Giuliani a Fundraising Star For GOP

The 'Nation's Mayor' is spreading himself around wherever there's a tight race. More power to him for helping the party out like that. Here's an overview of his schedule this week, as reported by the AP:
Giuliani, who has topped several national 2008 presidential polls in recent months, was to headline a cocktail reception in Cleveland on Monday night for two-term Sen. Mike DeWine. DeWine faces a stiff re-election challenge from Democratic Rep. Sherrod Brown.

Giuliani touches down in three states Tuesday, attending events for Arkansas gubernatorial candidate Asa Hutchinson, Illinois gubernatorial hopeful Judy Baer-Topinka and Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum. He'll also take in the All-Star baseball game in Pittsburgh on Tuesday night. He completes the tour Wednesday with a breakfast fundraiser for Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Lynn Swann and a reception in Baltimore for Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich.
Unlike the bigtime fundraisers in the Democratic Party (the Clintons), Giuliani and John McCain can actually show their faces in public. This gives the GOP a big fundraising/campaigning advantage.

There's an old Christian saying that goes like this: "If you aren't moving forward, you're falling behind." That Christian saying is very applicable to politics. It's obvious that the GOP, under Karl Rove's vision, is about growing the party. That's why there's a fundamental shift happening in America. The GOP is fortunate that we've got appealing personalities in our ranks, people like Mayor Giuliani, Sen. McCain and Speaker Hastert. That isn't even including Laura Bush and Lynne Cheney, who are immensely popular and effective campaigners.

Giuliani, McCain and Hastert don't automatically turn off half the population. By contrast, the Clintons are undeniably prolific fundraisers but they're both polarizing figures, though Bill is less polarizing than Hillary. In the end, that matters on where and how much you can use them.

While Rudy's travels are well-reported, what often isn't reported is the effect he has on individual races. Because he's so well-liked, he's often able to appeal to moderates and/or undecided voters. That's something that the Clintons don't do. That isn't intended as a knock on them. It's just that they don't typically win people over from the opposite side. I'd be surprised if the GOP didn't have Giuliani and McCain campaigning every day from Labor Day until Election Day, bringing them specially into the tightest races in the country.

I'd be very surprised if their appearances alone won't put a few high-profile races into the GOP win column that otherwise wouldn't have happened.



Originally posted Monday, July 10, 2006, revised 11-Jul 12:32 AM

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