Rudy G, the "trust issue," and his impending downfall

by: Jay Stevens

Thu Jan 24, 2008 at 15:19:23 PM MST

In Iowa , he finished six points behind Ron Paul. (Ron Paul!) In New Hampshire , he finished one point ahead of Ron Paul. (Ron Paul!) In Michigan , he finished three points behind Ron Paul. (Ron friggin' Paul, people!) He wasn't even a factor in the Wyoming caucus. (And neither was Paul, for the curious.)

Giuliani's campaign claimed it wasn't really running in those states - although the former mayor did run pretty hard in New Hampshire . A sorry excuse, given the fact that Giuliani's polling numbers evaporated like mist as election days approached. Still, said the campaign, we're big in Florida !

Well...not so fast. Despite campaigning furiously there, spending millions, bombarding the state with ads and personal appearances - and often being the sole candidate campaigning there - his lead has slipped, and now John McCain and he draw the same amount of support. And some polls have Giuliani as far back as third.

In short, Giuliani is toast. Couldn't have happened to a better man. "What happened?" asks the NY Times' Timothy Egan of the former front-runner in this race.

Character and credibility.

More broadly, you can summarize Giuliani's problems in the line he no longer uses. When the World Trade Center towers came down, he turned to his loyal sidekick Bernie Kerik, and said he was glad George Bush was president.

Now, that line is a triple loser. Kerik, his police commissioner, is under federal indictment, in a sea of troubles. Bush is despised by two-thirds of Americans, and even a majority of Republicans want to go in a different direction. As for the big scare, give Senator Joe Biden credit for writing what may be Giuliani's obit: "There are only three things he mentions in a sentence: a noun, a verb and 9/11."

Yet Giuliani still wants to frighten people into voting for him. Maybe that's why he hired the gothic-faced actor Jon Voight to stump for him in Florida . What, Christopher Walken wasn't available?

This, of course, is the man that our state's Republican leader, Dennis Rehberg, praised, saying he's popular with Montanans because of the "trust issue." Talk about a monumental misunderstanding of the public. Yes, someone like, say, Jon Tester, is a winner because of "the trust issue," and it's a good characteristic to have in a candidate, but you can't put a rat in a ball gown and call him the Prom Queen, can you?

So maybe I'm celebrating prematurely Giuliani's impending demise. Maybe I'm jinxing the race. Let's all keep an eye on the Florida primary and cross our fingers, shall we? I can't imagine a worse president.