Giuliani Loses Presidential Playbook

Former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani may soon announce his candidacy for president. Yesterday, the New York Daily News reported in an exclusive story that someone helping him in the endeavor managed to lose a binder with a 140-page plan inside. Team Giuliani says it was the victim of dirty tricks. Cynics ask how better to float a campaign trial balloon without spending millions? However, the playbook offers amazing insight into what candidates must do before they have shaken a single hand or kissed a single baby in the actual campaign.

First, the book lists all of the problems that Mr. Giuliani would face. For example, he was extremely close to disgraced New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik. He had a messy divorce from Donna Hanover and has married his former mistress Judith Nathan. That may not play well in the family-values GOP. He has a private business that would be open to scrutiny, and few businesses bear much investigation before ethical questions arise. On social issues, he is out of step with Bible Belt Republicans.

Second, there is money. Part of the modern presidential campaign relies on “removing the oxygen from the room” by building a huge war-chest early on. The idea is to discourage other candidates from ever starting. His “baseline goal” for 2007 is to raise between $100 million and $125 million with the former mayor at 250 fundraisers, including 50 between February 15 and March 31.

Related to this is assembling as formidable a team of backers as one can find. Among the big shots Mayor Giuliani wants in his corner are: Home Depot founder Ken Langone, hedge fund manager Paul Singer and Texas oilman Boone Pickens – all of whom seem to have signed up. New Jersey fund-raisers Lew Eisenberg and Larry Bathgate, FedEx CEO Fred Smith and financier Henry Kravis, while on the Giuliani list, have put on McCain buttons. Still undecided but listed are: Paramount CEO Brad Grey, former Vikings quarterback Fran Tarkenton, News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch, PepsiCo chief Dawn Hudson and Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein.

Whether Mr. Giuliani is the victim of a dirty trick (his campaign claims a bag holdinbg the book was stolen from a private plane, the playbook copied, and then everything returned) or whether he is testing the waters in a rather duplicitous fashion is not all that relevant. What does matter is just how early the 2008 campaign has begun and how much work goes into running for the office before a person ever announces his or her candidacy. There has to be a better way.

© Copyright 2007 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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