The Last Campaign of Mayor 9/11

America’s Mayor lackluster campaign for the Republican nomination for president ended after a disappointing third place finish in the Florida primaries. Just as famed Spanish Conquistador Juan Pone de Leon died while seeking the mystical Fountain of Youth in Florida, Rudolph Giuliani’s political campaign died a premature death in Florida in search of that elusive first victory in the 2008 Republican Presidential campaign.

In August of 2007, Mayor 9/11 was leading national opinion polls, ahead of the monotonous campaign of the overestimated character actor and former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson, current Arizona Senator John McCain and former governors Willard Mitt Romney of Massachusetts and Baptist preacher Mike Huckabee of Arkansas. Giuliani raised more money than his competitors. Had the presidential elections been held in 2007, Giuliani might have become 44th President of the United States. Instead, Mayor 9/11 hopes to continue making motivational speeches about leadership, and collecting handsome fees in the process.

There are numerous reasons America’s Mayor was forced to abandon his presidential aspirations. Not covered by the press was the fact that Rudolph Giuliani was a demographically challenged candidate. Giuliani does not fit the profile of an average president, or a typical Republican candidate for president.

First, Mayor 9/11 is bald. Baldness may be sexy, but it is not presidential. Every white male who was elected President of the United States since General Dwight Eisenhower had a full head of hair. In fact, there have been only six bald presidents in the history of the United States: Eisenhower, James A. Garfield, Martin Van Buren, John Quincy Adams, James Madison and John Adams. There may have been more, but it is difficult to judge receding hairlines and comb overs from old pictures. It may be an accident of history, but baldness is a detriment in presidential politics.

Second, historically New York City mayors have never moved on to higher elected office. You can argue that serving as mayor of New York City is a political dead-end job. Also, in the history of the United States, no political candidate successfully made the jump from mayor to president. New York may be the most ethnically diverse city in the world, but the politics of New York does not translate beyond the city.

Third, the last Republican from New York to win the GOP nomination for President was in 1948 when Thomas Edmund Dewey who, according to Chicago Daily Tribune, defeated incumbent President Harry Truman. Unfortunately for Dewey it takes more than a newspaper headline to elect a president. The American electorate voted otherwise. Dewey would have stood a better chance with a sympathetic Supreme Court.

Fourth, the last Republican from New York to actually win the presidency was Theodore Roosevelt in 1904. Roosevelt served a term as president prior 1904 due to the assassination of President William McKinley by a lone gunman – a uniquely American phenomenon.

Fifth and sixth, Rudolph Giuliani is Italian and Catholic, although not in good standing with The Church due to his position on abortion. There has never been a president of Italian ancestry, or a presidential candidate from either political party of Italian lineage. It was in 1992 when Conservative political pundits wondered derisively if the United States was ready to elect an Italian American (Mario Cuomo) president.

In fact, only two “ethnic whites” have won the presidency and both were Irish, John F Kennedy and Ronald Reagan. When it comes to the presidency, ethnicity counts.

In addition, in the rich history of the United States there has been only one Catholic President, John F Kennedy, Democrat from Massachusetts, one Catholic who secured the Democratic nomination for president, New York Governor Al Smith, one campaign ended abruptly due to the assassination of Robert Kennedy, and one unsuccessful campaign for the Democratic nomination, Ted Kennedy in 1980.

As New York Senator Hillary Clinton was anointed the early front-runner and inevitable candidate of the Democratic Party, it became statistically improbable for two candidates from New York to win their respective nominations in the same year – even if one of the candidates is not really from New York.

And then there is Mayor 9/11’s position on abortion, gay rights, gun control, and immigration. Giuliani is liberal to moderate on these issues. The Republican Party positioned itself against these issues because the Conservative Right wrestled control of the party away from the Country Club, Moderate and Liberal wings of the GOP. To borrow an ad concept from the Republican attack machine, Rudolph GIULIANI, wrong on abortion, wrong on gay rights, wrong on gun control, wrong on immigration, WRONG FOR AMERICA!!!

Former President Bill Clinton used the term “fairy tale” against Senator Barack Obama during the South Carolina Democratic campaign, but sadly Rudolph Giulani’s attempt to secure the Republican nomination for president can be interpreted as delusional. America’s Mayor is a bald, Italian, former mayor of New York City who is pro abortion, gay rights, gun control, and immigration who was campaigning for the Republican nomination for president in 2008. The odds were against Mayor 9/11 from the start of the campaign.

The early opinion poll numbers of America’s Mayor were built on two faulty premises: name recognition and Giuliani was the only Republican candidate who could defeat New York Senator Hillary Clinton who at the time was considered the inevitable Democratic Party nominee.

Early opinion polls in presidential contests are driven by name recognition, and Mayor Rudolph Giuliani name was instantly recognizable after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Right or wrong, September 11th made Giuliani a celebrity.

President Bush was absent from the television screens that day as the Secret Service kept the President out of sight, in the air and out of potential danger. Vice President Dick Cheney was in a bunker meticulously calculating what measures needed to be taken in order to create The Imperial President. Former Secretary of State Al Haig was not available to take charge.

Mayor Giuliani spoke for New York City on that terrible day. He demonstrated courage, composure under pressure, and was able to convey and communicate a deep sense of sorrow and pain with dignity. Time Magazine chose him as “Person of the Year” in 2001. Giuliani became an active public speaker who routinely collected $100,000 fees throughout the world. It was only natural for people to respond to Giuliani’s name when given the choice of Fred Thompson, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Ron Paul or John McCain.

However, evoking 9/11 like an allergy sufferer who constantly sneezes during pollen season, may have diminished America’s Mayor to a punch line in a pathetic joke. Delaware Senator Joseph Biden said it best. “There’s only three things he mentions in a sentence: a noun, a verb and September 11th.”

Early opnion polls also indicated Giuliani was the only Republican candidate who could defeat former First Lady and current New York Senator Clinton in the general election. The mainstream media fantasized about a potential presidential campaign involving Giuliani and Clinton because the contest would have been enthralling as long as the election was presented in the proper ratings seizing context. Will the power hungry and opportunistic Senator from New York become the first woman president (God help us), or will America’s Mayor, Rudolph Giuliani, the hero of September 11th prevent the dastardly Hillary Clinton from seizing the White House in a blatant attempt to circumvent the United States Constitution by inserting former President Bill Clinton in a de facto third presidential term and at the scene of his most obscene and dastardly act as president? Stay tuned to find out more as CAMPAIGN 2008 continues.

Mayor 9/11 echoed these poll results frequently in his campaign speeches, but as Senator Barack Obama ascended in opinion polls and Senator Clinton was engaged in real fight for the Democratic nomination, Giuliani’s poll numbers began to decline. If Hillary Clinton is not the nominee, then Rudy doesn’t have to be the nominee. Makes you wonder if Mayor 9/11 stopped trying so hard to be president because he did not want to campaign against another African American candidate.

It did not help that the skeletons clanging in Giuliani’s crowded closet forced themselves out of the darkness and into the bright spotlight of the presidential campaign. Not that the mainstream media was eager to expose Mayor 9/11’s faults. President Clinton’s presidency was virtually ruined because he cheated on his wife, but the Mediacracy euphemized Giuliani extramarital affair. Instead of a mistress, America’s Mayor had a girlfriend. In a press conference during his lethargic second term, Mayor Giuliani announced he was leaving his wife – which was news to Donna Hanover. The remarkably romantic Mayor also told us he had a special friend – Judith Nathan – who unbeknownst to New Yorkers was the beneficiary of a police security detail, a fact disclosed in December, 2007 when Mayor 9/11’s poll numbers were dropping.

Another special friend of Mayor Giuliani was, ironically, in trouble with the law. Former Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik was greeted with a 16 count federal indictment on fraud and corruption charges. Kerik, who once upon a time was Giuliani’s chauffeur, had relationships with individuals in organized crime. The Police Commissioner of the Law and Order Mayor was a crook. Mayor 9/11 brushed off this scandal by saying his only mistake was not sufficiently vetting Bernard Kerik, but any mistakes by the former Police Commissioner was outweighed by Kerik’s successful leadership in the war against crime.

These types of revelations diminished Mayor 9/11’s chances to capture the Republican nomination. However, it was his campaign’s decision to bypass the Iowa Caucus, and to stop campaigning in New Hampshire that proved disastrous.

To campaign in Iowa and New Hampshire, a candidate has to master the art of retail politics. In small states with demanding electorates, a politician must meet and engage voters on an individual basis. Instead, Giuliani flooded local media with commercials, conducted town hall meetings, gave his customary campaign stump speeches, left without taking questions from the audience, and created an impression that he was aloof. Furthermore, his wealthy, executive friends allowed Mayor 9/11 to speak to their employees during their lunch hours in company cafeterias thus insuring a captive audience. Giuliani kept his distance from the voters and they responded. His poll numbers dropped.

Giuliani did not lose in New Hampshire because of a lack of effort. He campaigned hard, had a command of the issues, but the electorate did not respond, exposing another problem. The more you saw Mayor 9/11, the less you liked him.

Rudy Giuliani ran for Mayor of New York three times. He lost in 1989, but won in 1993 and 1997. In the 1993 mayoral election, Giuliani received 930,236 votes. However, in the 1997 mayoral election only 615,829 New Yorkers voted for the incumbent mayor - 314,407 votes less than 1993. Giuliani’s first term was widely perceived as successful. Crime was reduced and New York City became a livable city. Giuliani demonstrated that New York was governable, not unmanageable. Giuliani failed to expand his base of support during a successful first term in which New York City experienced a renaissance. Instead, Giuliani’s heavy handed approach to governing, and his gruff personality inhibited voter turn out. In fact, Giuliani is indebted to his base of support in Queens and Staten Island. Giuliani would have lost the 1993 without their overwhelming support.

Another failed campaign tactic was not fully participating in the early primaries. Giuliani stopped campaigning in Michigan and South Carolina. Instead, Mayor 9/11 concentrated his efforts in Florida. Voters have short attentions spans. If a candidate does not participate in the process, if the candidate does not win, then the candidate becomes irrelevant and invisible. To Giuliani’s detriment, he did not employ anyone with experience in conducting a national campaign. Instead, Mayor 9/11 was surrounded by his team of arrogant New Yorkers who were deeply enveloped in Giuliani’s cult of personality.

A presidential campaign, flush with money, with soaring name recognition is derailed because the candidate does reflect the values of his political party, and executes a flawed campaign strategy. And to think, America never got the chance to find out Rudolph Giuliani does not like black people.