Rudy Giuliani is receiving advise to get into Iowa soon and start talking to the Republican caucus there about his moderate positions on abortion and gay rights. This is going to be a hard state for him to contend in without a strong presence. The KCCI poll has him trailing John McCain by one point (27 – 26), though these numbers will change based on the strength of the candidates’ presence in Iowa.
Among Giuliani’s few early contacts with experience in caucus politics is Gordon James, a 30-year friend and political staffer to the Bush family. James said he urged the former mayor to compete in Iowa.
“They’ve been asking about Iowa. They’ve reached out to us and want to know how to do this,” said James, a former Iowan who runs a public relations firm in Phoenix. “The first thing I told them is you can ill-afford not to be a player in Iowa. Iowans will throw you off the island faster than anyone I’ve seen.”
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Although Giuliani also formed an exploratory committee last month, he has been less active in Iowa and has not begun the outreach to key Iowans many of the other lesser-recognizable prospects have already made.That’s about to change, James said.
Giuliani’s aides are in the final stages of assembling a national team and have interviewed prospective staff for regional campaign positions, including those with recent Iowa experience. In the coming days, they expect the former mayor to begin making telephone calls to top Iowa Republicans and unveil an Iowa campaign team in early January.
Giuliani supporters think there’s space for him as a pro-choice candidate.
However, supporters say those positions could invite moderate Democrats and disenchanted Republicans into the GOP’s ranks at a time when the party is reeling after suffering widespread losses nationally and in Iowa last month’s elections.
“When I talked to the Giuliani folks, they said, ‘What do you think of a pro-choice Republican running in Iowa?’ My answer was, ‘It’s never been done before.’ That is to me what’s exciting,” said Gillette, a 38-year-old self-described moderate.
I’d say that there’s a reason that there’s never been a successful pro-choice Republican running in the Iowa primary. The caucus isn’t looking for a pro-choice candidate. They want religious conservatives, pro-business flat taxers, gun rights activists, and nativists; those are the constituencies of influence in Republican Party in Iowa. The moderate, pro-choice wing is zygotic at best (no pun intended).
Giuliani should be heartened by his standing with no operation in Iowa. Maybe I’m wrong and the Iowa caucus does want a moderate, pro-choice candidate. But I think it’s more likely that Giuliani’s supporters in Iowa are expressing their support for his celebrity following 9/11 and not his position on abortion. The question then becomes do Iowans want a man fetishized after a terrorist attack with no record of notable leadership before that, other than 22 instances of First Amendment violations as mayor, who’s a social moderate to boot?
Technorati Tags: Iowa, Iowa primary, Rudy Giuliani
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