Most of the political media today is touting the fact that the GOP race for the 2012 nomination is essentially a race of three frontrunners -- Mitt Romney, Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry -- or, at the very least, a battle between the latter two to decide who gets to take on Romney. And yet the Wall Street Journal's editors seem to still be unhappy with the contenders, in a piece that's been widely interpreted as a call for an outsider to jump into the race. And here's Karl Rove, warning against the nominees getting too "extreme" as they seek the nomination.
Will we ever be free of "nobody likes the GOP field" stories? And if not, is there anyone left who might jump in? Oh, what's that? Rudy says what, now?
Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who made an unsuccessful run for President in 2008, is still considering giving it another shot next year. In an exclusive local television interview on "PIX 11 Newscloseup," Giuliani declared, "I'm not ready to make a decision." He said he would decide one way or another within two months and vowed not to make any announcements that would coincide with the tenth anniversary of the attacks of Sept. 11.
Fine, so Rudy Giuliani might know something about something in another two months or so, whereupon he'll decide whether he wants to jump into the race. To that end, he's eyeing New Hampshire: "I have to factor what kind of chance I would have in states like New Hampshire, where I think I would have a pretty good chance because there are a lot of independent voters who don't find my being a more moderate Republican so difficult," he said.
"I think I would have a pretty good chance because there are a lot of independent voters who don't find my being a more moderate Republican so difficult." Isn't that the main strategy of the Jon Huntsman campaign?
Elsewhere, Giuliani said that the "centerpiece of his campaign would be the restoration of fiscal stability," which means selling steep cuts in Medicare, Medicaid and other entitlement benefits to the voters, who, in Giuliani's estimation, "don't seem to want to hear" that such cuts are necessary. In this, how does Giuliani separate himself from the rest of the field? And what's his path to "fiscal stability"? Does Giulani's hand go up when he's asked to raise it if he'd reject a deficit deal that features $10 in cuts for every dollar in revenue? And if the ratio goes up -- 20 to 1, 25 to 1, 50 to 1 -- when does the "moderate" Giuliani lower his hand?
All of which is to say that I'm not sure Giuliani has thought very much about what sort of race he'd be getting into, if he is, in fact, thinking about entering the race. (One thing he might want to think about is that he'd start a new presidential run $1.5 million in the hole from the last one.)
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Rudy Giuliani Still Undecided In Race For White House [WPIX 11]
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