Leaked memo on Giuliani's chances at presidency - Rudy knows he has problems

[Democrat 4 Ever]

Revealed: Rudy's '08 battle plans

Rudy Giuliani, at one of his frequent speeches, hasn't answered question of whether he will run for President.

Among the potential liabilities listed in the plan are Giuliani's ex-wife Donna Hanover.

Many of the pages from Giuliani's secret road map to the Oval Office deal with fund-raising issues.

It's clearly laid out in 140 pages of printed text, handwriting and spreadsheets: The top-secret plan for Rudy Giuliani's bid for the White House.

The remarkably detailed dossier sets out the budgets, schedules and fund-raising plans that will underpin the former New York mayor's presidential campaign - as well as his aides' worries that personal and political baggage could scuttle his run.

At the center of his efforts: a massive fund-raising push to bring in at least $100 million this year, with a scramble for at least $25 million in the next three months alone.

The loss of the battle plan is a remarkable breach in the high-stakes game of presidential politics and a potentially disastrous blunder for Giuliani in the early stages of his campaign.

The document was obtained by the Daily News from a source sympathetic to one of Giuliani's rivals for the White House. The source said it was left behind in one of the cities Giuliani visited as he campaigned for dozens of Republican candidates in the weeks leading up to the November 2006 elections.

Giuliani spokeswoman Sunny Mindel suggested there were political dirty tricks behind the loss of the documents and called the timing suspicious.

"I wonder why such suspicious activity is occurring and can only guess it is because of Rudy's poll numbers in New Hampshire and Iowa," Mindel said.

Giuliani leads most public opinion polls of Republican primary voters though he has not announced his candidacy for President. But the dossier, which envisions spending more than $21 million this year alone, shows that Giuliani began meeting with potential supporters last April and that by October, his staff had put in place a detailed plan for a serious bid for the presidency. But they also depict a candidate torn between his prosperous business and a political future full of both promise and risk.

One page cites the explicit concern that he might "drop out of race" as a consequence of his potentially "insurmountable" personal and political vulnerabilities.

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/485008p-408347c.html

[yellowcanine]

1. Sounds like a Rovian Operation. Is that possible? Has one of the other candidates hired Karl?

[NewJeffCT]

4. McCain has hired some of those folks, but not Rove directly

He hired the guy who was responsible for the "Call Me" racist ad against Harold Ford and at least one other similar type.

[Joe Bacon]

13. I bet Jeb Bush's fingerprints are ALL over that book!

Jeb will do ANYTHING to be President. Right now, JB is making sure that there is so much bad blood spilled between Mc Cain, Giuliani, Gingrich, Huckabee, Romney and Brownback that NONE of them will have a majority or form a majority of nominating delegates. Then that is all Jeb needs to step in as a "Compromise candidate".

[yellowcanine]

14. May be. But no one named "Bush" is going to win in 08.

That well is poisoned, at least for now.

[karynnj]

2. Even if it is real, he needs to immediately declare it fake

It actually could be a nasty trick by an opponent. Remember one key opponent has hired tons of Rovian and SBVT people to work for him. Rove has tried similar things in the past. (Remember the "debate tape" which was mailed to Al Gore's campaign - that was a setup based on the idea that Gore needed to see a practice tape of Bush debating to beat him. Or, the fact that the Kerry team was offered the non-authenicable TANG documents that were given to Rather's team.)

Imagine how much fun Rove could have writing this page:
"One page cites the explicit concern that he might "drop out of race" as a consequence of his potentially "insurmountable" personal and political vulnerabilities."

I'm a NYC area person who strongly disliked Guilliani for years before 2001 - a control freak leading well for a few weeks doesn't change the rest of his term.

[NewJeffCT]

3. what a major screw-up

This is like Carter's debate notes getting stolen and "falling" into the hands of George Will, the guy responsible for prepping Reagan.

I hadn't realized his campaign was such a train wreck, as I thought he was very dangerous if he got through the nomination process.

[Democrat 4 Ever]

6. May this be just the tip of the iceberg of major screw ups by

Giuliani and the rest of the repug candidates. It amazes me that the "talking heads" still think that Giuliani and McCain are the repug's best hopes.

Giuliani is a lying, cheating, hound dog who's only claim to fame is being mayor on a day in September, 2001. He didn't do a damn thing that any other person wouldn't do but somehow he is a "leader." Yeah, right. Then poor insane McCain who has a "black child and is mentally unbalanced due to his prisoner of war years" - all of this from HIS side of the aisle! May they continue to eat their own.

[NewJeffCT]

7. Rudy's not a good person... but

But, that hasn't stopped Republics in the past - George W. Bush is not exactly Snow White, either.

Reagan divorcing and then fathering a child with Nancy less than 9 months after marrying her didn't seem to stop the fundies from loving Reagan.

[BearSquirrel2]

9. Well ...

Reagan did not carry on a public affair and officially install his mistress into the executive residence. Geesh, at least Clinton was discreet. I don't think Democrats could defeat Reagan on these grounds. But it's clear that the other Republicans would SMASH him on it. None of it really makes sense, ALL of these people are hypocrits. But Giuliani is a think-accented Yankee to begin with (wearing Yankee hats doesn't help) and it's clear to me he'll sink like a stone in the south WITHOUT the evangalists on his ass.

[AndyTiedye]

8. Guiliani's Campaign Has Been Infiltrated, Obviously

[npincus]

5. har har har... welcome to the Big League, Saint Rudy.

[goclark]

10. I thought he was the authority on Home Land Security

:puke:

[JNelson6563]

11. McCain says..."Fool me twice shame on me"

He's not gonna be the one who takes it in the ass this time. Oh no. This time it's gonna be Johhny boy who's givin', not gettin'.

Julie

[HamdenRice]

12. Another rarely mentioned Giuliani weakness: Many rich bankers despise him

I worked in the financial sector in the 1990s, and Giuliani was perhaps the most hated public figure of all among Wall Street types. That is because one of his claims to fame -- the Wall Street prosecutions of the 1980s -- was almost a complete sham. Most of the people he prosecuted as US Attorney were in fact innocent and were acquitted, although the costs to their reputations, to their businesses and of their legal fees were ruinous. Almost all his prosecutions fell apart, except for a few insider trading cases.

But when these people were arrested, Giuliani had them "perp walked" out of their Wall St. offices in handcuffs before waiting television cameras.

Giuliani is phenomenally stupid when it comes to finance, and basically any transaction or new financial product that he didn't understand he prosecuted. The spirit of the securities laws, based on freedom of contract, is you can do any transaction that is not illegal and as long as you disclose everything in a public filing. Giuliani's approach was, you can't do any transaction that I am not familiar with.

Wall Street despises Giuliani and it has a long memory.

[goclark]

15. He would be another "Decider"

:puke:

[zaj]

16. Is there somewhere to download the full document?

?