Giuliani and Conservatives
Ryan Sager has an interesting observation in the NY Post. He points out that Rudy "America's Mayor" Giuliani is starting to court conservatives. Sager points out that while poll numbers show the G-Man to be a viable presidential candidate in 2008, conservatives are not be flocking to his ultra left-wing stances on social issues. He is therefore courting the right much like Hillary Clinton is.

Is this the start of a thaw in relations between Rudy and the Republican Party's far right?

In the standard analysis, the right sees Giuliani's appeal when it comes to the War on Terror, but finds him utterly unacceptable on social issues (abortion, gay rights, etc.). And Paul Weyrich, head of the Free Congress Foundation, one of the top social conservative groups in Washington, tells me, "I don't see any indication of a second hearing."

"Everybody acknowledges the great job he did at the time of 9/11," Weyrich says. But, "There is no chance that he would be viable among the people that I associate with. . . . He has chosen to associate himself with these issues, and they are absolutely non-starters."

Well, Weyrich and other D.C. bigwigs can risk carpal tunnel syndrome as they strain to write off Rudy's chances for the nomination — but the rank-and-file don't seem to be on the same page.

Rudy consistently comes out on top in open-ended surveys asking Republicans who should be their next presidential nominee — and his performance seems to be quite strong with social conservatives.

Last May, the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press released what it calls a "political typology" survey, breaking down American voters into nine categories. The GOP groups included "Enterprisers" (free-market types), "Social Conservatives" (Bible Belt types) and "Pro-Government Conservatives" (poorer conservatives). Enterprisers gave Rudy a 91 percent favorable rating, and his support only fell to 75 percent among Social Conservatives. And pro-Rudy Social Conservatives were the most intense in their support for him, with 38 percent rating him very favorably.

I don't know if I agree with Sager. I tend to think that in the heat of the day-to-day struggles of a presidential campaign, Giuliani must defend his past liberal stances. Conservatives are not going to flock to him.
- posted by Base10 @ 9:15 AM