When Rudy Giuliani jumped into the ’08 GOP prez race, it looked like a lot of the air and momentum would get sucked out of the McCain campaign. After all, neither is in good standing with many stalwarts of the conservative branch of the party. One brought McCain Feingold and works with Ted Kennedy and the other favors gay marriage, gun control, and legal abortions. It would seem quite natural, then, that each of these two candidates would vie for that more moderate, middle of the road kind of Republican. They would fight for support from within the same pool. Given their choice, accounting for age and more recent performance, I would pick Giuliani to win over McCain with such voters.
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Could it be the reports of the death of the McCain campaign are greatly exagerated? I just ran into a prominent locally-residing federal law enforcement agent, fairly well known as a conservative Republican, who is absolutely brimming with enthusiasm for the Arizona Senator. Last week I met a retired Colonel from Meredith, NH who was as equally excited about McCain. It seems as if his supporters truly are everywhere. Could it be that he remains almost as popular in NH as he was back in the 2000 race?
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Pat Hynes of AnkleBitingPundits (who also cohosts the Saturday radio program, Meet the New Press, with me and Skip) blogs on McCain’s interaction with the New Media and some houseparties attended by the Senator while here in NH. Click here to read his report and view some video of McCain.