Last update - 00:00 26/01/2008
Two days before the Florida primary, Rudy seeks solace in football
RACE FOR THE WHITE HOUSE: The former N.Y. mayor hopes Jewish ex-New Yorkers will show some loyalty.
Rudolph Giuliani is scheduled to appear today (Sunday) before a sympathetic crowd at a synagogue in Boca Raton. Many reporters will be there, most of whom, judging by a random survey, think their main object is documenting the final collapse of a once-promising candidacy. American foreign policy may not be conducted according to the passing whims of public opinion, but the primaries process is, and Giuliani is in a tough spot.
The polls are against him, and Florida on Tuesday is apparently his last chance to change that.
He supported the war in Iraq, the candidate said Thursday night during the final debate before the Florida vote, "I was for it when six out of 10 were for it. I'm for it when six out of 10 are against it."
Here already is the outline of a riveting argument that will accompany the election campaign. All four leading Republican candidates said Thursday that they are not disturbed by the fact that a majority of Americans now think that toppling Saddam Hussein did not warrant the price paid. All four continue to support the war. The Democrats think otherwise.
This is a substantive discussion that should be held during the campaign, except that now it looks as though John McCain, or perhaps Mitt Romney, will be representing the Republican position.
Mike Huckabee will probably have a hard time in this discussion, having once again failed to bone up for the debate. First he said that he still believes Iraq had weapons of mass destruction - a claim that is perhaps still possible to make. But later, in an interview with MSNBC's Chris Matthews, he explained where the weapons are now: They were smuggled into Jordan. Huckabee apparently meant Syria, but didn't exactly remember the difference.
In any event, the debate over Iraq will be one of the main campaign issues, though not the key one. The economy is now in the driver's seat, and here it will be not Huckabee's ignorance that messes things up for the Republican Party, but rather that ascribed to McCain. He denies claims that he once admitted he didn't know much about economics, but The Wall Street Journal and other newspapers are insistent.
Here's the quote: "I'm going to be honest: I know a lot less about economics than I do about military and foreign policy issues. I still need to be educated."
Once again, McCain's colleague and supporter Senator Joe Lieberman rushed to his aid. We talk about economics all the time, he said. Lieberman also gives McCain some hope of winning a more substantial share of the Jewish vote in Florida.
But the spotlight on Jews might mislead observers: Most Florida Jews are Democrats, and only 70,000 or 80,000 will be voting in the Republican primary. Many are native New Yorkers who retired to sunny Florida. Giuliani believes and hopes they will show him some loyalty.
Asked how his standing in the polls had plummeted and how he intends to continue under such conditions, Giuliani gave an answer that clearly had been rehearsed. Just like the New York Giants - the underdog football team that is going to the Super Bowl - we too will come from behind and surprise everyone.
After the State of the Union address tomorrow and the Florida primary Tuesday, the next big American event is Super Bowl Sunday on February 3, two days before Super Tuesday. Giuliani will be rooting for the Giants against the New England Patriots, who did not lose a single game this season, but so will the Democratic candidate from New York, or should we say, the candidates: Bill and Hillary Clinton.
Florida's Democratic primary interests no one because the party stripped the state of electoral delegates for scheduling it early. Clinton will win and it's clear that most Jews will vote for her.
Her rival, Barack Obama, faces new trouble on the Jewish front. As if attacks from the right were not enough - those saying Obama won't be loyal to Israel - now he is getting hit from the left, whether by radical political activists angered by his letter of support for Israel over Gaza, or by the Anti-Defamation League, which has lambasted his growing attempts to persuade voters that he is Christian, not Muslim.
Anger was prompted particularly by a poster describing him as "a committed Christian" who is "guided by his Christian faith." Obama and his people sought to dispute e-mail rumors regarding the candidate's religion and expected that the Jewish community, which was apparently the source of many of these e-mails, would display a degree of understanding. Maybe he really is too naive for this race.