Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Giuliani Gearing Up for Return to the Ring

Byron York of the Washington Examiner reports:
Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, whose presidential campaign fizzled in 2008, is leaning toward another race for the White House, according to a close associate. New York Republican Rep. Peter King, who has known Giuliani for more than 40 years, says the former mayor "is very close to saying he's going to run." 
"If he were to make the decision today, he would run," says King. 
Speaking at a dinner with reporters in Washington, King, who was an enthusiastic Giuliani supporter in 2008, said the former mayor has been quietly lining up support and exploring strategy. Giuliani has also examined the mistakes his campaign made in '08, when he did not seriously compete in a contest until the Florida primary, by which time he was hopelessly behind in the race.

The National Journal's James Barnes reports:
At a dinner with journalists on Monday night in Washington, Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., said he thought former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani was leaning toward making another bid for the Republican presidential nomination. 
"I get the impression that he is very close to saying he's going to run," said King, speaking at a dinner hosted by The American Spectator, a conservative monthly. 
King, who was careful to add that he only considers himself on the outer ring of Giuliani's inner circle, said the former mayor and 2008 candidate "has been talking to people on the ground in New Hampshire."

"If he was making his decision today, he'd run," King said.

John DiStaso of the New Hampshire Union Leader reports:
While still undecided on whether he'll run for President, Republican former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani will return to the first-in-the-nation primary state in June, according to his top New Hampshire associate. 
Wayne Semprini, the former state GOP chairman who headed Giuliani's New Hampshire campaign in the 2007 run-up to the January 2008 leadoff presidential primary, told the Granite Status that Giuliani was encouraged enough with the reception he received during his visit on May 12 and 13 that he's coming back in early June. 
Semprini said a schedule has yet to be formulated but tentative plans call for a fund-raiser to benefit the state GOP. 
Semprini also said, however, that Giuliani "will not be available" to appear in the June 13 New Hampshire presidential primary debate cosponsored by the New Hampshire Union Leader, WMUR and CNN. 
"He has other obligations," Semprini said, "and he's not going to be a candidate by then, anyway." 
But Semprini said Giuliani, while recently hired by a presidential candidate in Peru to give advice on the development of public safety programs, continues to seriously consider whether to make a second attempt to run for President. 
"He is certainly keeping his eye on the process," Semprini said.

The Boston Globe's Shira Schoenberg reports:
As the Republican presidential field shapes up, “America’s mayor” is considering another shot at becoming America’s president. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani “is still considering it very definitely,” said Wayne Semprini, Giuilani’s 2008 New Hampshire state chairman. 
Giuliani plans to visit New Hampshire, home of the first primary, next month. It will be his third visit to the state this year. According to Semprini and Giuliani’s New Hampshire spokeswoman, Alicia Preston, Giuliani will meet with Republican groups, reconnect with friends and raise funds for other organizations, but not for his own run. 
Semprini and Preston said Giuliani’s goal is to put a Republican in the White House. “If he saw someone who he felt very definitely was likeable enough and strong enough and tough enough to take on the current president then he would get behind that person,” Semprini said. “Whether he’s seen that person yet, I don’t know. … As of now, he’s still weighing it.” 
Semprini said Giuliani would campaign on his credentials as a fiscal conservative and his record as mayor of reducing crime, improving education and “turning the city around economically.”

Paul Bedard of U.S. News & World Report writes in his Washington Whispers column:
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani isn't just thinking about running for president next year: It's his obsession and he's already mapping out a strategy to knock off GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney in New Hampshire. 
According to a long-time supporter, New York Rep. Peter King, running and winning this time is "almost a full-time business for him."
What's more, adds King, Giuliani has already been "talking to people in New Hampshire" about his strategy to focus all his early attention there, not the Iowa caucus, because beating Romney in the former Massachusetts governor's political backyard will propel the New Yorker's candidacy into the next two showdowns in South Carolina and Nevada. 
"He would focus on New Hampshire almost entirely," said King at a Monday night dinner organized by the conservative American Spectator magazine. "He is very close to running."
Giuliani ran a poor race in 2008 and King said some of the blame goes to all the strategists the former mayor hired. "They were keeping Rudy from being Rudy," said King. He said one of the political selling points Giuliani has going for him is that "you're a son of a bitch" when it comes to fighting crime, reforming welfare, and cutting taxes. 
Despite being quiet on whether or not he plans to run, Giuliani has polled well. In the most recent Suffolk University poll, he was the third choice of GOP primary voters. 
GOP pollster Frank Luntz said that Giuliani would have to work hard to win back supporters who felt he blew a great chance at the GOP nomination in 2008. “If he were to run, it would have to be all-out and he'd have to show people that he would be a different candidate from 2008. He upset donors because he didn't campaign hard enough. If he wants to almost literally move to New Hampshire, he'd be credible.”

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