Rudy Giuliani’s announcement that he would not run for anything in 2010 has caused a few to circulate 2 closely connected myths about his campaign for President.
Before these lies become part of the conventional wisdom, I’m going to start the new decade by shooting them down.
The New York Post Editorial Board said –
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/editorials/rudy_punts_again_4ZJvuIoXaeNxJIKPxJs4PK
Giuliani never seemed fully engaged in his (brief) pursuit of the presidency.
Here’s what MSNBC said –
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/12/30/2163445.aspx
Rudy Giuliani fizzled, as he didn’t campaign in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada or South Carolina. He waited until Florida, but by then the momentum had passed him by
And Jonathan Capehart in the Washington Post wrote –
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2009/12/rudy_giuliani_shocker_–_or_no.html
It was the same story in the 2008 presidential race. Giuliani put a half-hearted effort into the early primaries, focusing mostly on Florida.
And even before he announced he wasn’t running in 2010, Michael Crowley in New York Magazine wrote –
http://nymag.com/news/politics/60291/
For a man defined by his certitude and personal force, his presidential campaign was oddly halfhearted, an echo of his abortive Senate bid eight years earlier.
So there you have it – Rudy Giuliani sort of ran for President but wasn’t really serious about it. And the proof of that is that he skipped the hard slog and only campaigned in the sunny state of Florida.
It’s just not true.
Rudy’s campaign raised over $59 million. That was behind only President Obama, John McCain, Hillary Clinton & Mitt Romney. He raised $10 million more than John Edwards and $43 million more than Mike Huckabee!
A half-hearted campaign does not raise that amount of money. Especially not under Federal campaign finance rules that limit the maximum contribution of anybody to $2,000.
According to the Washington Post, Giuliani campaigned in not just Florida but in 37 states. The place where he had the most events was not Miami Beach or Boca Raton but Manchester, New Hampshire.
http://projects.washingtonpost.com/2008-presidential-candidates/tracker/candidates/rudy-giuliani/
That’s right, the largest City in New Hampshire, a state where Rudy appeared at 87 events. That’s a lot of events considering MSNBC thinks he didn’t campaign there.
He also appeared at 43 events in Iowa and 24 in South Carolina – two other states where he supposedly did not contest.
In fact campaigning in 37 states takes quite a bit of effort, something only a fully engaged candidate would do.
It is correct that late in 2007, Rudy’s campaign did decide to cut back on campaigning in the early states and to focus almost all of his efforts in Florida. But that was a strategic decision made by the campaign team. It was not because they were not dedicated to winning or because the half-hearted, unengaged candidate wanted more sun.
Let me make it clear – Giuliani lost in 2008. I think he never had a chance because of his position on social issues. Others have other explanations
But Rudy did not lose because he never showed up in Iowa, New Hampshire & South Carolina. Or because he really didn’t want to win.