January 30, 2008
From "Hero" To "Hero"
SIMI VALLEY -- A few observations following Rudy Giuliani's endorsement of John McCain just now, less than two hours before the GOP debate:
* It's not a surprise and shouldn't be described as such. As Giuliani himself noted, he said many times during the campaign that if he hadn't run, he would have supported McCain. "If I endorsed anyone else, you would say I was flip-flopping."
* Which brings us to Mitt Romney. While he never specifically mentioned Romney, Giuliani suggested through his chosen words to describe McCain ("trust," "honor," "integrity") that there's no love lost between him and the ex-MA gov.
* Giuliani said he'd campaign for McCain "anywhere and everywhere he wants me to, or not." The "or not" part of that sentence should not be overlooked. How useful will he be in McCain's efforts to reach conservatives in his remaining fight with Romney and Mike Huckabee? Giuliani himself listed only blue states (CA, NY, NJ, CT and IL) as states where he's inclined to campaign. (Notably, he neglected to include FL).
* Giuliani doesn't seem to be ready to dwell on what went wrong, at least not publicly. When a reporter sought to ask the NYer to assess his campaign's fatal mistakes, McCain abruptly cut him off and ended the press conf
* While McCain was joined by his wife Cindy, Rudy was Judy-less [JOHN MERCURIO].
Posted at 06:21 PM
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