by Rick Pearson
Former Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar is subscribing to the theory that his candidate for president, Rudy Giuliani, doesn’t need to win in Iowa and New Hampshire next year since big states such as his own have an earlier say on the nominating process.
“I don’t view the caucuses in Iowa as a meaningful way to gauge public opinion. I just don’t like caucuses,” the former two-term Republican chief executive told reporters in Chicago after appearing with the former New York mayor to endorse Giuliani.
“Now, if Iowa had a primary, I’d say, now that would mean something. But caucuses?” he asked rhetorically. “I mean, most reasonable people at that time of year would rather be home watching basketball or, in this case, probably unwrapping Christmas presents. So I’ve never thought that that was the best indicator.”
In addition to criticizing Iowa’s Jan. 3 caucuses, Edgar didn’t have much to like about the New Hampshire primaries, in which a final date still hasn’t been set.
“Nothing against New Hampshire, but I’m not sure New Hampshire is a cross-section of America,” the former governor said. “So, I think Illinois, Florida, California, New York, these large states that are going to have primaries after that--then you get a better indication. There’s a lot of delegates there.”
Though Giuliani has done some campaigning in Iowa and New Hampshire, his campaign has been looking ahead to the so-called “Super Tuesday” of Feb. 5 primaries in delegate-rich states such as California, New York and Illinois where conservatives may not dominate Republican turnout.
“It’d be nice to win those first states but because you have the big states coming so soon afterwards, I think that will have a major impact on the outcome in both parties,” Edgar said.
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Comments
It's good to see that Guiliani is going to deal with his own "swiftboating" group who claim he was a disaster as a leader during 9/11. I love it when "what goes around, comes around" happens.
Posted by: bill r. | November 20, 2007 5:58 PM
QUOTE:It's good to see that Guiliani is going to deal with his own "swiftboating" group who claim he was a disaster as a leader during 9/11. I love it when "what goes around, comes around" happens.
Shame nobody's listening to them, isn't it? You could hear the crickets chirp at their town meeting.
Posted by: Wong of Power | November 20, 2007 6:26 PM
That's what Kerry thought in the begining too...Wong.
Posted by: bill r. | November 20, 2007 7:09 PM
Former two-term Republican chief executive appearing with the former New York mayor to endorse Giuliani.
Giuliani - pro-gay, pro-abortion, anti-gun, pro-crossgender-dressing.
Wow, the Republican Party is really selling it's soul, somewhere the ghost of Ronny Reagan is crying.
The head of the 9/11 commission just yesterday announced that he was supporting John McCain...not Giuliani:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1928121/posts
I think that says it all about Rudy's so-called "war on terror" credentials....he doesn't have any.
Posted by: John E | November 20, 2007 7:35 PM
Giuliani has a hard name to spell. (See most posts, including bill r's above.) That's going to be his undoing.
Most people think it's "G-U-I...," not "G-I-U..." When they find out it's "G-I-U...," they want to say "Gillooly" and they think he had something to do with Tonya Harding. (Trust me. You can never underestimate the intelligence of the American public. See Iraq war rationale.)
That said, it isn't about winning or losing Iowa and New Hampshire. It's about beating the prognosticators. If Gillooly, er, I mean, Giuliani doesn't finish at least in the top three in both of these races, he'll be finished.
Posted by: Bud McFarlin | November 20, 2007 10:32 PM
I used to respect Edgar. His support of Rudy is disappointing.
Posted by: Carl L | November 20, 2007 11:44 PM
Edgar is (very transparently) just preparing the way for failing to win.
He doesn't like the Iowa caucuses?
What in the world does what he likes have to do with political reality?
That's a childish statement, truly political naive.
The winner in Iowa will get a big boost in the press and in his own psychology.
And that won't be Giuliani, who is probably best summed up as the most dishonest person running.
Posted by: John Chuckman, Toronto, Canada | November 21, 2007 8:42 AM