Peter King Pushes Rudy Giuliani into the 2012 Race
Congressman Peter King more than juts hinted that Rudy Giuliani's considering another presidential bid. King told a group of reporters at a dinner in Washington Tuesday night that the former New York mayor and 2008 election flame-out "is very close to saying he's going to run." The New York Republican added, "If he were to make the decision today, he would run." King didn't stop there. Seemingly very aware of the room full of reporters at the event American Spectator event, he went on to detail how
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Giuliani has been "talking to people in New Hampshire" and has made winning in 2012 "almost a full-time business." Since King is known to be a friend of Giuliani, the headline-grabbing announcement did not go unnoticed.
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Chris Cillizza at The Washington Post somewhat debunked King's claims this morning. Quoting an unnamed Giuliani advisor, Cillizza reports that
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Giuliani is “seriously considering it but not actively pursuing" a presidential bid. Giuliani has previously announced that he would consider a bid if the candidate pool seemed too far to the right, but the most recent polls indicate that he would have a hard time convincing voters that his moderate politics were right for America. Mitt Romney leads the pack in New Hampshire with 32 percent of the vote. Perhaps even more difficult, suggests Yahoo's Holly Bailey, would be convincing voters in New Hampshire to forget about his ignoring the state in 2008. In March, the state's GOP chair likened Giuliani's last campaign in New Hampshire to a "bad date" and said, "Sometimes a candidate doesn't deserve a second chance." King shed some light on those allegations in his speech last night and blamed the Giuliani's strategists for the flub. "They were keeping Rudy from being Rudy," he said.
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Paul Bedard at U.S. News spun King's statements to read like a warning shot fired over Mitt Romney's bow and suggested King may join the race himself. Bedard is careful to point out how King loves the spotlight and "running for president provides him a national forum to address his concerns about terror attacks in America and charges that the Muslim community is not being cooperative enough with the FBI." Or perhaps, King is raising his hand early to be Rudy's running mate.
