Monday, January 21, 2008

The barbarians are in the backyard   [Mark Steyn]

I thank Lisa for her reply, and note the most recent polls:

New York: McCain 36; Giuliani 24

Connecticut: McCain 39; Giuliani 16

Back in the fall, when I first queried the Giuliani strategy, I received tons of emails scoffing that sophisticated rational Republican voters in New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, California et al would pay no heed to whatever flim-flam the boobs and hicks of Iowa and New Hampshire were dumb enough to fall for this time round. This was one of the less intemperate ones:

Such states could care less what the voters in Iowa and New Hampshire do. I would also suggest  you check the most recent polls in the early states of South Carolina and Nevada ( Rudy leads in both ).

These Rudy dudes all missed the point. The fact that his support was "strongest" among the electorates paying least attention should have told them something - not about Mitt or Huck, but about him. And given that we're now all modifying Rummy (You go to the election with the candidates you have, etc), whatever one's feelings about Iowa and New Hampshire, you go to the nominating convention on the primary calendar you have. When everyone else has agreed to hold a baseball game, it's not wise to announce that you've decided you're playing croquet. 

UPDATE: From a reader:

Put more succinctly, perhaps more Guiliani-esque, Rudy brought a knife to a gun fight.

01/21 04:18 PMShare