December 19, 2007
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way… (A.B. Stoddard)
Seen Rudy recently? It's hard to find the Republican front-runner, I know. But he gave Mike Huckabee just one day to bask in the glow of Baby Jesus after releasing his widely aired Christmas ad Tuesday. Now you can find Rudy on his website in a red sweater vest, wishing everyone a Merry Christmas (and Happy Holiday) too.
Two weeks ago everyone was touting Huckabee's rise as an early Christmas present to Giuliani. That clown was gonna knock Mitt Romney out of the play in Iowa and three weeks later a victory in Florida on Jan. 29 would propel Rudy to a sweep on Super Tuesday, Feb. 5. But a crazy thing happened on the way to Rudy's late-state victory. Huckabee stuck.
Polls now show Huckabee not only leads Rudy in Florida but is tied with him for first place in a new national poll conducted by Reuters/Zogby. His rise has been so forceful he not only leads in Iowa and South Carolina but is tied for first in Michigan and is first in Florida, according to Rasmussen Reports. The oxygen Huckabee has sucked from the field poses a serious threat to Giuliani's plan to skip the early states — a New York Times article included coverage of Giuliani's major speech in Florida last week only after news about Huckabee in the first several paragraphs, as if the speech was an afterthought.
In his speech Giuliani said he hoped to bring a "revitalized, 50-state Republican Party" to the White House in 2009, and one can see his plan to be there to unite an unsettled field and dispirited party after a divided and indecisive first month of primaries. But that will require someone stopping Huckabee. If Romney can't do it, Rudy may want to think about trying himself.
***
Who is the Republican front-runner? Send me your thoughts and a question to askab@thehill.com and join my weekly video Q & A.
Permalink TrackBack EMail This Post
Share this post
What's This 5 Comments
»
The Hill welcomes comment from anyone and will almost always post it whether it is favorable or critical, as long as it is substantive and advances debate.
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
It is time for someone to give Rudy the stagehook. What a pathetic individual.
The amazing thing is, if Rudy demonstrates common sense (a reach, I know) and drops out of the race, he'll make millions representing his clients, a collection of America-haters and global criminals.
Not sure what I'm talking about? Google "Bracewell and Giuliani" and read for yourselves (not recommended for neocons)
Comment by Lester — December 19, 2007 @ 1:33 pm
As Joe Biden said not too long ago, Rudy is a noun, a verb and 9/11. In other articles about Rudy, they say the more he campaigns the less people like him. Thank God somebody wised up.
Comment by Mike Coleman — December 20, 2007 @ 9:55 am
That's what we need, the Huckster, a creationist, to bring us even deeper into the Dark Ages on the downward journey started by born-again Bush, two Christian fundamentalists on the long detour from reason.
Comment by Don Bacon — December 20, 2007 @ 12:37 pm
Today, I am officially downgrading Guiliani from the title I gave him. Very cautiously, I will no longer call him "the most dangerous man in America". That could change, if for some reason he gets a bump in the polls.
For now he will be downgraded to, "the most corrupt and dishinest candidate in the GOP primary" I can't saty that he is that in the GOP because that is reserved for the President and Vice President of the United States.
Comment by Chris Calbi — December 20, 2007 @ 2:09 pm
Calling people names never fed a hungry child.
Comment by Robert Rosencrans — December 23, 2007 @ 12:58 pm