Political Football

(and Rudy is back in Iowa on WEDNESDAY – in Davenport)

http://www.sptimes.com/2007/10/21/State/Gi…s_up_GOP_.shtml

Giuliani Peps Up GOP Rally

ORLANDO – The leading Republican presidential contenders lavished attention on Florida Saturday, a sharp contrast to their Democratic counterparts bypassing the state’s presidential primary.

“In 2000, you saved us from Al Gore. We’re going to need you in 2008 to save us from Hillary Clinton,” Rudy Giuliani said to roars from thousands of Republican activists gathered in Orlando. “And unlike the Democratic candidates, I’m not going to boycott Florida.”

The opening day of the Florida GOP’s “Presidency IV” weekend, which tonight features a Fox News debate, underscored some truths of this unusual election cycle:

-Nothing fires up Republican crowds this year better than uttering the words “Hillary Clinton.”

-America’s biggest battleground state plays a central role in the path to the GOP nomination.

-And it’s no fluke that Giuliani is the Florida front-runner. Even with moderate-to-liberal positions on hot-button social issues, the former New York mayor will be tough to topple.

Giuliani on Saturday was by far the most energetic speaker, revving up the crowd. Even skeptics left the Rosen Shingle Creek ballroom buzzing about Giuliani – that, and Fred Thompson’s anemic speech of less than five minutes.

“As Republicans we’ve been spoiled in the past by having candidates that we agreed with almost 100 percent of the time,” said Janice Torgersen, an undecided Republican from Tampa who acknowledged Giuliani’s past support for abortion rights, gay rights and gun control made her uneasy.

“But I want a candidate who can win. I want a candidate who has the fire in the belly. Rudy Giuliani showed that,” said Torgersen, president of the Tampa Republican Club.

Saturday offered a vivid reminder of the crosscurrents in this wide-open presidential primary.

In Washington, Republicans finished up a two-day effort to court religious conservatives at a “values voters” conference organized by the Family Research Council. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney narrowly beat former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in a nonbinding straw poll conducted there Saturday.

From there, some candidates descended on Orlando, where Republican Gov. Charlie Crist has emerged as one of the brightest lights in the national GOP, downplaying social issues and touting his “live and let live” philosophy.

Crist, already mentioned as a vice presidential prospect and uncommitted in the primary, told party regulars, “If we are able to put our problem solving over partisan politics, we will be more successful in our coming campaigns and the elections in the future.”

Florida’s Republican-led legislature moved the presidential primary from March to Jan. 29 to boost Florida’s influence in the nominating process, despite rules in both national parties barring states from setting elections earlier than Feb. 5.

The leading Democrats are boycotting Florida for all campaign activity except fundraising, and the national party has stripped the state of all its delegates to the national convention.

The Republican National Committee is threatening to cut Florida’s 114 delegates to the convention in half, but that has done nothing to diminish the attention its candidates are giving Florida.

“The general election is going to be decided right here. The nomination is going to be decided by Floridians,” said Romney, as people in the audience waved foam “Mitts.”

“And by the way, I think I’m the only person running for president on our side that has said if I’m the nominee, I will make sure all 114 Florida delegates get seated at that convention,” Romney said.

Only candidates who paid the Florida Republican Party $100,000 – Romney, Giuliani, Thompson and John McCain – were allowed to address the crowd Saturday. The others are expected in Orlando today for the nationally televised debate that starts at 8 p.m. on the Fox News Channel.

Romney, Giuliani, and Thompson are aggressively organizing in Florida, while McCain and the other underdogs concentrate their scarce resources on the earliest contests in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and, probably, Michigan.

“Florida becomes a momentum state where you lock in the nomination,” said Rick Davis, McCain’s national campaign manager. “The competition here is Rudy, and he has to show he can win something early before Florida, and I don’t know where he’s going to do that.”

Arizona Sen. McCain, peppering his remarks with jokes but showing little energy, told the crowd Republicans had lost their way in Washington.

“We lost the election in 2006 nationally because we let government get out of control,” McCain said. “We came to power in ‘94 to change government, and government changed us.”

Thompson has drawn considerable enthusiasm from Republicans looking for a strong, consistent conservative in the race, but he left many activists shaking their heads Saturday after speaking less than five minutes before halting suddenly.

“I was absolutely amazed at how short it was,” said Christine Smith of Tampa, another undecided Republican who scratched Thompson off her list Saturday. “As a candidate, you’d think you’d want to express your positions, and he didn’t even do that.”

Stephanie Slade, a 20-year-old University of Florida senior from Valrico, said she’s undecided but leaning away from Giuliani because she’s looking for a candidate whose demeanor is “more presidential.” Slade said that a candidate’s electability is very important. While she’s a “Charlie Crist” moderate, she said she understands that the nominee must play well to the more conservative side of the party.

“I think Romney, in particular, could do well in both the primary and the general, because while he’s playing the conservative now, I think, in his heart, he’s a moderate Republican,” Slade said.

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