November 01, 2007
Jersey Boy: Giuliani Promises to Woo and Win Blue State Voters
Stumping for New Jersey state Senate candidates in Manalapan today, Rudy Giuliani said Democrats are most afraid of him because he is the GOP candidate who will be competitive in traditionally Democratic strongholds.
"We're going to run right here in New Jersey, and we're going to win in New Jersey," Giuliani said. "Who do you think New Jersey is going to vote for, me or Hillary?"
The Democrats have spoken extensively during the primary season about their electability, saying they can appeal to swing state voters or even, in some cases, Red State America. But with a New York mayor and a former Massachusetts governor vying for the Republican nomination, the GOP nominee could – and is in fact expected to – make a general election play for Blue State territory.
NBC/NJ’s Matthew Berger reports that Giuliani forecast that strategy today:
"One of the reasons the Republican party has essentially dried up in a number of parts of this country, one of the reasons why the Democrats got control of the Senate and the House, is because we have not run presidential campaigns in some of these states for 20 years," Giuliani said. "When you don't run a presidential campaign in a state for 20 years, your party starts to wither. Your party starts to frankly get bored. Well, we're going to have real excitement in New Jersey next year."
But Kevin Madden, a spokesman for Mitt Romney, told On Call that Giuliani is short-changing his party’s base by appealing to Democratic states.
“Running on the amorphous idea of just ‘electability’ isn’t what motivates Republican voters and grassroots activists who have spent a long time fighting for the ideas and core principles that are important to the party’s identity,” Madden said.
“On social issues and immigration enforcement, Mayor Giuliani is indistinguishable from Senator Clinton,” he added. “A pro-choice, pro-gun control Republican candidate like Mayor Giuliani can’t offer much of a contrast between Hillary Clinton in a general election. That will adversely affect our ability to win “red” states and appeal to our base voters, and it will hurt down-ballot Republicans in other states across the country. It dilutes our party’s key strengths from an ideological standpoint.”
(JENNIFER SKALKA)
Posted at 05:39 PM
Comments
"But with a New York mayor and a former Massachusetts governor vying for the Republican nomination, the GOP nominee could – and is in fact expected to – make a general election play for Blue State territory."
I wouldn't count on Romney making a dent in the Democratic stronghold of Massachusetts in the general. He left office with a DISapproval rating among REPUBLICANS there of a whopping 64%. His home state is Utah for the purposes of this election.
Mark | 11.03.07 09:51 PM
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