The Rudy Odds, Take One

Seeing as he might very well be thinking about possibly considering seriously running for President in 2008, The Inquirer has decided to start putting odds on the longshots. By forming an exploratory committee yesterday, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani has indicated he's ready to go. The committee, conveniently, allows his to raise some dough. People are saying candidates will need to have $100 million in the bank by the end of next year.

That other New Yorker, Hillary Rodham Clinton, however, is ostensibly still on the fence.

Rudy has quite the track record for having cleaned up New York City, but undoubtedly his platform would have a single centerpiece: 9/11. Especially considering that in another two years the tragedy will hardly be exportable to the rest of the country, Rudy's odds, at the moment, don't look so good.

Rudy in November, 2006: 30 to 1.

(Photo of the former mayor in Tel Aviv from theboost's flickr.)

Comments

[frances lang]

really interesting article -- hard to read without getting depressed but very useful and varied in its references. Plus, very readable and with a great twist on the 7 wonders of the world.

[Goblins of the flarg]

I think, at some point, Rudy's overwhelming support of Bush is going to bite him in the ass. And then some hippie will get arrested for it.

[Gloria]

Rudy sucking up to Bush??? My gosh, look at the kneepads Hillary Clinton has. She has kneepads for every pastel hue of her pant suit collection. She and Bush have been but one, (as the bible would say) for the past 2 years. Her conservative rating is more to the right than Rudy.

[Stony McStonerson]

Rudy for Prez? This has canard written all over it. Fundraising issues aside, how's Rudy going to respond to his close ties with Bernard Kerik, allegations of brutality, cronyism during his administration, etc. And if he's going to base his campaign on 9/11, even though he did an admirable job after the 2nd WTC attacks, how will the majority of the country respond to the fact that there were TWO WTC attacks on his watch?

[stony mcstonerson]

I was incorrect stating that 2 attacks occurred when he was in office. Giuliani became mayor in 1994, and was not in power when the 1993 bombings occurred.

[Face McSauce]

Even if Rudy had been in command during the first WTC bombing, you couldn't hold that against him. There's plenty bad to say, but faulting him (/NYPD) for not tracking terrorists pre 9/11 isn't one of them.