Giuliani the Independent?

By Aziz P. -
Rudy Giuliani is running for President in 2008 - but maybe not as a Republican:

Republicans looking at Rudolph Giuliani's campaign for president always ask two questions - is he really running, and is he a "real Republican?"

They're probably not going to like the answers found by Newsday in Giuliani's government filings.

The ex-mayor still is holding back from submitting the simple one-page form declaring himself a possible candidate, despite raising $1.4 million to run. And asked what party he belongs to on a different form, Giuliani didn't say - he left the answer blank.

Not so for chief rivals John McCain and Mitt Romney. Both have filed the candidacy paperwork, and both gave a straightforward answer when asked their party affiliation: "Rep," or Republican.(...)

Giuliani's campaign confirmed that leaving off the Republican designation wasn't a typo. It was the campaign's "judgment that we didn't have to fill in that box," said a campaign lawyer. The lawyer said an update filed Wednesday lists him as a Republican, though that form couldn't be found on the Federal Election Commission Web site.


RedState is outraged, but the calculus is clear - Rudy can't possibly win the GOP primary. Is he setting up for a Unity 08 run? Will Holy Joe Lieberman go for the Veep? Time will tell.

UPDATE: Lieberman rules out running for veep, or any other national elected office, ever again.

Comments

Time Bandit said…
Unity08? Man, that's just crazy talk. Giuliani is right that he can't get the nomination from the Party of Falwell, Robertson, Dobbs, and Limbaugh (tho he may have more in common with Limbaugh than either is willing to acknowledge).

But an independent run at the White House just is not going to work unless it's from a candidate drawing a base from flyover country or some other "swingable" voter block. Giulie might could run, but the crowd of voters who are "fed up with them hifalutin Washington types" won't vote for a chronic filanderer. His personal ceiling is going to be in the John Anderson 1980 zone (probably dating myself there).

Of course if my party goes ahead and nominates Clinton, all bets are off. But I really don't see that happening.

If Giuliani does find a Unity Ticket partner, I suspect he'd have to go further afield than Mr. Lieberman, who draws off the same base, comes from the same region, and has a much more flattering hairline.
6:34 PM
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