As a New York native… I have to say that Rudy as Governor would be awesome.

So what happened? I’d guess that New York has seen enough Hope and Change in Washington and has begun to sour on it. Nothing done in the past month by Cuomo or especially Giuliani accounts for it. This looks like a referendum on the kind of far-Left policies championed by both Cuomo and Barack Obama, and disillusion appears to have begun, at least in New York.

New York elects Republicans when Democrats control all levers of power at the city, state and national level, and there’s no longer anyone else to blame for whatever the debacle-of-the-month is. That goes all the way back to LaGuardia winning the NYC mayoral race after the Seabury hearings on Tammany corruption in 1933, followed later by Dewey winning the governor’s race. The Giuliani/Pataki daily double from 1993-94 was New York’s reaction to Clinton being in the White House and the Democrats controlling Congress, just the way the people reacted to local corruption by Democrats while FDR was in Washington.

Liberals have way more of their hearts invested in Obama than they did in Clinton (they sided with him in ’92 mainly because Hillary was vouching for his liberalism) and Bloomberg isn’t stirring any anger among the Ds (except along a few racial lines) because they know he’s not much of an R. So with both Senate seats and the governor’s race up in 2010, NYS Democrats may be a little more concerned about protecting their guy in the White House. But if things keep falling apart, they may just be content to give Chuckie Schumer another six years and say to hell with the other two races.

We need these “would be Presidents” to run for offices they can win. Rudy, Mitt, Jeb, Huck, etc should be running for governor or Senator and help the Republicans win back control.

huckleberryfriend on May 14, 2009 at 3:20 PM

The rest of that line-up could take a page out of Rudy’s book and just shut up if they have nothing helpful to add. The sad and shameless jockeying for a far-off 2012 is just unbecoming and nonconstructive. Rudy can always show up on a panel and keep his guns trained on the opposition. He’s great like that.

So true. Americans have nothing but goodwill towards Wall Street at the moment. Wall Street CEOs may be among the most popular people in the country.

Going after Wall Street is like declaring war on puppies. Just a bad political strategy.

YYZ on May 14, 2009 at 2:29 PM

In NYC, residents remember how empty and dead downtown was and how it killed the economy after 911. It still isn’t the same as businesses keep moving to CT for lower taxes and to just stay out of the terrorists’ line of fire.

The entire state knows how vital Wall St. is to the state’s overall fiscal health, and they do not want to see finance run as competently as Amtrack or the post office. The rest of our nation of complainers can hate Wall St. as much as they hated Walmart a few years ago, but NY knows on which side their bread is buttered. No one wants that money to go.

But everyone remembers Rudy as the Mayor who finally got control of the budget in New York City, CUT taxes, CUT welfare rolls, and revived the city’s economy.

As I said, I support Rudy in a leadership role – especially good for NY governor. However, he can’t really take credit for leading during the time of the greatest economic expansion in history. I hate when Bill Clinton does the same thing (budget surplus). They were fortunate to have overflowing coffers.

Again, kudos for not spending it all. . . but you can’t give him credit for the amount of money Microsoft added to New York and the USA.

Ed, my guess on Cuomo’s numbers could be a little backlash from the war he’s declared against Wall Street. He’s been indicting and trying to indict CEOs and financial guys all over

So true. Americans have nothing but goodwill towards Wall Street at the moment. Wall Street CEOs may be among the most popular people in the country.

Going after Wall Street is like declaring war on puppies. Just a bad political strategy.

RED LASSO RETURNS TO HOT AIR!!!

=)

A lot of people in the NY metro area still remember what the city was like under Beam/Koch/Dinkins etc. In 8 years, Giuliani took Times Square from being a land of porn shops and drug dealers and turned it into a family friendly tourist trap. New York has one of the lowest crime rates of any metro area, thanks to Giuliani.

No, he’s not very conservative, at least on social policy. But he isn’t Arlen Specter, either.

Rudy represents the socially liberal part of the GOP. He’s not the heart of the party (although his head is very, very welcome). He’s the Republican who can win in the third bluest state. He represents integrity and competence above all. He’s not unstained; his marital life would never pass muster in the Deep Red. But it humanizes him in the Blue. He can’t really be on the Right, they say, he’s got baggage the Right will never accept. He’s one of us at heart … but we’re too corrupt for him. He has to stand outside Our Machine. And We-The-Blue can vote for the stained-but-not-rotten Caliph of Competence, Rudy-one-of-us.

nice343 on May 14, 2009 at 12:24 PM

Actually, Rudy used tough gun laws to crack down on street crime. If he could make the crime about guns, the liberals would leave the little gangbangers to rot in jail.

Not a bad consolation prize if he wins and saves NY State.

Governor would be a good step for him and the state.

If Republicans can stop freaking out about abortion and focus on the public’s growing demand for fiscal sanity, we can win this Governorship, as well as Pennsylvania’s next year.

I think it would be a good thing for him to run for governor of NY.

Isn’t the hesitation based on staying out of the race until the Dems commit to the easily beatable Patterson? Declare too early and Dems force Patterson out for Cuomo? Before these new numbers, Cuomo was a tougher fight.