Entries for April 03, 2007

Rudy Giuliani's strategy to win the 2008 Republican presidential nomination seems fairly straightforward: 1) use his 9/11 "America's mayor" reputation to win the national-security conservatives; 2) promote his record of reforming New York City--including cutting taxes and balancing the budget--to win fiscal conservatives; 3) make himself acceptable to social conservatives by promising to appoint Supreme Court justices like Antonin Scalia and Samuel Alito who just might vote to toss out Roe v. Wade. Of course, it's appealing to that last group that is most problematic for Giuliani given his liberal record on social issues, particularly abortion. (And it's Fred Thompson's simultaneous appeal to all of those groups that has helped generate presidential buzz for the actor-politician.)