Excellent information as always from Exile at RochesterTurning.com.  Whilst lamenting Democratic Nominee Hillary and the seeming inevitability of the ‘08 elections, Exile hips us to some lesser-reported facts about former Mayor Rudy Giuliani:

rochesterturning.com: turning the tide upstate

You probably know that Giuliani was Time Magazine?s Man of the Year in 2001 and that he generally receives more favorable media coverage than anyone else in the world save John McCain and the pre-Katrina George W. Bush. What you may not know is that these days, Rudy is all about the Benjamins, ethics be damned. . . .

What follows in the comments is a more general horse-race discussion of just whom the nominees might be. Nothing like post-election, pre-Christmas, mid-recess speculation to warm the blood!

For my money, however, the discussion is not who the Republicans nominate ~ indeed, it never really is ~ it’s about the direction they take and whether or not they’re able to get themselves out of the Clinton’s Ditch-size rut they’ve got themselves into.  The Bushies, the DeLay/Santorum Coalition and the Frist Factor have all seen to it that the Religious Right holds the majority of the reigns in the Republican Party, even if only in numbers.  They represent a huge voting bloc to woo.

And they represent a huge question mark to fret over.  The Exit Poll numbers are worth looking over for this year and 2004.  A few things just jump right out, but the biggest one is that the Social Conservative vote slumped a bit, but not as much as feared, and their weight was not close to enough.  The Middle decided this election, and any fool better be clear on the fact that The Middle will decide the next election.

So, with all that (it now appears largely unnecessary) clout given over to Religious Conservatism, how do the Republicans now kindly ask for their party back so they can win an election?  Or do they?  McCain already made his visit to Liberty University.  Giuliani’s toast in the event of a zelot uprising. . .

“We fights Mitt Mitt?”

(bonus points awarded to anyone who can name that reference in the comments)

Technorati Tags: President, 2008, Giuliani, McCain, Republicans

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