I see any anymore. But today the Federalist Society has over 40,000 members, and it has chapters just about everywhere in the country and in every law school in the country just about.

So this reflects a total change in 25 years in our profession. And it marks the intellectual triumph of your philosophy – keeping faith with the Framers of the Constitution— and a growing momentum toward bringing this country back to its first principles with an understanding that that’s where we really derive our strength.

The principles of the Federalist Society are based upon are simple: that the states exist to preserve freedom; that the separation of powers is essential to our Constitution; and that it is the duty of the judiciary to say what the law is, not what they would like it to be.

In the last 25 years, we’ve seen these ideas which in prior years had been largely rejected. We’ve seen them first start as slow and then really a very, very strong march back in to the forefront of the way in which we look at our country and the way in which we look at the interpretation of our country’s laws and you should be very, very proud of the fact that the Federalist Society has played a very big role in accomplishing that because in accomplishing that, you are in fact preserving and expanding the very unique kind of freedom and liberty we have in this country. So I congratulate you for that.

(APPLAUSE)

Rudy Giuliani: I was privileged to play a role, small role, but a role, in the beginning of all that in the Reagan Justice Department with colleagues like Ted Olson and Ken Starr and Ed Meese and Ed Schmults and Jonathan Rose and lots of other people that you know really well.

It was a very, very exciting time. The Reagan administration had a real sense of mission, a real sense of excitement because it really was a sense of reform and nothing really excites people more than being able to change things in the direction thinking they’re going to make things better.

We were determined to restore sound constitutional principles to our judicial system and we’ve made a lot of progress and it’s not complete. There are at least 200 reasons why the next election for President of the United States is going to be a critical one and the most important one that we have in our history. Now I know we say that all the time, that every presidential election is the most important one that we have in our history, but actually, it’s a truthful statement isn’t it? Because every presidential election, the next one is the most important because it determines the future course of this country. There are a lot of issues, there are a lot of differences, but I’m going to give you 200 reasons why the next election is really important. It’s the 200 federal judges that the next President of the United States will likely appoint over four years in the White House. That’s roughly the average that a president gets to appoint.

(APPLAUSE)

Rudy Giuliani: This organization, probably more than most, understands how crucial that difference will be if a president is elected who has the kind of thinking of a Hillary Clinton or a Barack Obama or a John Edwards, and I don’t think there’s much distinction there. I think you’re going to see 200 decisions of judges who are like those judges who really began the reason for the Federalist Society in the first place. Judges who will be activists in the sense of trying to legislate their social policy through judicial interpretation. Let me assure you that if I am the President of the United States every single one of those decisions will be made very carefully, very deliberately with the advice of people like Ted and the people on my judicial advisory committee because we’re seeking to find judges who understand the very, very important concept that judges exist to interpret the law, not to invent the law.

(APPLAUSE)

Rudy Giuliani: Last week, I was watching the Chris Matthews show. I have to watch these shows. And you know how he has that Matthews Meter. He takes a question and he gives it to 12 reporters. I have lost 40 of these in a row. But last week, he asked them the following question: “Do you believe that Rudy Giuliani will keep his word and appoint judges who interpret the Constitution, conservative judges?” You know what the vote was among these reporters, some of the most cynical people in Washington? 12-nothing, yes.

(APPLAUSE)

For the first time I agree with a group of Washington reporters. They’re right because we believe in the rule of law, not in the rule of judges. Our constitutional principles instruct us that we have to recognize the limitations on power as a way of protecting our liberties. That’s really one of the guiding principles of our whole constitutional structure. And for many, many years, law schools, too many of them, had been confusing constitutional law with sociology. And there is a big difference between constitutional law and sociology.

(APPLAUSE)

I stand with Ronald Reagan. He was once accused of having a 19th century attitude on law and order. He responded that it was a false charge. He had an 18th century attitude.

(APPLAUSE)

Our Framers had no doubt about the proper approach to interpretation of the Constitution. You could say they were the original originalists. Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton made current political argument and animosity seem trivial in comparison to the animosity that they had right? But they didn’t agree on many things, but they did agree on the following, and I quote Jefferson, “Our peculiar security is in the possession of a written Constitution. Let us not make it a blank paper by construction.”

(APPLAUSE)

We need judges who embrace originalism, endeavor to determine what others meant when they wrote the words of our Constitution. Justices like Justice Scalia, Justice Thomas, Justice Alito, and Chief Justice Roberts. That would be my model.

(APPLAUSE)

The theme of this conference is “Shining City Upon a Hill: American Exceptionalism.” Of course the shining city upon a hill was the great reference that Ronald Reagan used bringing up the words of John Winthrop, but the American exceptionalism is also a very, very important part of that theme. There are some people I think nowadays that doubt that America has a special, even a divinely inspired role in the world. Now I don’t understand how you can look at history and not see the wisdom of that and the reality of it.

Most countries on earth developed out of a single ethnicity, a single religion, some common characteristic that bound people together before they were even a nation. America is very, very different. We’re not a single ethnicity, we’re all ethnicities. We’re not a single race, we’re all races. We’re not a single religion. We were established so that we wouldn’t be a single religion. So we’re very different in our origins than just about any other country on earth. We’re united because of ideas and ideals. That’s what holds us together. That’s the thing that makes America America, makes Americans Americans—shared ideas.

The ideas first proposed in the Declaration of Independence and then debated in the Constitutional Convention and embodied in the Constitution became the American creed. The set of beliefs that bind us together as a nation. No one was more articulate and better able to explain this than Abraham Lincoln who used to say, “How do you determine who’s the best American?” He was once posed that question. Is the best American the one who’s family has been here the longest and came over on the Mayflower, or the person who became a citizen yesterday? And Abraham Lincoln said, “The best American is the American who understands our Declaration of Independence, our Constitution, our values of political freedom, economic freedom, the rule of law, freedom of choice, freedom of decision-making, freedom for people. People who understand what our country is all about. That’s the one that makes the best American.” And what he said was we’re a people of belief. We’re a people of ideas. So to the extent that we keep reminding ourselves of what these ideas are, to that extent we’re really enforcing what America is all about. American exceptionalism isn’t a debate, it’s not something we should be arrogant about where we say, “Oh, we’re very, very special.” We’re just very, very fortunate and when we don’t recognize that, I don’t think we do justice to our background and to what’s expected of us.

(APPLAUSE)

It was this nation that took all of those ideas that developed from way back in the Old Testament and the Greek philosophy and Roman law and the enlightenment. They were all really ideas until they were actually put into practice and no one knew really whether those ideas put into practice would work, and America did. And America established this constitutional democratic government in the form of a republic and it was the nation that from the very beginning saw that tyranny and oppression is something that was illegitimate and had to be dealt with. It was this nation that saved the world from the two great tyrannies of the 20th century, Nazism and Communism. It’s this country that’s going to save a civilization from Islamic terrorism.

(APPLAUSE)

Now the United States of America has been and will continue to be a beacon of hope for the world. And the democratic debate that we have in this country and the disagreements that we have in this country should not be mistaken anywhere in the world for weakness. America’s strength is just as great as it’s always been. I remember on the day of September 11th thinking about that and wondering, you know are we up to this, can we deal it, can we handle this, so much worse than anything that at least we thought had happened to us before. And from the first moment when I saw the way the people reacted to it and I saw the way the firefighters and the police officers reacted to it and I saw the construction workers come and volunteer, you know hundreds of them, more than we needed, ultimately thousands of them. I realized that these people are the sons and daughters in spirit and sometimes in blood as the same people that saved our country some many times over and over again. And when you challenge us all this strength comes back, it’s really there we should not be worried about it, we have it, this generation is as strong as prior generations of Americans because we come from them and we owe it to them and to ourselves to make sure that this principle of democracy and freedom is upheld, preserved and expanded everywhere in the world.

(APPLAUSE)

Now America is not great however because of our central government.

((LAUGHTER) and (APPLAUSE))

And that may be one of the basic distinctions between the two political parties right now because I do believe quite honestly that the other political party does believe that the greatness of America lies in the central government because they want to impose and give more and more responsibility to the central government. And I think it’s a misunderstanding of what works here. We didn’t take the European path toward a highly centralized government like most of the European countries did and are doing, some of which are now moving back from that. We chose a unique option, an exceptional American option. We chose a horizontal division of power among the different branches of government, called a separation of powers and a vertical balance of power between the central government, the national government and the states. And it’s a maybe more complex way of doing it but it’s the one that has worked for us and it’s the one that we have to go back to and rely on when we solve our problems. And we have to have faith and confidence in that system because, and again without being arrogant and without being self-congratulatory, isn’t it a fact that no other government, no other society has ever succeeded in accomplishing what America has accomplished. We’ve moved more people out of poverty than any country in the history of the world, we’ve given more opportunity to people, we have more fairness, not perfection, not absolute fairness, we have tremendous problems we to overcome. But who’s done better than the United States of America in overcoming problems, empowering people, creating social mobility, giving people the chance to reach to sky and a realistic chance of getting there and moving people out of situations in which they were treated unfairly. No one’s done a better job than us and maybe there’s a reason for that. And you know that the reason for it is? The reason for it is number one that God has graced us with this wonderful land and number two it’s the genius of our constitutional system. Let’s rely on it, let’s not reject it.

(APPLAUSE)

Our system doesn’t force every state to fit into a straightjacket. So much of the anger and division in politics today stems from the attempt of one faction, whatever the political thinking, to impose their thinking on everyone else through the courts. I believe it’s time to close that chapter in our history. I believe we can close that chapter.

(APPLAUSE)

MAYOR GIULIANI: And I believe we can close that chapter in our history by recognizing our history. By recognizing what the strengths are of this country. We can make the constitution once again a document that unites us rather than divides us and then we can focus the debate on the essential issues that are really challenging our nation. We can do it by reinforcing the essential principles our framers built into our democratic system, principles of federalism, limited government and judicial restraint.

(APPLAUSE)

Our system recognizes the fact that different cities and different states face different challenges. They demand flexibility for local decision making. What works in Manhattan, New York is not necessarily what works in Manhattan, Kansas or in Manhattan Beach, California. They maybe all named Manhattan but they have different problems, different issues. The genius of our system is we have the flexibility to allow local governments and to allow states to respond to the different challenges in a different way. We don’t put a national centralized straightjacket on them. Federalism gives us flexibility to solve our own problems, it encourages experimentation and innovation. And I believe I understand this probably better than most because it’s rooted in my own executive experience. I ran a local government, now when I say local government most people in New York don’t think of themselves as having a local government.

(LAUGHTER)

Because New York is so big, it’s the seventeenth largest economy in the world, the third largest government in terms of numbers of employees, one of the largest budgets in the country but still it’s a local government. And I tried to learn from other local governments, I’ll give you one example. Washington was still debating welfare legislation while welfare reform was being implemented in places like Wisconsin and New York. We learned the principles of welfare reform not from the central government, we learned it from Wisconsin. We borrowed it from Tommy Thompson when he was governor of Wisconsin. And then we built on them, he made them work in Wisconsin, we learned from them and then we made them work in the biggest city in the United States with by far the biggest welfare problem and if it could work in New York it could work anywhere. It can if it can work in New York, believe me if you can move welfare in New York, you can move welfare anywhere.

(LAUGHTER)

When we first started there was great consternation about it, great fear, great worry that it wouldn’t work but we stuck with the basic principles of it, workfare, accountability, a JobStat program and I’ll give you the end result. The end result was 640,000 people removed from the welfare rolls.

(APPLAUSE)

One of the proudest days I had of Mayor of New York City was changing the name on the door of the welfare office. We took down the sign that said welfare office and we put up a sign that said New York City Job Center.

(LAUGHTER)

And I believe that that change in New York City is one of the reasons why, not the only, reductions in crime, quality of life, reductions in taxes, increase in businesses certainly played a role in this but I think it’s one of the reasons why New York City continues to be a city where crime is declining where many other cities unfortunately have started to move in the other direction because we made a fundamental change in the life of the people. And to understand what Federalism is all about and our constitution is all about you have to recognize that this is all about the people, it’s not all about the government. The government is incidental, the people are primary.

(APPLAUSE)

When I first entered office as Mayor of New York City the liberal tax policies and social policies were so bad that the city was unlivable for many, many people. I was elected, I wasn’t the mayor yet and they went and took a poll and 60 percent of the people in New York City wanted to live somewhere else. This is a tough way to start.

(LAUGHTER)

When half your people and more want to leave. But I said to myself New York was kind of beyond malaise, see New Yorkers don’t feel malaise, they get angry.

(LAUGHTER)

And they let you know about it.

(LAUGHTER)

But our city was hemorrhaging people, it was hemorrhaging businesses and I was presented with a report on what to do about it. The report was bigger than this, it was handed to me and it was a report on how to solve all of our fiscal problems. And the report was basically to raise taxes and it was a big report because we have a lot of taxes.

(LAUGHTER)

And they said what are you going to do with the report? And I said in my usual very understated way…

(LAUGHTER)

…I’m going to throw it in the garbage.

(LAUGHTER)

And I proceeded to do that, I threw it in the garbage and I did something totally different. I lowered taxes. I lowered taxes not once, not twice, I lowered taxes—I actually proposed 64 tax reductions, ended up with 23 for over nine billion dollars and it was at the core of turning New York City around. We were collecting billions of dollars more from the lower taxes than from the higher taxes. We cut the income tax rate by 24 percent. We were collecting 42 percent more revenues from the lower tax than from the higher tax. So don’t tell me supply side economics doesn’t work. I can prove that it does.

(APPLAUSE)

But there’s something beyond just the economics of it. There’s something that goes to the core of what this organization is about. The reason tax reductions work when you do them right and not all tax reductions work and not every tax can be reduced and of course the government needs responsible level of revenues. But if you do tax reductions right where it can be done, where there’s discretion to do it do you know what you’re really doing? You’re making a choice, you’re making a choice between who do you trust more, the government or the people? When people like Hillary Clinton and John Edwards and Barack Obama and Charlie Rangel, when they’re talking about a trillion, two trillion, three trillion dollar tax increases what they’re really saying to you is and I believe in good faith they believe this, they’re saying government knows better. We can spend your money more wisely than you can. They’re sort of playing out the philosophy that the leading Democratic candidate once announced about tax reductions, which was we’re going to have to take things from you for the common good.

(ONE PERSON CLAPS)

There’s the one person who agrees with that.

(LAUGHTER)

One person. That’s about the correct percentage in most of America. One person.

(APPLAUSE)

I have a different philosophy, which I imagine is the philosophy that most of you have, which is that we do best, we effectuate the common good, if we give more things back to you. We leave more of your money in your pocket. It’s a choice. It’s a choice between government or people. Who do you trust more, government or people? I trust you more. I trust that if I leave money in your pocket, you’re going to spend it in a wiser way, in a more intelligent way, in a more productive way. In a way that brings about growth, in a way that brings people out of poverty. It’s those principles that I brought to New York City that cut the unemployment rate in half, that brought back 450,000 jobs and just didn’t cut welfare but took people on welfare and put them to work so that they could be productive and they could grow. So it’s more than just do you cut taxes or do you raise taxes. It’s about who do you trust more? Where are you gonna go over the next three or four or five or six or seven or eight years? You’re gonna go in the direction of a much larger central government to make all your decisions for you, decisions about health, decisions about your pension, decisions about where your child goes to school, decisions about what happens with your money where there’s discretionary money to decide on. Or are you going to go in the direction of what I believe is the quintessential American solution, the thing that makes us great, the thing that has made us exceptional. We’re gonna go, if I’m President of the United States, in the direction of giving more money, more authority, more decision making to the people.

(APPLAUSE)

We’re also going to put behind us what has been a very, very sad chapter in our history, and we really have to put this behind us and start anew. I think I would trace this chapter to the nomination of Bob Bork, a man who Chief Justice Burger described as one of the most qualified to ever be nominated to serve on the court. I believe--

(APPLAUSE)

His nomination fight hit a new low, and then of course there was the battle regarding Justice Thomas, the attempted character assassination of Justice Thomas, and we had almost gone to the point where the advice and consent clause was being reinterpreted as a way to bring back the Spanish Inquisition rather than what it’s supposed to be, which is if you have a Republican President with essentially conservative viewpoint, then that Republican President should be given deference. Even if you don’t agree with the philosophy of a particular candidate, you have to give the President his or her choice, and the same thing is true on the other side. With a Democratic President, if the country chooses a Democratic President with a somewhat more liberal or liberal philosophy, what we are going to expect is that that Democratic President is going to make those choices and qualification then should be the issue. Honesty, qualification, integrity, not philosophy. The electorate kind of decides that in the President that they choose, and this has become very, very much distorted. You know about the situation with Miguel Estrada. He was an outstanding candidate, an excellent lawyer, one of the best lawyers in this country, and he wasn’t even allowed to get a vote on the floor of the Senate. It was blocked with numerous attempts to stop it and filibusters, and that really isn’t right. I believe that is a perversion of what our advice and consent clause really means, and then we saw that happen again with Janice Rogers Brown and with others. And really, the next President is gonna have to call on the Senate to change its rules and ask the Senate to really take seriously what advice and consent means. What advice and consent means is that someone if sent there by the President should get an up or down vote within a reasonable period of time.

(APPLAUSE)

At least have the courage of your convictions. If I’m President, you can be certain I will have the courage to present nominees that I believe in and am willing to stand behind. Well, the Senate should have the courage to vote yes or no but not to hide on those nominations.

(APPLAUSE)

We also believe that the Constitution should be interpreted as it’s written not as someone would like it to be. There’s a recent decision in the D.C. Circuit on the right to bear arms written by Judge Silberman. I think it’s an excellent example of the kind of interpretation that I would expect of judges and justices. He examined the history of the Second Amendment. It’s an ancient amendment. It goes back to the Bill of Rights. It’s the Second Amendment. He looked at the language, he looked at the history, he looked at the debates, and he came to the conclusion that it’s an individual right. Seemed to me almost an obvious conclusion since it’s surrounded by the same language that the First Amendment and the Fourth Amendment and the other individual rights the people are secure. The people suggests an individual right. He used the power of that semantic argument and then the debates that went on to come to the conclusion that it is a individual right not a right that just pertains to people in the militia. That’s the kind of interpretation—

(APPLAUSE)

We want judges who exercise common sense, who use sound principles of interpretation. We want justices who understand that taking private property from individual owners to enrich private developers just distorts entirely the meaning of the Constitution. We need justices who understand—

(APPLAUSE)

We need judges and justices who understand that imposing racial quotas is really a denial of what America is all about. As—

(APPLAUSE)

As Chief Justice John Roberts recently wrote, “the way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.”

(APPLAUSE)

And I can’t figure out where in the Constitution, in the First Amendment or anywhere else in the Constitution, either the clause against establishment of religion or protecting the free exercise of religion, I cannot figure out where some imperative exists to take the words “under God” out of the Pledge of Allegiance or to ban the mention of the Ten Amendments in a public square—the Ten Commandments in a public square.

(APPLAUSE)

So we live in a nation of laws not of men. Some of these social theories people may agree with, some of these social theories people may disagree with, but that isn’t the point. The point is what did the Framers of the Constitution intend when they wrote these Amendments and when they wrote these provisions in the Constitution. That’s what liberty is all about. Our liberty is secured even before it was secured by the Ten Amendments to the Constitution, it was secured by the structure of our government. It’s probably our most reliable assurance. The structure of our government as a limited government. A government in which each one of the branches is limited by the power of the other branch, and then the national government is limited by the rights of the state governments and then all of those rights that haven’t been granted devolved to the people. It’s a very, very intricate structure but enormously important.

(APPLAUSE)

So every generation of American is called upon to lead. I get very, very frustrated when I hear Americans talk about or hear certain Americans talk about how difficult the problems we face are, how overwhelming they are, what a dangerous era we live in. I think we’ve lost perspective. We’ve always had difficult problems, we’ve always had great challenges, and we’ve always lived in danger. Do we think our parents and our grandparents and our great grandparents didn’t live in danger and didn’t have difficult problems? Do we think the Second World War was less difficult that our struggle with Islamic terrorism? Do we think that the Great Depression was a less difficult economic struggle for people to face than the struggles we’re facing now? Have we entirely lost perspective of the great challenges America has faced in the past and has been able to overcome and overcome brilliantly? I think sometimes we have lost that perspective. Do you know what leadership is all about? Leadership is all about restoring that perspective that this country is truly an exceptional country that has great things that it is going to accomplish in the future that will be as great and maybe even greater than the ones we’ve accomplished in the past. If we can’t do that, shame on us.

(APPLAUSE)

If we heal the divisions based on our Constitutional principles and we learn to live with our differences, and the beauty of our Constitution is it gives us a way of resolving our differences so we can all live together toward a united purpose. If we continue to inspire faith and hope and optimism, and optimism is so important. Every single problem that I solved in New York City that people thought were impossible to solve, I solved it because I’m an optimist, because I refuse to accept defeat, because I refuse to accept that intelligent people with the kind of advantages we’ve been given can’t solve any problem that we’re faced with. The values of democracy and equality before the law give us great strength that other societies don’t have but it also gives us great responsibilities. This is a very precious inheritance that we have. We have a very high standard to live up to given the history of our country, but organizations like the Federalist Society that take us back to our original principles is where our strength comes from. Thank you very, very much for your 25 years, and thank you for what you’re going to do for the future of this country, which will be even greater than its past. Thank you and God bless you.

xcerpt From Rudy Giuliani’s Commencement Address At The Citadel Charleston, SC, 5/5/07Today

“Your service is based on the idea that you are men and women that see victory in a world that gains realistic peace through the strength of the best prepared, the best trained, the most inspired and the most talented military, not just in the world but in the history of the world. You’ve channeled your emotions into constructive action and there are few causes more noble, in fact none, or more enduring than the defense of liberty for the United States of America.

“But you, you can’t do it alone. We need to all do this. You need our support and we need your support. It will take more troops and more training to meet the great challenges of our time to win this war of the terrorists on us. As I said before, America loves peace and we hate war. That honorable instinct has meant that sometimes in our history we wait too long to mobilize our armed forces to face the world’s dangers. Sometimes we often demobilize too rapidly once we think we’ve achieved victory and the danger is gone.

“After the First World War, the size of the Army after we had the war to end wars, the size of our army was cut by 90 percent. It meant that we weren’t able to face Nazism at an early enough stage and then we had to play catch up in the first years of the Second World War to our disadvantage.

“After we won the Second World War we did it again. An army of seven million soldiers were reduced to 500,000 by 1948. But when the Cold War turned out hot with the invasion of South Korea, Harry Truman, a Democratic president, and a Republican Congress, working together for the good of our country had to commit our country to maintain the largest peace time military for the first time in our history. They had to rebuild what had been deconstructed.

“And then at the end of the Cold War, after we won the Cold War, the end of the Soviet Union, the breakdown of the Berlin Wall, freedom for Eastern Europe, the pattern repeated itself again. Washington was full of talk about a peace dividend. The peace dividend became government policy. I opposed the peace dividend then and I oppose it now. The damage that it has done to our military and intelligence services has yet to be completely undone. History has already shown that the peace dividend was one of our country’s worst mistakes. We were slashing our military and intelligence budgets as the Islamic radical terrorists were committing acts of war against us, but we didn’t see it.

“The first World Trade Center bombing was not, or attack, was not on September 11, 2001. The first World Trade Center bombing was in 1993. Then there was Khobar Towers in 1996, the bombing of our embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 and the attack on the U.S.S. Cole in 2000 that killed seventeen of our sailors. Bin Laden even declared war on us in 1996, we didn’t hear it. And all through this time of acts of war against America, of coming here and killing Americans, of killing Americans overseas, all through this time we ignored the wise advice of Ronald Reagan who reminded us that the surest way to achieve peace is by maintaining strength.

“And what did we do? We cut and we cut and we cut and we cut some more. An army of eighteen divisions was slashed to ten as the terrorists were declaring war on us and attacking us. Total man power was reduced from 775,000 in the early 1980’s to 470,000 on the eve of September 11th. Refueling tankers so crucial to long range operations that are vital to dealing with the terrorists who make war on us, these are now modified 707’s, a plane that last flew commercially in the United States in 1983, before most of you were born or I think any of you were born. And Marine Corps pilots still fly the same planes, or helicopters rather, that their fathers were flying in Vietnam.

“The idea of a peace dividend was always intellectually flawed, it was also strategically flawed. In fact, the pace of our armed forces operations have only quickened since the Cold War. You are asked to do much more in many different places and in much more complex situations. If we are going to ask our military to do more, we need to give them the resources and the support to get the job done. That’s our responsibility.

“At one time there was the romantic thought that America could be isolated. Isolation is no longer an option in the age of globalization. Isolation is no longer an option when there are people in various parts of the world planning to come to harm you. Conditions for our fighting men and women have improved in recent years. President Bush has increased our military strength and further increases are planned. But we need to do more, much more. We need a force that can both deter aggression and meet many challenges that might come our way. America must increase the size of our armed forces, in particular we have to start with the Army which has been cut the most and is under the greatest stress.

“I believe America needs at least ten new combat brigades above the additions that are already proposed by President Bush and are already in the budget. This commitment would offer reinforcements where they are needed most, deter others from calculating that America may be stretched too thing. It would be a terrible mistake for anyone to calculate that but let’s make sure they don’t by increasing the size of our force and allowing the United States greater flexibility to win the wider war of the terrorists against us.

“In the past when America’s population was tens of millions smaller than we are now, we easily maintained a larger Army and a larger armed forces than we have right now. A volunteer professional army of citizens is our greatest source of strength and I believe that the 9/11 generation, just like you have, will step forward to meet this challenge.

“We must also look at the level of expansion that’s necessary for our Navy, for our Marines, for our Coast Guard and for our Air Force. They have to have the support and they have to be at the levels necessary to deal with the challenges that we have today and they need to be modernized and they need training to accept our new responsibilities.”

Giuliani Campaign Announces Florida Mayors for Rudy Today

The Rudy Giuliani Presidential Committee today announced the Florida Mayors for Rudy, a coalition of current and former mayors from across the state supporting Mayor Giuliani. Together, they will work to grow Rudy’s grassroots support in Florida.

"Rudy is the only candidate prepared to help our communities succeed at all levels, from reforming the way the federal government does business to encouraging local growth,” said Juan Carlos Bermudez, Mayor of Doral.

“As Mayors, we admire what Rudy did while leading New York City, and we know he’s the only one who can bring similar results to the White House,” said Jack McDonald, Mayor of Palm Beach.

Today’s announcement of the Florida Mayors for Rudy comes as former New York City Deputy Mayors Randy Mastro and Bob Harding hosted a “Rudy Gets Results” roundtable discussion with members of the Florida campaign team. Today’s event was one in a series of campaign stops being held across the country by former Rudy Giuliani Administration officials to continue sharing Rudy’s record of real accomplishments as Mayor of New York City.

Florida Mayors for Rudy Giuliani:

Steven Abrams, Mayor of Boca Raton*

Chris Arbutine Sr., Mayor of Belleair Bluffs

Juan Carlos Bermudez, Mayor of Doral*

Jay John Beyrouti, former Mayor of Redington Shores

Beverly Billiris, Mayor of Tarpon Springs

Yioset De La Cruz, Mayor of Hialeah Gardens

John Eckbert, Vice Mayor of Winter Park

Jim Humphrey, Attorney, former Mayor of Ft Myers*

Carol M. McCormack, Mayor of Palm Shores

Jack McDonald, Mayor of Palm Beach

Mary Beth McDonald, former Mayor of Vero Beach

Greg Northup, Mayor of Daytona Beach Shores

Jose Rodriguez, Vice Mayor of Boynton Beach

Julio Robaina, Mayor of Hialeah*

Jim Ronecker, Mayor of Oldsmar

Ralph F. Schenck, former Mayor of Lake Worth

William George Stacey, Mayor of Melbourne Beach

Roland D. Via, Mayor of Holly Hill

Rudy is Right in Cancer Debate

Steve Huntley of the Chicago Sun-Times writes that Rudy Giuliani came out on top in the recent debate over cancer survival rates. Michael Moore and Hillary Clinton-style socialized medicine increases cost and drastically reduces the quality of care. “Government programs just don’t provide the flexibility to respond to innovation.”

Statement from Rudy GiulianiRegarding the Confirmation of Michael Mukasey as the next U.S. Attorney GeneralToday

Rudy Giuliani made the following statement today regarding the confirmation of Michael Mukasey as the next Attorney General of the United States:

"Michael Mukasey has a very deep understanding of the federal justice system, the United States Justice Department, and he has the leadership qualities that are needed to guide the department through this time of war.

"Michael has a long and distinguished career in public service as an Assistant United States Attorney and as a United States District Judge. His 18-year career as United States District Judge was one of the most outstanding in the country and I am certain his tenure as Attorney General will be just as outstanding.

"I am very happy for Michael and Susan.”

Pat Robertson Endorses Rudy Giuliani

Head of the Christian Broadcasting Network, Founder of Regent University and former Presidential candidate Pat Robertson endorses Rudy Giuliani for President.

###

Giuliani May Boost GOP In Northeast RacesYesterday

House Republicans see a 2008 ticket topped by former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani making congressional races in Democratic strongholds of the Northeast more competitive, improving the party’s odds for picking up the 16 seats to win back the majority.

The popularity of the former mayor — polls in the region show Rudy Giuliani neck and neck with Democratic front-runner Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York — promises to put in play congressional races in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania — districts that typically vote Democrat.

“He would make it possible to knock off [Democratic] first-term members of Congress,” said Rep. Peter T. King, New York Republican, who has endorsed Rudy Giuliani. “He would bring out a lot of Republican voters and get a large number of conservative Democrats and independents.”

The outlook was shared throughout the ranks of House Republicans.

New Jersey Republican State Committee Chairman Tom Wilson said Rudy Giuliani is “as close to a favorite son as there is” in the Garden State, and Pennsylvania Republican Party Chairman Robert A. Gleason Jr. called a Giuliani ticket the “best-case scenario.”

“With Rudy Giuliani at the top of the ticket, [Democrats] might lose control of the House,” Mr. Gleason said. “We believe we [in Pennsylvania] could win back the four seats we lost [in 2006] and possibly pick up another one.”

Republican David Cappiello, who is challenging [Rep. Christopher S.] Murphy in Connecticut’s 5th District, said he … is convinced Rudy Giuliani would break Democrats’ lock on his state.

“With Rudy Giuliani on the ballot, Connecticut would be a state both parties would have to pay attention to,” Mr. Cappiello said.

Senator Kit Bond Announces His Support for Rudy

Senator Bond will serve as National Co-Chairman and the liaison to the United States Senate for the campaign.

"America is hungry for a President who will say what he means, and do what he says. The American people want and deserve a genuine leader, and that is Rudy Giuliani ," said U.S. Senator Kit Bond. "Rudy has the leadership qualities and the experience to handle whatever challenges America faces in the next 10 years."

“Kit Bond is a leader when it comes to making sure those on the front lines of the Terrorists’ War on Us have the resources they need,” said Rudy. “He is a well respected lifelong public servant dedicated to the people of Missouri, and I am honored to have his support.”

About Christopher S. “Kit” Bond:

Christopher S. "Kit" Bond is a sixth generation Missourian, born in St. Louis in 1939. He grew up in Mexico, MO, where he still resides and tends to several groves of trees he planted by hand.

Bond graduated from Princeton University in 1960 and received his law degree from the University of Virginia, having graduated first in his class. After serving as a clerk to the Chief Judge of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, Bond practiced law in Washington, D.C. before returning home to Missouri.

In 1969, Bond became an Assistant Attorney General under former Senator John Danforth. Before being elected State Auditor in 1970, Bond was chief counsel of Missouri’s Consumer Protection Division.

At age 33, Kit Bond became the 47th Governor of the State of Missouri on January 8, 1973 – the youngest Governor the state has ever had. Bond was re-elected to a second term as Governor in 1980. Among his greatest accomplishments as Governor was to take the Parents as Teachers program statewide.

After his second successful term as Governor, Bond continued his service to Missouri from his newly won seat in the United States Senate. In that 1986 election year, Bond was the only Republican to capture a seat previously held by a Democrat.

Based upon his solid ability to protect and advance Missouri’s interests in the United States Senate, Bond was returned by Missouri voters to the U.S. Senate in 1992, 1998, and again in 2004.

While serving in the U.S. Senate, Bond has built a reputation as a strong supporter of responsible budgeting and accountability in education and government programs.

A strong supporter of law enforcement and a strong U.S. military, Bond also serves as the Vice Chairman on the Senate Select Intelligence Committee. And he is the ranking member of the Appropriations Subcommittee that funds the nation’s housing and transportation needs.

Bond is married to Linda Bond. His son, Sam Bond, is a 1st Lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps.

Senator Norm Coleman Endorses Rudy for PresidentToday

The Rudy Giuliani Presidential Committee announced today that Senator Norm Coleman (R-MN) has formally endorsed Rudy and will serve as the campaign’s Minnesota State Chairman and Midwest Regional Chairman....The Senator has long respected the Mayor "Rudy and I share a strong bond as former Mayors. We focused on bringing people together to get things done, and to ensure that our focus was on solutions, not problems. I am confident that his vision and his strength as a candidate will give Republicans a strong voice in the November 2008 elections."

“I am honored to have the backing of Norm Coleman,” said Rudy Giuliani. “Norm was an effective Mayor and serves the people of Minnesota well in the United States Senate. I truly appreciate his continued friendship and support.”

Norm Coleman:

In 1993, Norm Coleman was elected Mayor of St. Paul as a Democrat. In 1996, he joined the Republican Party and was reelected in 1997 as the first Republican Mayor in St. Paul in over 25 years, receiving nearly 60% of the vote.

During his 8 years in office, he led the city through an economic rebirth. In 1997 Coleman led an effort to secure a National Hockey League franchise for the city, the Minnesota Wild, which began play in September 2000 at a new state-of-the-art arena.

Norm Coleman was elected to the United States Senate in 2002. He currently serves on several key committees including the Committee on Agriculture, Forestry and Nutrition, the Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship and the Foreign Relations Committee.

Coleman was born in Brooklyn, New York. He is a graduate of Hofstra University on Long Island. He received his Juris Doctor from the University of Iowa College of Law. Coleman spent 17 years working for the Minnesota Attorney General’s office, prosecuting cases all over the state and getting involved in a wide variety of public policy matters, including child abuse and drug abuse.

He is married to Laurie Coleman. They have two children, Jacob and Sarah

RUDY’S COMMITMENT TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE: “I Will Give Americans More Control Over, and Access To, Health Care With Affordable and Portable Free-Market Solutions.”Today

“America is at a crossroads when it comes to our health care. All Americans want to increase the quality, affordability and portability of health care. Most Republicans believe in free-market solutions to the challenges we face. I believe we can reduce costs and improve the quality of care by increasing competition. We can do it through tax cuts, not tax hikes. We can do it by empowering patients and their doctors, not government bureaucrats. That’s the American way to reform health care.”

- Mayor Rudy Giuliani

EMPOWER PATIENTS AND FAMILIES, NOT THE GOVERNMENT

Expand Choice Through Tax Code Reform: America’s tax system penalizes millions of citizens without access to employer health care, including 40 percent of employees at small firms. Americans without employer-based insurance should have tax benefits just as the 175 million Americans with employment-based coverage do. Rudy proposes an income exclusion of up to $15,000 for those without employer coverage to make insurance more affordable.

Help Low-Income Individuals and Families Secure Health Insurance: Rudy proposes a Health Insurance Credit to low-income Americans that can be coupled with other revenue sources such as Medicaid and employer contributions to make coverage more affordable to millions of the uninsured.

Drive Quality and Price Transparency: Rudy believes creating visibility of price, provider qualifications, and risk-adjusted procedure outcomes will expand competition and open up new motivation for improving quality and reducing cost.

TRANSFORM BUREAUCRACIES AND CHANGE HEALTH CARE DELIVERY

Reform the Medical Liability Legal System: Defensive medicine is a tremendous burden on our nation with liability insurance in some states costing over $200,000 for OB/GYNs. Rudy’s commitment to end frivolous lawsuits without limiting compensation for real economic loss is key to comprehensive health care reform.

Reward States For Innovative Solutions: Rudy will encourage states to improve health care quality and make health insurance more affordable by offering block grants to encourage innovation, reduce health costs, enroll eligible uninsured, and solve adverse selection issues.

Require Availability of Low-Cost Insurance Options: Regulation must not deny access to affordable coverage, and currently over 1,900 state mandates limit coverage options and increase costs from 20 to 45 percent. If a state’s mandates prevent affordable health care coverage, citizens should be allowed to purchase coverage through interstate markets.

Save Lives and Reduce Costs by Streamlining the FDA Process: Rudy will bring greater accountability and efficiency to the evaluation process for new drugs by ensuring that government regulation does not delay new cures or needlessly cost lives. The current process is so regulated that a new drug takes 12-15 years to get to the market.

Invest In Health IT to Reduce Medical Errors, Improve Efficiency, and Detect Health Threats: Each year, thousands of hospital deaths are attributed to preventable medical errors. Public-private partnerships to improve and set standards for health IT without overbearing regulations can play a major role in improving care and reducing costs.

REFORM HEALTH CARE COVERAGE TO PROMOTE A HEALTHIER AMERICA

Improve and Expand Health Savings Accounts: Health savings accounts provide incentives for consumers to maximize the value of services tailored to their needs. Rudy will expand access to these accounts by simplifying the rules and regulations so that insurance coverage will meet the health care goals of individuals and families.

Infuse Incentives in Insurance Markets That Promote Wellness and Better Outcomes for Chronic Diseases: Health insurance must be redefined to cover wellness as well as sickness. In conjunction with recommendations from doctors and nurses, Rudy will propose new initiatives to promote healthy lifestyles and wellness programs, and tie Medicaid payments to a state’s success in promoting preventative care and tracking obesity for children.

Statement from Rudy Giuliani Regarding the Release of Jamal al-Badawi by the Government of YemenYesterday

Rudy Giuliani made the following statement today:

“Yesterday, the government of Yemen set free Jamal al-Badawi, the al-Qaeda mastermind behind the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000 that killed 17 American sailors and wounded many others. This is unacceptable.

Yemen must turn over al-Badawi to the U.S. for trial in the Southern District of New York, where he already is under indictment for the USS Cole attack.

“Until al-Badawi is re-arrested, America should use all the means at its disposal to pressure Yemen to stop siding with terrorists. As a first step, I urge the U.S. Government to cancel the more than $20 million in aid scheduled to be delivered to Yemen.

“Terrorists must be held accountable for their actions and so must the governments that offer them safe harbor.”

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Giuliani Announces South Carolina College Students for RudyToday

The Rudy Giuliani Presidential Committee today announced South Carolina College Students for Rudy, a coalition of students from across the state supporting Mayor Giuliani. Phil Paradise, a College of Charleston student, will serve as Chair of South Carolina Students for Rudy.

This grassroots coalition will help Mayor Giuliani share his vision of results oriented leadership around campuses across the state and will support the campaign through volunteer efforts and campus recruitment.

“Students across the country have grown up witnessing what Mayor Giuliani did to transform New York City and we saw him lead in times of crisis. It’s exactly this kind of leadership that we are looking for in our next President to ensure that we all have opportunities to succeed,” said Paradise.

“These students have been a big part of our early success in the state,” said Barry Wynn, South Carolina State Chair for the Giuliani Campaign. “As the Mayor’s campaign continues to attract supporters across the state we’ll continue to rely on the enthusiasm of these young leaders to help Rudy win in South Carolina.”

About State Chair Phil Paradise:

Phil Paradise is a senior at the College of Charleston. He is the Governor of the South Carolina Student Legislature and the Vice President of his Senior Class. He has a triple major in Political Science, Urban Studies and Historic Preservation.

South Carolina College Students for Rudy:

Elizabeth Louise Armstrong, Clemson University

Chapter Co-Chair Reed Bjorkman, University of South Carolina Upstate

Chapter Chair Laura Bolos, University of South CarolinaPatrick Ross Boylan, Clemson University

Chapter ChairJoseph Brown, Medical University of South Carolina

Chapter Chair Curtis Gerald Condra, Francis Marion University, Chapter Co-Chair John Cornely, Wofford College

Chapter Chair William Brice Dent, University of South Carolina

Charles Diez, College of Charleston, Chapter Co-Chair

Caroline R. Elliott, University of South Carolina

Elizabeth Ann Ellis, University of South Carolina

Elise Christine Ewing, University of South Carolina

Alexandra Rane Gehringer, University of South Carolina, Chapter Co-Chair

Anthony J. Gentile, The Citadel, Chapter Chair

Kate Marie Hansson, University of South Carolina

Andrew G.B. Heath, College of Charleston Law School, Chapter Chair

Christopher E. Holder, University of South Carolina

Patrick Lee Laban, Francis Marion University, Chapter Co-Chair

Jonathon M. Mahler, Coastal Carolina University, Chapter Co-Chair

Margaret-Ellen McDermott, Converse College, Chapter Chair

Kelly Marie McDonough, Clemson University, Chapter Co-Chair

Mallory Jeanne Morris, Winthrop University, Chapter Chair

Benjamin Matthew Pangle, Clemson University

Thank you very much Gil. Thank you for inviting me here. I’ve come here to speak with you about our shared values and shared goals because I truly believe that what unites us is much greater than any of the things that divide us, whether it’s you and I or all the people of America.

The American people want their political leaders to reason together and to find solutions to the challenges that we all face.

But the culture here in Washington, D.C.—and I try to spend as little time in Washington, D.C. as I can because I’m afraid there’s something in the air here that prevents, and I mean that not so much as a joke as an unfortunate reality.

It sort of prevents people from thinking in terms of solving problems and finding solutions and you talk about Washington gridlock all over the country. It’s real.

It exists. And even when we discuss the role of faith and values in our politics, unfortunately the discussion is all of a sudden turned around to something negative. It’s usually more about what people are against and what people are for.

And like many of you, I think that we’ve got to find a way to be more inclusive. Christians and Christianity is all about inclusiveness.

It’s built around the most profound act of love in human history isn’t it? It grew from a persecuted few people in the Roman Empire to the most widespread religion in the world by spreading a message of love, of hope, of faith, profound optimism, and with its hands out to everyone.

They followed Christ’s commandment to administer to the sick and the needy. They reached out to the doubters and the non-believers, to the sinners.

It was the love those early Christians displayed that drew first thousands and then millions to Christianity. Non-believers saw the display of love of Christians and said I want to be part of that.

It must be a miracle behind that that people can love each other so much and care about each other so much. They can love each other so much that they can even forgive the people who persecuted them.

This is a religion of inclusion. They were always looking for people to bring into the fold. They were truly defined by what they were for, not what they were against.

I’m running for President of the United States because I believe I can bring us together. Strong leadership can help us find common solutions to our problems.

When I look to the future, my head’s not down. My head is up. Nobody in this country should have their heads down. If we have our heads down in this kind of negativity, where’s the rest of the world going to go?

I mean this is the greatest country on earth. We are the luckiest and most fortunate people on earth to be living here. We may have big problems, but we have bigger solutions...

The Rudy Giuliani Presidential Committee today announced the endorsements of Santa Ana City Councilman Carlos Bustamante and San Jose City Councilman Pete Constant.

They join other county supervisors and former state officials throughout California supporting Mayor Giuliani for President.

“Rudy has become the clear choice of voters in California and his commitment to the state is unmatched by any other candidate in the race,” said Giuliani’s California State Chairman Bill Simon.

“As a former Mayor, Rudy knows the challenges city and county governments face, which is why he is committed to ensuring that California’s local communities have the resources they need to provide citizens with the highest quality of life.”

Today’s endorsements follow the “Super Saturday” grassroots effort this past weekend, where supporters gathered to help build on Rudy’s momentum across the state.

California Community Leaders:

Carlos Bustamante, Santa Ana City Council

Pete Constant, San Jose City Council

Joni Gray, Santa Barbara County Supervisor

Tom Indrieri, Colusa County Board of Supervisors

Jim Wattenburger, Mendocino Board of Supervisors

Tricia Hunter, former State Assemblywoman, San Diego

David Kelley, former State Senator, Riverside County

Ken Maddox, former State Assemblyman, Orange County

October 13, 2007 Rudy Giuliani

Tommy Thompson Endorses Rudy Giuliani for PresidentToday

The Rudy Giuliani Presidential Committee today announced that Tommy Thompson, former Republican Presidential candidate and Wisconsin Governor, has endorsed Mayor Giuliani for President. Thompson will serve as National Co-Chair of the Mayor’s campaign.

Thompson, who also served as Secretary of Health and Human Services under President George W. Bush, was elected to an historic four terms as Wisconsin Governor. As National Co-Chair, Thompson will help promote Rudy’s record of results and leadership as Mayor of New York City, while talking about the Mayor’s bold vision for America.

"Rudy Giuliani has shown that he is a true leader. He is America’s Mayor and during a period of time of great stress for this country he showed tremendous leadership,” said Governor Thompson. “He can and will win the nomination and the Presidency of the United States."

"I’m honored to have the endorsement and support of Governor Tommy Thompson,” said Mayor Giuliani. “He is a strong conservative with a record of achieving fiscal discipline, implementing tort reform, and bringing about innovation in government. Governor Thompson gave leadership to the Department of Health and Human Services during a period of great crisis, and his expertise in this area is invaluable. I’m honored to have his support and I look forward to learning from his experience and leadership."

About Governor Tommy Thompson:

Governor Thompson was elected to four terms as Wisconsin Governor, beginning in 1986 and serving until his appointment as President George W. Bush’s Secretary of Health and Human Services in 2001. He served in that capacity until 2005.

As Wisconsin Governor, Thompson is best known for his efforts to revitalize the state’s economy and for his national leadership on welfare reform. Thompson served as the nation’s leading advocate for the health and welfare of all Americans as head of the United States Department of Health and Human Services.

Governor Thompson has been recognized for his commitment to public service, including being named Governing Magazine’s Public Official of the Year. He is a former chairman of the National Governors’ Association, the Education Commission of the States and the Midwestern Governors’ Conference.

Governor Thompson’s long and distinguished public service career began when he won a seat in Wisconsin’s state Assembly in 1966, which included service as Assembly Minority Leader. He received both his B.S. and J.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Mayor Rudy Giuliani Interview With Sean Hannity

Sep 24th

SEAN HANNITY: “You had as Mayor of New York a number of confrontations with some of these leaders and now we have this controversy at Columbia today with Mahmud Ahmadinejad and the invitation by Columbia. Your thoughts?”

Rudy Giuliani: “My thoughts are he should never have been invited in the first place. I think this is a distinguished lecture series, what it suggests is you make a selection right? But thousands of people conceivably would want to speak at Columbia, they only pick a certain number, and it would seem to me you don’t pick somebody who is the biggest—the head of the government that’s the biggest sponsor of state terrorism in the world, a government that is by every indication that we have presently engaged in activities that are resulting in the death of American troops., someone who has threatened the existence of the state of Israel, denied the Holocaust. I heard some of his answers on the Holocaust, of course they were absurd. The idea that it needs further research. I think the fact of the Holocaust has been pretty darn well established, doesn’t need further research. This is just part of his constant refrain of anti-Semitism, threats on Israel, threats on the United States. … Doing this, giving him this kind of status—even though the President of Columbia introduced him with an insult, he just responded with an insult—I believe this may underscore some of their fantasies that they really do have a world stage and that they really should be taken seriously and maybe they can fool us and maybe they can fool a certain number of us. So I think this is a damaging thing doing something like this with someone as deranged as Ahmadinejad is. You have no idea what you’re playing with here. So why would you invite him to a distinguished lecture series?”

HANNITY: “While Bollinger in his introduction said his views were ridiculous, the Holocaust is not an issue in dispute, that his arguments were absurd.”

Rudy Giuliani: “But then he turned the podium over to him.”

HANNITY: “Well then he turned the podium over to him and I’ll tell you what was more frightening to me, immediately thereafter, here was Ahmadinejad basically saying he found the introduction insulting but more importantly I want you to listen to the students’ reactions and clapping for Ahmadinejad in the background. … Does that student reaction frighten you as much as it does me?”Rudy Giuliani: “Well here’s—this is really to my point, Sean. It frightens me because I don’t know what kind of reaction Ahmadinejad has to that, which means he comes away from this thinking, hey there’s a strong level of support for me in the United States of America, maybe I can push these people a little further, maybe I can take advantage of them a little bit more. That’s why I say in spite of the fact that the president of Columbia introduced him with an insult, he turned the podium over to him and he comes away from it. Ahmadinejad comes away from it saying, ‘Sure there are people there that don’t like me and opposed me and booed me, but hey, there were an awful lot of people there that applauded for me too. So I have some support there.’ And who knows what that results in when you’re dealing—look we have to come to the conclusion that Ahmadinejad is an irrational man. You don’t say the things he says if you’re working on, kind of a rational script. The denial of the Holocaust, the threat of—against Israel, the ways in which he gives five different versions of every single answer. This is a man who’s living in this fantasy world of jihad and world domination by Islamic extremism.”

HANNITY: “And providing the weaponry to kill American troops.”

Rudy Giuliani: “And providing weaponry right now, right as we’re speaking possibly taking the lives of American troops. And we hand him a podium at Columbia University. And have no idea of what impact that can have on him? And the idea that it’s in the name of free speech, well that isn’t correct. Not everybody gets to speak at Columbia. …”

Statement from Giuliani National Campaign Co-Chair Steve ForbesToday

The Rudy Giuliani Presidential Committee released the following statement today from Steve Forbes:

“Results speak louder than rhetoric – that’s why Rudy Giuliani’s record of cutting taxes and slashing government spending makes him the true fiscal conservative in the race.”

GIULIANI’S NEW YORK CITY VS. ROMNEY’S MASSACHUSETTSTodayBy Every Measure, Rudy Giuliani Is The Real Fiscal Conservative

“There is one Republican candidate in the race with a track record of cutting taxes 23 times and that is Rudy Giuliani. No amount of political spin can help Mitt Romney re-write the history books. Mitt Romney failed to pass a single tax cut as Governor and the Cato Institute gave him a ‘C’ for his handling of the economy as Governor. Mitt Romney can repackage himself as many times as he wants but his failing fiscal record speaks for itself.”– Katie Levinson, Communications Director

GIULIANI ECONOMY GREW FASTER THAN NATION’S WHILE ROMNEY ECONOMY LAGGED FAR BEHIND

Real GDP In New York City Increased 35.44% From $316 Billion In 1993 To $428 Billion In 2001. (Monthly Report On Current Economic Conditions, City Of New York Office Of Management And Budget, 5/2/03)

* Which Outpaced National Growth Of 31.3%. (U.S. Commerce Department Bureau Of Economic Analysis Website, http://www.bea.gov/national/xls/gdplev.xls, Accessed 8/14/07)

Romney Administration Saw Real GDP In Massachusetts Grow By Just 9.37%. (“Real Growth Domestic Product By State, 1997-2006,” U.S. Department Of Commerce; Bureau Of Economic Analysis, http://www.bea.gov/regional/gsp/action.cfm, Accessed 8/14/07)

* Which Lagged Behind National Rate Of 13.12%. (“Real Growth Domestic Product By State, 1997-2006,” U.S. Department Of Commerce; Bureau Of Economic Analysis, http://www.bea.gov/regional/gsp/action.cfm, Accessed 8/14/07)

GIULIANI SLASHED GOVERNMENTSPENDING, ROMNEY INCREASED IT

Rudy Giuliani Reduced Real Per Capita Government Spending By Unprecedented 6.82%. (New York City Gross City Product Data 1990-2005, City Of New York Office Of Comptroller; City Of New York Office Of Management And Budget, The City Of New York Executive Budget Fiscal Year 2000 Message Of The Mayor, p.3; City Of New York Office Of Management And Budget, The City Of New York Executive Budget Fiscal Year 2002 Message Of The Mayor, p. 3; Comptroller of the City of New York, Comprehensive Annual Financial Report of the Comptroller for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2003, 10/31/03; U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics Website, data.bls.gov, Accessed 5/3/07)

* Reduced Government Spending As Percentage Of City GDP Every Year Except 2001. (New York City Gross City Product Data 1990-2005, City Of New York Office Of Comptroller; City Of New York Office Of Management And Budget, The City Of New York Executive Budget Fiscal Year 2000 Message Of The Mayor, p.3; City Of New York Office Of Management And Budget, The City Of New York Executive Budget Fiscal Year 2002 Message Of The Mayor, p. 3)

* New York’s Economy Grew Nearly Twice As Fast As Government Spending Did. (New York City Gross City Product Data 1990-2005, City Of New York Office Of Comptroller; City Of New York Office Of Management And Budget, The City Of New York Executive Budget Fiscal Year 2000 Message Of The Mayor, p.3; City Of New York Office Of Management And Budget, The City Of New York Executive Budget Fiscal Year 2002 Message Of The Mayor, p. 3)

* Turned $2.3 Billion Dollar Budget Deficit Into $2.9 Billion Surplus By FY 2001. (Steven Lee Myers, “A Deficit Revisited,” The New York Times, 7/31/94; City Of New York Office Of The Comptroller, Fiscal Year 2001 Comprehensive Annual Report: Basic Financial Statements Part II-A, p. 14)

* Cut Over 20,000 Full-Time City-Funded City Jobs (Nearly 20%) Excluding Teachers And Uniformed Police Officers. (City Of New York Office Of Management And Budget, The City Of New York Executive Budget Fiscal Year 2002 Message Of The Mayor: Appendix 5A, p. 276)

DuPage County Officials Support Giuliani for PresidentToday

The Rudy Giuliani Presidential Committee today announced DuPage County, Illinois endorsements. Joining Team Rudy are DuPage County Sheriff John Zaruba, DuPage Clerk of the Circuit Court Chris Kachiroubas and DuPage County Board Chairman Bob Schillerstrom. These endorsements come just as Mayor Giuliani makes a visit to the county tomorrow.

Zaruba, Schillerstrom and Kachiroubas join a growing list of DuPage supporters, including State Senator Christine Radogno, DuPage County State’s Attorney Joseph Birkett, and State Representatives Bob Biggins, Franco Coladipiertro and Dennis Reboletti.

“There is no candidate who has been tougher on crime and is more committed to making our communities safer than Rudy Giuliani,” said Sherriff Zaruba. “I’m supporting Mayor Giuliani because he proved he can get results.”

“Community leaders, elected officials and voters all over the state of Illinois are embracing Mayor Giuliani’s strong leadership and bold vision for America,” said Giuliani’s State Chairman Tom Cross. “Illinois is going to have a voice in determining the Republican nominee, which is why I’m excited by the strong organizational support for the Mayor across the state.”

About Rudy Giuliani's DuPage County Supporters:

Sheriff John ZarubaSheriff Zaruba is a lifelong resident of DuPage County. He has been a member of the DuPage County Sheriff’s Office since 1974, was appointed Sheriff in April of 1997 and was elected to the office in 1998 and 2002 by the citizens of DuPage County. He has worked in nearly every facet of the office, including corrections, court security, patrol, accreditation and planning and research.

Chris KachiroubasKachiroubas serves as the Clerk of the 18th Judicial Circuit Court, which is the second largest court system in Illinois. Since 2004, when Kachiroubas became Clerk, he has made public service and access to the Court’s record his number one priority. He continues to focus on reducing customer wait times, increasing the use of technology supporting the court cases and has eliminated labor intensive processes.

Bob SchillerstromSchillerstrom, as the County Board Chairman, serves as the chief operating officer of the County Board, supervising the implementation of the Board’s policies and programs. Schillerstrom prepares the proposed annual budget, makes committee assignments, appoints committee chairmen and recommends new and special committees as the need arises.

trategy Memo: 4th Quarter KickoffToday

TO: TEAM RUDY

FROM: BRENT SEABORN, STRATEGY DIRECTOR

RE: 4th QUARTER KICKOFF

DATE: OCTOBER 2, 2007

REPUBLICAN PRIMARY FIELD

The fourth quarter of 2007 will accelerate the Republican nomination process and begin to sort the race out even more.

Rudy Giuliani continues to lead all major media polls. A recent Pew Report poll1 reports Mayor Giuliani’s percentage of the ballot share has increased 5 points from the previous Pew survey conducted in July2. The most recent Pew survey also reports Mayor Giuliani leading the important Republican candidate attribute categories of "tough", "energetic" and "smart", among a handful of others3. A recent FOX News poll4 reports Rudy Giuliani’s ballot support has increased 5 points from the previous FOX News poll conducted in August5.

In addition to national polling, Rudy Giuliani is favorably positioned in a number of early and February 5 primary states. The Mayor leads nearly all Florida primary polls with a 2007 average of 30%, followed by Thompson 17%, McCain 14% and Romney 9%. Mayor Giuliani is consistently in 1st or 2nd place in South Carolina public polling, essentially in a dead heat with former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson. In addition, the Mayor is running strong in Iowa, solidly in second place and starting to close the gap behind Governor Romney. Romney was enjoying a clear advantage in New Hampshire in mid-summer. However, Mayor Giuliani is now within a point or two of the first place spot in New Hampshire, with a recent NH poll reporting the Mayor and Romney in a statistical tie for the top spot6. Beyond the early states, Rudy Giuliani is the frontrunner in delegate-rich February 5 states such as California, Illinois, New Jersey and New York.

As it stands today, Senator McCain’s support in national public polling has recovered somewhat. His national average has increased about 5 points from his summer low of about 10% according to the Real Clear Politics average. Still, it seems that McCain is capped at approximately 18% or 19% of Republican primary vote share as the field now stands.

Voters responded to Fred Thompson’s September entry into the GOP Primary race with a smaller-than-expected announcement bounce. Typically an announcement will generate about a 10 point bounce. Senator Thompson’s bounce ranged from zero points to 8 points, but averaged less than 4 points — certainly not what was expected for a campaign that spent so much time preparing to get in the race.

DATE

THOMPSON

+/- FROM PREVIOUS POLL

SURVEY9/12-9/16 21 +3 PEW Report

9/10-9/12 19 no change AP/Ipsos

9/11-9/12 22 +8 FOX News

9/7-9/10 26 +6 NBC/Wall Street Journal

9/7-9/9 27 +5 CNN

9/4-9/9 22 +4 CBS/New York Times

9/7-9/8 22 +3 USA Today/Gallup Poll

9/4-9/7 19 +5 ABC News/Washington Post

Mitt Romney’s campaign spent more than $30 million during the first 2 quarters of 2007 and outspent others by $9 million or more. Nationally, the Romney campaign has spent $8 million on television and radio advertisements. And Romney’s Iowa Straw Poll victory had a likely price tag of more than $4 million. Romney’s campaign has spent nearly $2 million on television in New Hampshire and more than $1 million in South Carolina and Florida. In the 3rd quarter of 2007 alone, Governor Romney will have put more than $5 million of ads on the air.

In late August, Governor Romney enjoyed nearly a 20 point advantage in Iowa; over the past month his lead over Mayor Giuliani has narrowed to an average of 10 points. Late July and early August polling in New Hampshire reported Romney leading Mayor Giuliani by about 14 points. His New Hampshire advantage has now narrowed to an average of only 4 points.

Over the course of 2007, Romney has averaged only 11% in South Carolina. The Romney campaign is preparing to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on television in South Carolina — we will have to see if South Carolinians are receptive to his message.

Michigan, one of Mitt Romney’s home states, has recently moved their primary to mid-January. One recent public poll reports Mayor Giuliani leading the GOP field with a 14 point advantage7, though others show a statistical dead heat.

Senator McCain’s resurgence has reshaped the race in Florida somewhat; he and Governor Romney are now in a stiff competition for 3rd place in Florida. Here too, the Romney campaign has been spending hundreds of thousands of dollars each week.

Primary elections usually set up contrasts. An interesting component of the race is that no candidate has clearly positioned themselves as the social conservative alternative to Mitt Romney. Fred Thompson entered the race expecting to take the position as the primary social conservative alternative to Romney, but Mike Huckabee has also impressed many primary voters and there is no clear social conservative favorite.

Most notably, Rudy Giuliani continues to hold strong with socially conservative voters. Socially conservative voters are becoming more comfortable with Mayor Giuliani as they hear him speak clearly about his agenda. Two of the Mayor’s 12 Commitments that are most important are "to increase the number of adoptions, reduce the number of abortions and protect the quality of life for our children." And no candidate has better credentials on judges and the Mayor has committed to "reform the legal system and appoint strict constructionist judges."

A recent Gallup Poll report released last week points out that Mayor Giuliani leads among all Republican subgroups — including with Conservative Republicans, those who attend church weekly, Protestant/Christians and Catholics.8

2008 GENERAL ELECTION

Rudy Giuliani

President Bush made news last week saying Hillary Clinton will likely be the Democratic nominee — something the Mayor has been acknowledging for some time. Mayor Giuliani is clearly the strongest candidate to run against Senator Clinton in the general election and is likely the only Republican candidate that can beat her in 2008.

National polling head-to-head averages on Real Clear Politics show Rudy Giuliani running approximately 8 points stronger than Mitt Romney and about 5 points stronger than Fred Thompson against Clinton in the general election.

In reviewing states with public polls testing hypothetical general election match-ups, Mayor Giuliani runs 6 to 7 points stronger than Fred Thompson against Hillary Clinton. In the most recent state general election polling, Mayor Giuliani beats Hillary Clinton in swing Republican states of Arizona, Colorado, Missouri and Nevada.

More importantly, the Mayor puts blue states like Connecticut, New Jersey, Wisconsin, California, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Washington in play. Pat Toomey, President of the Club for Growth, states that "If Giuliani wins the nomination, he would be a fascinating candidate in that he really re-draws the map." Toomey points out that Giuliani could carry New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania ‘"so he changes the political calculus of the Electoral College dramatically."9 And Mayor Giuliani may be the only Republican candidate that can now compete and win in Ohio against Hillary Clinton.

These states are critical, not only because Rudy can win them, but if Rudy is the nominee, Democrats will be forced to spend money in California, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, New York and Washington — states that they have spent almost no money in over the last few election cycles. Hillary Clinton will be forced to advertise in New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago — the 3 most expensive media markets in the country, something Democrats haven’t had to do in 20 years. This will effectively take Florida off of the Democrat’s target map — making it a safe Republican state in 2008 if Rudy Giuliani is the nominee. If another Republican is the nominee, traditional blue states will be safe, meaning the Democrats can plow all their resources into Ohio and Florida.

In addition, if Democrats have to spend money competing in Connecticut and New Jersey, they will have to buy New York City television. One week of New York City television will cost the Democrats $3 million dollars, a week of time in Los Angles would cost $2.5 million and a week of television in Chicago would cost $1.5. By forcing them to compete in "blue" states they will have fewer resources to spend in Republican leaning states like Colorado, Iowa, Nevada and New Mexico, reducing the number of "red" states Democrats will compete in.

Because of the Mayor’s ability to compete in all of these states and force the Democrats to defend many states they have long considered "safe," Mayor Giuliani also gives our Republican congressional candidates in swing districts the best chance for winning, giving us our best chance at retaking the House in 2008. "A recent survey by Democratic pollster Celinda Lake showed Clinton and Obama trailing Mayor Giuliani in the 31 Democratic-held House districts regarded as most imperiled in 2008, and even potentially serving as a drag on those lawmakers’ reelection chances. It paints a ‘sobering picture’ for Democrats, according to a memo by Lake and Daniel Gotoff that accompanies the poll report. Giuliani takes 49 percent to Clinton’s 39 percent, while the former mayor’s lead over Obama is far smaller, 41 percent to 40 percent. ‘Despite Obama’s relative advantage over Clinton, both candidates are significantly underperforming against the generic Democratic edge in the presidential and even against party identification,’ Lake and Gotoff wrote."10

CONCLUSION

As this race enters the home stretch, Mayor Giuliani continues lead every national poll while no single opponent has emerged to threaten his frontrunner status. By November, we will likely see which candidate pulls away from the rest of the second-tier and becomes the Mayor’s primary opposition. Senator McCain has rebounded from his summer lows but seems to have a limited potential for growth. Mitt Romney has spent tens of millions of dollars, yet has failed to become a significant player on the national stage. And we have yet to see if Fred Thompson will try to compete as a regional or a national candidate.

As the MoveOn attacks on the Mayor demonstrate, there is no candidate that Hillary Clinton and the Democrats fear more in the general election than Rudy Giuliani. That strength is further supported by recent poll numbers showing Mayor Giuliani as the Republican’s strongest general election candidate and reiterated by Democratic polling in swing Democratic congressional districts.1 Pew Report national poll – 9/12/07-9/16/07; RWG 32%, Thompson 21%, Romney 9%, McCain 15.2 Pew Report national poll – 7/25/07-7/29/07; RWG 27%, Thompson 18%, Romney 10%, McCain 16%.3 Pew Report national poll – 9/12/07-9/16/07; "Tough": RWG 39%, Thompson 18%, McCain 26%, Romney 2%."Energetic": RWG 48%, Thompson 8%, McCain 11%, Romney 14%. "Smart": RWG 29%, Thompson 17%, McCain 17%, Romney 12%.4 FOX News national poll – 9/11/07-9/12/07; RWG 34%, Thompson 22%, McCain 16%, Romney 8%.5 FOX News national poll – conducted 8/21/07-8/22/07: RWG 29%, Thompson 14%, Romney 11%, McCain 7%.6 CNN/WMUR New Hampshire poll – 9/17/07-9/24/07; RWG 24%, Thompson 13%, Romney 25%, McCain 18%.7 Market Research Group poll – 9/13/07-9/19/07; RWG 27%, Thompson 13%, Romney 13%, McCain 6%.8 Jeffrey M. Jones, "Frontrunner Giuliani Leading Among Most Republican Subgroups," The Gallup Poll 28 Sept. 2007: http://www.galluppoll.com/content/default.aspx?ci=288289 Salena Zito, "The Club for Growth 2008," Pittsburgh Tribune-Review 23 Sept. 2007.10 Chris Cillizza and Shailagh Murray, "In Swing Districts, Democratic Enthusiasm is Harder to Come By," Washington Post 23 Sept. 2007: A02.

Top Republicans Join Giuliani’s Growing Connecticut CampaignSep 28th

The Rudy Giuliani Presidential Committee today unveiled its Connecticut regional chairs. Also joining Team Rudy are eleven current and former Connecticut legislators.

The regional chairs, who will head up the Mayor’s campaign in their respective Congressional Districts, are Republican State Central Committeeman Ralph Capenera, State Senator John Kissel, State Representative Ray Kalinowski, Middletown Mayor Sebastian Giuliano, East Haven Mayor Joseph Maturo, State Senator Dan Debicella, and New Britain Mayor Timothy Stewart.

“We are excited to have a fully organized campaign team in Connecticut for Mayor Giuliani,” said Senate Minority Leader John McKinney, Giuliani’s State Campaign Chairman. “The caliber of respected Republicans eager to work on behalf of the Mayor in our state shows that he is clearly Connecticut’s choice to be our next President.”

House Republican Leader Lawrence F. Cafero Jr., also Chairman of the Mayor’s Connecticut campaign, added, “Connecticut voters know of the executive leadership experience and the record of real results Rudy Giuliani got as Mayor of our neighbor New York City. We know he is the most experienced candidate who will get the same real results as President of the United States.”

These individuals join McKinney and Cafero, as well as House Assistant Republican Leader Dave Labriola and State Representative Penny Bacchiochi, Giuliani’s State Campaign Co-Chairs.

About Connecticut Regional Chairs of Rudy Giuliani:

Ralph Capenera, 1st Congressional District Regional Chair:Capenera is a businessman currently serving his second term on the Republican State Central Committee. He is also host of the cable-access television program “Ralph Talk.” He lives in Rocky Hill.

Senator John Kissel, 2nd Congressional District Regional Chair:State Senator Kissel represents the 7th Senatorial District and serves on the Judiciary, Human Services, Program Review and Investigations, and Commerce Committees. He lives in Enfield.

Representative Ray Kalinowski, 2nd Congressional District Regional Chair:Kalinowski represents the 100th Legislative District, serves on the Public Safety and Security Committee, Environment Committee, is a ranking member of the Select Committee on Veteran’s Affairs, and is a former selectman of Durham.

Mayor Sebastian Giuliano, 3rd Congressional District Regional Chair:“Seb” Giuliano was born, raised and has spent his adult life dedicated to Middletown.

Mayor Joe Maturo, 3rd Congressional District Regional Chair:A life-long resident of East Haven, Maturo is formerly a firefighter with the East Haven Fire Department where he was awarded three Medals of Merit. He is a master electrician and former substitute teacher who served on the East Haven Town Council from 1993 to 1995.

Arthur DeSorbo, 3rd Congressional District Regional Co-Chair:DeSorbo is Director of Administration and Management for the Town of East Haven.

Senator Dan Debicella, 4th Congressional District Regional Chair: Debicella, the State Senator from the 21st District, has been a resident of Shelton for over 20 years. He currently serves on the Appropriations Committee, Environment Committee, and serves as the ranking member on the Commerce and Higher Education committees.

Mayor Timothy T. Stewart, 5th Congressional District Regional Chair:Tim Stewart was born and raised in New Britain. He served as a New Britain firefighter and then Fire Inspector, as well as the Vice President of New Britain Firefighters Union, Local 992. He is currently in his second term as the first Republican mayor to be re-elected in New Britain in 36 years.

Additional Connecticut Legislators:Senator Leonard Fasano, 34th DistrictSenator Judith Freedman, 26th DistrictRepresentative Alfred Adinolfi, 103rd DistrictRepresentative Toni Boucher, 143rd DistrictRepresentative Vincent Candelora, 86th DistrictRepresentative Anthony D’Amelio, 71st DistrictRepresentative John Hetherington, 125th DistrictRepresentative DebraLee Hovey, 112th DistrictRepresentative Julia Wasserman, 106th DistrictFormer Representative Brian FlahertyFormer Representative Chris DePino

Previously Announced Connecticut Legislators: Senator Dan DebicellaSenator John KisselSenator John McKinneyRepresentative Penny BacchiochiRepresentative Lawrence F. Cafero, Jr.Representative Ray KalinowskiRepresentative Dave Labriola

Full Archive

Rudy Commits to Expanding School ChoiceToday

In remarks today before the National Federation of Republican Women Convention in Palm Springs, California, Mayor Rudy Giuliani spoke about his Commitment to provide access to a quality education to every child in America by giving real school choice to parents.

As President, Mayor Giuliani will advocate establishing a competitive grant process to fund new school voucher programs for students trapped in failing schools so American families can have real educational options for their children. He also promotes the expansion charter schools, while providing equal funding and facilities. In addition, the Mayor’s plan empowers states to expand options for parents of special education students and establishes a pilot program that offers educational options to children of active-duty military personnel.

"We’re going to take the decision-making and we’re going to put it in the hands of the people who really know the children, really love the children, really care about the children, more than anyone else: the parents," said Mayor Giuliani.

Expanding school choice is one of Rudy’s 12 Commitments to the American People. The Mayor has traveled the country over the last several months unveiling his Commitments, a bold vision aimed at moving America forward.

FDU Poll: Giuliani, Clinton hold sizable leads in NJ

From: Newsday.com

5:01 AM EDT, September 28, 2007

With BC-NJ--Poll-Presidential Politics-Glance

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) _ The two front-runners in the presidential race got more good news from New Jersey as the second poll in less than a week found them maintaining sizable leads against their nearest opponents.

The Fairleigh Dickinson University-PublicMind Poll finds former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani with 48 percent support among Republicans and New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton with 46 percent of Democrats' support.

On the Republican side, Giuliani's closest rival is former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson with 12 percent. Among Democrats, Clinton's closest competitor, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, has 19 percent.

The poll, released Friday, mirrors Wednesday's Quinnipiac University survey. That poll had Giuliani leading Thompson 45 percent to 12 percent. It had Clinton ahead of Obama 46 percent to 15 percent.

"New Jersey voters know Clinton and Giuliani, and that name recognition makes them the automatic favorites," said Dan Cassino, a political science professor at Fairleigh Dickinson and a survey analyst for PublicMind. "The race here is really theirs to lose."

The telephone survey of 701 New Jersey voters was conducted Sept. 17-23 with a sampling error margin of plus or minus 4 percentage points. The survey includes 220 Republicans with a sampling error margin of plus or minus 7 percentage points and 345 Democrats with a sampling error margin of plus or minus 5 percentage points.

The Rudy Giuliani Presidential Committee announced today former California Governor Pete Wilson has endorsed Rudy Giuliani for President. Wilson, whose public service in California ranged from serving as Mayor of San Diego to U.S. Senator to two-term Governor, is the latest in a strong delegation of support for Giuliani in California.

Wilson is currently a distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. Similar to Rudy Giuliani’s accomplishments as New York City Mayor, Wilson gained prominence by revitalizing San Diego in his eleven years as Mayor. In San Diego, Wilson declared an increased emphasis on public safety and held the city government accountable.

"The Republican Party is fortunate to have Rudy Giuliani as a candidate. Rudy’s executive experience and record of results in New York are unmatched," said Governor Wilson. "Rudy has proven he is the leader and the problem solver this country needs as President, and he is the Republican’s best opportunity to win the general election because of that.”

“Pete Wilson’s accomplishments in virtually all levels of government in California prove that common sense governing is key to success in public service,” said Mayor Giuliani. “Pete will be an excellent advocate for our campaign and I am grateful to have his support.”

About Governor Pete Wilson:

Wilson is a distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution. He served as the thirty-sixth governor of California (1991-1999), eight years as a United States Senator (1983-1991), eleven years as Mayor of San Diego (1971-1983), and five years as a California State Assemblyman (1967-1971).

In the U.S. Senate, Wilson served as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and became a leading voice on national defense and U.S. foreign policy.

Wilson attended Yale University and served three years as a United States Marine Corps infantry officer. Upon completion of his military obligation, Wilson earned a law degree from the University of California, Berkeley.

Giuliani Outlines Tax Plan, Blasts DemocratsPresidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani on Saturday said Democrats would raise taxes and brutalize the economy if they win the 2008 presidential election.

In contrast, Giuliani said he would lower taxes, make permanent President Bush's tax cuts and eliminate inheritance taxes.

''The Democrats believe in government when they have a choice. Republicans believe in people when we have a choice. ... The Republican Party is the party of the people. The Democratic Party is the party of the government,'' Giuliani said during a speech to outline his views on taxes.

Giuliani criticized Democrats who want to repeal President Bush's tax cuts.

“When it's working, let's change it. That's a brilliant philosophy. …” Giuliani said.

He said that, under a Democratic White House, a family of four earning $50,000 a year would pay an extra $2,000 a year in taxes--a 155 percent increase.

''I think the promise to raise taxes is a promise they will keep,'' he said.

Rudy Giuliani also advocated a permanent child tax credit and lower marginal tax rates.

Giuliani outlined his tax policies during a town hall-style meeting with former presidential hopeful Steve Forbes, who is a top campaign adviser, and former Massachusetts Gov. Paul Cellucci.

Giuliani wants to tie marginal tax rates to the current levels--set there temporarily--and perhaps cut the rates further. The former New York mayor also plans to tie the alternati