Why Giuliani is Leading in the Early Republican Presidential Primary Polls

"When was the last time Republicans nominated a pro-abortion, pro-gay rights Northeasterner with an iffy record on taxes and spending?" asked Nelson Warfield, an aide to Bob Dole's failed 1996 Republican presidential campaign. "That's the hurdle (Giuliani) faces." Yet Rudy leads in all advance polling.

Rudy Giuliani has advocated restriction of the right of a citizen to bear arms. In order to explain and confront any opposition on the right, Rudy has courted Sean Hannity, a conservative talk show host. The courteous treatment of Mr. Giuliani by Mr. Hannity cannot be underestimated, Sean is usually a scrapper, yet he gives "America's Mayor" respect. In a similar manner, Rudy has appearred with Hugh Hewitt, another influential talk show host and blogger.

Sean has grilled Rudy carefully on gun issues:

GIULIANI: I understand the Second Amendment. I support it. People have the right to bear arms. When I was mayor of New York, I took over at a very, very difficult time. We were averaging about 2,000 murders a year, 10,000...

HANNITY: You inherited those laws, the gun laws in New York?

GIULIANI: Yes, and I used them. I used them to help bring down homicide. We reduced homicide, I think, by 65-70 percent. And some of it was by taking guns out of the streets of New York City.

So if you're talking about a city like New York, a densely populated area like New York, I think it's appropriate. You might have different laws other places, and maybe a lot of this gets resolved based on different states, different communities making decisions. After all, we do have a federal system of government in which you have the ability to accomplish that.

HANNITY: So you would support the state's rights to choose on specific gun laws?

GIULIANI: Yes, I mean, a place like New York that is densely populated, or maybe a place that is experiencing a serious crime problem, like a few cities are now, kind of coming back, thank goodness not New York, but some other cities, maybe you have one solution there and in another place, more rural, more suburban, other issues, you have a different set of rules.

HANNITY: But generally speaking, do you think it's acceptable if citizens have the right to carry a handgun?

GIULIANI: It's not only -- I mean, it's part of the Constitution. People have the right to bear arms. Then the restrictions of it have to be reasonable and sensible. You can't just remove that right. You've got to regulate, consistent with the Second Amendment.

HANNITY: How do you feel about the Brady bill and assault ban?

GIULIANI: I was in favor of that as part of the crime bill. I was in favor of it because I thought that it was necessary both to get the crime bill passed and also necessary with the 2,000 murders or so that we were looking at, 1,800, 1,900, to 2,000 murders, that I could use that in a tactical way to reduce crime. And I did.

Rudy Giuliani has supported a women's right to choose abortion. That would be bad enough to conservatives, but Rudy has even supported partial birth abortions. Giuliani has been courting the Christian conservatives. He spoke to a Global Pastors Network conference of evangelicals in Florida in January. On May 18, he will headline a fundraiser in Atlanta for Ralph Reed, the former Christian Coalition leader now running for lieutenant governor in Georgia. Rudy has stated that he will appoint judges who are like Anthony Scalia and Clarence Thomas, both considered to be well qualified judges who can find no justification for abortion in the Constitution.

Rudy Giuliani has supported Civil Unions, and has been identified with gay and transsexual groups. In a playful mood, Rudy once dressed as a woman for a costume party. Rudy has made no apologies for his affiliations. The Stonewall Veterans are a group of gay activists who honor the beginings of the modern civil rights movement for gays. They mark the begining in Greenwich Village at a small gay bar over thirty years ago, in civil unrest with the police of New York. Rudy counts these veterans as among his friends.

Rudy Giuliani has supported "sanctuary cities" for illegal immigrants. Where they can live without fear of arrest. Former mayor Rudolph Giuliani sued all the way up to the Supreme Court to defend the city's sanctuary policy against a 1996 federal law decreeing that cities could not prohibit their employees from cooperating with the Immigration and Naturalization Service. The INS, he claimed, with what turned out to be grotesque irony, only aims to "terrorize people." Though he lost in court, he remained defiant to the end. On September 5, 2001, his handpicked charter-revision committee ruled that New York could still require that its employees keep immigration information confidential to preserve trust between immigrants and government. Six days later, several visa-overstayers participated in the most devastating attack on the city and the country in history. Sometimes the lax immigration stand has backfired on Rudy when aliens commit crime.New York conveniently forgot the 1996 federal ban on sanctuary laws until a gang of five Mexicans-four of them illegal-abducted and brutally raped a 42-year-old mother of two near some railroad tracks in Queens. As a rule, no national candidate has successfully translated the anxiousness of the conservatives about illegal immigration into a national mandate.

Billionaire Steve Forbes (and one time Presidential Candidate) is a stalwart conservative, and he opposes Giuliani on abortion, guns, and gays, but he has endorsed Rudy early, and that means money. Why did Steve Forbes endorse Rudy Giuliani for president at the NASDAQ stock exchange in New York?....he summed it up when he told reporters: "He is the man who can lead America in a world that is uncertain, fight the forces of evil and at the same time increase economic opportunity here at home"....to Forbes, the global stakes are high -- the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran and radical Islam, finishing the job successfully in Iraq, the rise of a threatening regime in Moscow, the China challenge, and expanding economic opportunity and prosperity...

The bottom line is that Rudy has the leadership skills and the charisma of a winner, and Republicans want a winner.

Sources: Transcripts, Fox Broadcasting. Frontpagemag.com, Freerepublic.com, Hughhewitt.townhall.com