A 'Beltway Boy' questions Rudy's focus on Fla.

To celebrate its 20th anniversary, the James Madison Institute held a big luncheon Tuesday at FSU's University Center and invited a like-minded media star as its guest speaker. Conservative pundit Fred Barnes, executive editor of The Weekly Standard and a co-host of Fox's The Beltway Boys, talked about the 2008 presidential race -- to be altered by yet-to-be-determined events, he predicted -- and how President Bush has missed many opportunities to rein in federal spending.

Former House Speaker Allan Bense of Panama City asked Barnes to handicap the Republican field and Barnes, fresh from a Saturday spent chasing Mitt Romney around New Hampshire, said he sees a two-man race between Romney and Rudy Giuliani. But he favors Romney's tried-and-true strategy of securing early wins in Iowa and New Hampshire.

"I think Romney has the best strategy," Barnes said, noting that Michigan follows the first two on Jan. 15, a state where his father was governor. He suggested Giuliani is banking too heavily on Florida.

"Rudy Giuliani is really expecting that Florida is going to be where he's going to explode as a candidate, and really take off. I think you've got to do something before then," Barnes said. "I don't think you can last as a strong candidate that long -- Jan. 3 in Iowa until Jan. 29 in Florida. But we'll see."

Comments

DuHaime's strategy looked smart a few months back but now I think it'll come back to bite the mayor. If Romney wins Iowa and New Hampshire he will probably wins South Carolina. If he wins the first three states (each state in a different geographic locale)this thing is done.

So what you are saying 2:58 is that if a team wins three Little League games in a row they will have the momentum in their next game to beat a Major League Team?

"I think Romney has the best strategy,"

I guess so!… when your opponent’s strategy is to be an incestuous cross-dresser who exploits the deaths of innocent Americans for political gain.

3:44

I'm not saying it should be that way and I'm not voting for the guy. Trust me, the Giuliani folks know that if Mitt wins the first three primaries this thing is done. Their hope was always that they steal one of the first three or at the very least different candidates win the first three states.

If you look at the internals of the polling the support on the GOP side is very shallow and fluid. The momentum and sense of inevitability that would come from the press coverage Mitt would get from three straight victories would end this race.

Here Here 4:12 to your second paragraph.

I'll have a cold beverage to that!

Mitt staffers: I have a recurring question. Why do you keep wasting time on the Buzz trying to prop up yer boy? Isn't Mitt paying you to do real work?

Mitt has been successful at retail politics. If the election period was 5 years, it would give him time to do in other states what he is doing in NH and IA. But only three months are left.

FL and the rest of states don't permit much time for retail politics. As such, Mr. Romney, while potentially winning NH and IA, really does not stand a chance in Florida and beyond. Folks will not vote for him because they will not be able to overcome the fact that he is from Massachusetts, comes off stiff and mechanical, and is a Mormon.

Sorry Romniacs, but that is what is going to happen.

Fred Barnes. He has a temendous future behind him. Relevancy?

From National Review on line below

Yep, the consensus is the man has the Mitt-mentum.

He is be far the most qualifed and people are beginning to see it is a 2 man race.

MITT ROMNEY

What's Driving the Romney Surge?

I realize everything can change fast in Iowa and New Hampshire, and some are rightly skeptical about the value of polling in a caucus state. I also recognize that some pollsters' methods of figuring out who's a "likely voter" are better than others.

But if I were a Romney guy, I'd be pretty pleased about the trends in those two primary states.

Romney's had a lead in the Hawkeye state for a while, but that lead seems to be growing, across several pollsters. Romney is up 16 on his nearest competitor (Huckabee) in Zogby, up 8 on his nearest competitor in ARG, up 23 on Rudy and Huck in University of Iowa, up 14 in Strategic Vision, up 7 in Rasmussen.

In New Hampshire, we see a similar dynamic. Romney is up 12 on Giuliani in the Globe/University of New Hampshire poll, up 11 on Giuliani in Marist, up 15 on Giuliani in Rasmussen, up 7 in ARG, up 9 in the previous Rasmussen, up 10 in St. Anselm.

When the Marist poll came out, I asked the Romney campaign what was driving that, and they responded, "we've been campaigning hard in New Hampshire, including three days there last week. Senator Judd Gregg's endorsement was certainly a boost for us. But while this particular poll may show us with a strong lead, we're going to continue to run in New Hampshire as if we were ten points behind."

Even the South Carolina numbers are starting to look better across several polls — he's leading the field at 29 percent, up 6 percentage points on Giuliani in ARG (okay, really, how is Fred Thompson getting 10 percent in South Carolina?), tied with Giuliani and one point behind Thompson in Winthrop/ETV, in a three-way tie for second and five points behind Thompson in InsiderAdvantage, leading the previous ARG by 3, and down 9 percent in Rasmussen, and even that's five percent higher than the previous poll by that organization.

Because we're seeing an effect in several states where there is advertising, and not just where Romney picked up a big endorsement (like Gregg), I suspect the ads are what is driving the Romney surge. I would also note that we've seen little, if any, change in Romney's national numbers during this time.

11/13 02:22 PM

Mitt is a phoney and a flip-flopper. Everybody knows that and all his money can't buy enough media to hide it.

People won't vote for a candidate they can't trust. Especially where he doesn't even come accross as likeable.

CBSNEWSNYT POLL SET FOR RELEASE ON WEDNESDAY:
IOWA: Romney 27; Huckabee 21; Giuliani 15; Thompson 9

[Sonny]

Giuliani Defends, Employs Priest Accused of Molesting Teens

By BRIAN ROSS and AVNI PATEL
ABC News
Oct. 23, 2007

"Presidential candidate Rudolph Giuliani hired a Catholic priest to work in his consulting firm months after the priest was accused of sexually molesting two former students and an altar boy and told by the church to stop performing his priestly duties.

"The priest, Monsignor Alan Placa, a longtime friend of Giuliani and the priest who officiated at his second wedding to Donna Hanover, continues to work at Giuliani Partners in New York, to the outrage of some of his accusers and victims' groups, which have begun to protest at Giuliani campaign events.

""This man did unjust things, and he's being protected and employed and taken care of. It's not a good thing," said one of the accusers, Richard Tollner, who says Placa molested him repeatedly when he was a student at a Long Island, N.Y. Catholic boys high school in 1975."

Read the rest of the article here:

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/Story?id=3753385&page=1

Rudy Giuliani has said that he's personally against abortion while as a matter of public policy he thinks it should be allowed.

That's the exact same position John Kerry took while running for President in 2004.

People might be interested to know Rudy Giuliani's first wife (Regina Perrugi) was his second cousin, and he had their marriage annulled 14 years later by an accused pedophile Priest (Monsignor Alan Placa). Ironically, Rudy currently employs and defends this very same accused pedophile Priest.

Rudy Giuliani's father (Harold Giuliani) and uncle were both in the mafia. Anyway, here's a website that'll give you the full picture on the huge number of skeletons in Rudy Giuliani's closet, backed up by mainstream media sources:

http://www.realchange.org/giuliani.htm

If anyone thinks Rudy has a chance, they're living in a dream world. I'd like to know why the St. Petersburg Times hasn't run the Giulaini pedophile Priest story yet?

I'd also like to know why the SP Times hasn't run a story on Rudy's father Harold and uncle having been in the mob? And why no story on Giuliani having been married to his second cousin (very creepy) for 14 years?

looked up "lyingdouchbag" in the dictionary and there was FREDDIE'S picture!!

Alan Bense should have saved his money and bet on someone else. Romney blows with the prevaling winds. He reminds me of Bill Clinton who made policy decisions and pet choices based on weekly public opinion polls. Hey Romney, have you looked into buying a chocolate lab? Maybe that will put you over the top in Iowa.

I'll donate money to any GOP candidate who has the cojones to go to Dubuque, Des Moines, Rapid City and Ames and demand free trade for ethanol imports...after all, isn't free trade a halmark of the GOP?

[DUTCH SATTERFIELD]

As an ex communicated Catholic, how does Rudy think he will do with his former religion members?