Copyright 2008 The New York Sun Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:43:23 -0400 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Ryan Sager :: Stories from The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/authors/Ryan+Sager istoll@nysun.com (Ira Stoll) webmaster@nysun.com en-us RYAN SAGER http://www.nysun.com/national/why-mccain-wont-win/62943/ Wed, 19 Sep 2007 00:00:00 EST What the press creates, the press destroys. And what the press destroys, the press builds back up. The cycle is turning once again for Senator McCain. But don't be fooled by the quacks pointing to fleeting signs of life: This campaign is in a persistent vegetative state. Once considered by some the unquestionable front-runner for the GOP nomination (despite every poll showing Mayor Giuliani out front), over the summer the Straight Talker has been having his obituary typed up like a frail pope... RYAN SAGER http://www.nysun.com/national/mr-sunshine-state/62678/ Fri, 14 Sep 2007 00:00:00 EST CELEBRATION, Fla. — In a bizarro primary season in which the Republican Party's two front-runners see Iowa and New Hampshire as afterthoughts, Florida is shaping up to be the site of a showdown between Mayor Giuliani and Fred Thompson. With that in mind, I spent yesterday on the Thompson campaign bus as he made his Sunshine State debut. Jacksonville, Fla. At the first event of the day, in downtown Jacksonville, Mr. Thompson laid it on thick. "I can't tell you how much I appreciate it to be back... RYAN SAGER http://www.nysun.com/national/fred-thompsons-jacksonville-blues/62543/ Thu, 13 Sep 2007 00:00:00 EST When Fred Thompson arrives in Jacksonville, Fla., today, he'd better hit the ground running: His dawdling over the last few months has cost him a couple of miles. National polls are showing a healthy bump for the former Tennessee senator since he entered the race last week. But what's happening on the ground in the Sunshine State — where a January 29 primary may well determine the Republican nominee — illuminates the danger of a strategy based on starting late and hoping that hype and celebrity... RYAN SAGER http://www.nysun.com/national/thompsons-awkward-marriage/62202/ Fri, 7 Sep 2007 22:44:51 EST SIOUX CITY, Iowa — One of the most striking aspects of Fred Thompson's message in the run-up to his official presidential campaign, which began in this state yesterday, was his commitment to federalism — the principle that decisions about how people live should be made as close as possible to the people themselves, by local or state governments, as opposed to by a federal government hundreds of miles away in Washington, D.C. Rolling along the campaign trail, however, Mr. Thompson seems to have... RYAN SAGER http://www.nysun.com/national/thompson-comes-in-with-a-whimper/62153/ Fri, 7 Sep 2007 00:00:00 EST DES MOINES AND COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa — "The preseason is over," Fred Thompson declared in his first stump speech of the 2008 campaign, delivered to a plenty-of-elbow-room crowd of about 250 in Des Moines, Iowa, yesterday. "Let's get on with it." "Let's get on with it," of course, is what frustrated Thompson supporters have been saying for months, as they've waited for him to join the race. The question hanging over the newly suited-up presidential candidate's campaign is whether too many folks... RYAN SAGER http://www.nysun.com/national/gop-candidates-snub-social-conservatives/61935/ Wed, 5 Sep 2007 00:00:00 EST If self-styled "values voters" have felt snubbed by the Republican presidential candidates this election season, that snubbing is now official. Mayor Giuliani, Fred Thompson, Mitt Romney, and Senator McCain are all declining to participate in a September 17 debate in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., that's being hosted by an umbrella social-conservative group called ValuesVoter.org. Social conservatives will be upset; other conservatives might well be heartened by the waning power of the religious right... RYAN SAGER http://www.nysun.com/national/fred-thompsons-endless-summer/61723/ Fri, 31 Aug 2007 00:00:00 EST It's going to be June 5 all over again for the Fred Thompson campaign — as if the summer never even happened. At least that's what they hope. What happened on June 5? That was the last time Mr. Thompson skipped a Republican debate in order to carve out his own TV niche, away from the 10 or so poor sops stuck up on stage with each other in front of actual voters and the glare of a skeptical press. In fact, it's almost eerie. On June 5, Mr. Thompson skipped a debate in Manchester, N.H., at the... RYAN SAGER http://www.nysun.com/national/florida-will-be-decider-for-gop-nominee/61577/ Thu, 30 Aug 2007 00:00:00 EST The Republican National Committee is expected to sanction Florida for holding its primary on January 29, 2008, but that is not likely to prevent the state from holding the make-or-break contest of the campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. The rules are clear, a spokeswoman for the committee, Tracey Schmitt, said. Florida will lose half of its 114 delegates to the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis-Saint Paul next September because it jumped ahead of the February 5... RYAN SAGER http://www.nysun.com/national/romneys-palmetto-state-peril/61203/ Fri, 24 Aug 2007 00:00:00 EST Mitt Romney won the non-binding Iowa Straw Poll earlier this month. He'll almost certainly win the binding Iowa Caucus in January (or in December, if the primary calendar keeps creeping toward Turkey Day). He's neck-and-neck with Mayor Giuliani in New Hampshire. Yet the former Massachusetts governor can't seem to get so much as a toehold in the third of the Big Three early states, South Carolina. Why can't Mr. Romney make any headway in the Palmetto State? It's a puzzle the Romney campaign... RYAN SAGER http://www.nysun.com/national/thompsons-hot-water/60925/ Tue, 21 Aug 2007 00:00:00 EST Fred Thompson, as you may have heard, is currently not a candidate for president. The former Tennessee senator is technically just "testing the waters" and, as he's wont to say, the waters are pretty warm. However, his coyness could end up costing him — possibly in the neighborhood of seven figures. A liberal blogger by the comic book-ready name of Lane Hudson has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission pointing out the obvious: While Mr. Thompson claims to be evaluating the... RYAN SAGER http://www.nysun.com/national/highlights-from-the-way-too-early-debate/60874/ Mon, 20 Aug 2007 00:00:00 EST Some of the highlights of yesterday morning's Democratic candidate debate in Iowa, aired on ABC: Senator Clinton: She gets the first question of the (way-too-early) morning: Is Senator Obama ready to be president? "Well, George, I was going to say good morning. … It's really up to the voters to make these decisions." The great thing about the current Democratic field, she says, is, "You don't have to be against anybody. … You can choose who you're for." Governor Richardson: He turns the... RYAN SAGER http://www.nysun.com/national/giuliani-and-the-know-nothings/60777/ Fri, 17 Aug 2007 00:00:00 EST What an election: The one-time mayor of Ellis Island, grandson of Italian immigrants, has to make nice with the modern-day Know Nothings if he wants a shot at his party's nomination for the presidency. Mayor Giuliani gets immigrants. He's lived their dreams. He's governed their city. He's won their hearts and their minds and their votes. But now he must walk a razor's edge between advocating sensible immigration reforms on one side and demonizing immigrants as criminals and invaders on the... RYAN SAGER http://www.nysun.com/opinion/skip-iowa-next-time/60377/ Mon, 13 Aug 2007 00:00:00 EST To revise the old Woody Allen line: Eighty percent of success is not showing up. While Mitt Romney may have nominally "won" the Iowa Straw Poll over the weekend, the real victors were the ones who stayed away from Ames: Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, and Fred Thompson (who has made something of an art of not showing up, in recent months). The paradox could mean the end of the straw poll as a GOP touchstone. And that would be nothing but good news for the Republican Party. Let's look first at how... RYAN SAGER http://www.nysun.com/national/in-ames-poll-can-long-shots-beat-expectations/60289/ Fri, 10 Aug 2007 00:00:00 EST What's more worthless in trying to predict the outcome of the Republican primary: writing all the candidates' names on scraps of paper and picking them blindfolded out of a hat or the Ames straw poll? The smart money's on the hat. For all the hoopla that surrounds the straw poll, scheduled to take place in Ames, Iowa, on Saturday, one could be forgiven for not knowing that it's just the fifth ever held by the Republican Party — and its record of predicting, or even affecting, the outcome of the... RYAN SAGER http://www.nysun.com/national/highlights-from-the-union-forum/60095/ Wed, 8 Aug 2007 00:00:00 EST Some of the highlights of last night's AFL–CIO candidate forum in Chicago: Senators Dodd and Clinton: Start things off by give shout-outs to the trapped miners in Utah. Remember, this is a labor forum. The candidates aren't going to let you forget it tonight. All of the candidates: In response to questions about the Minnesota bridge collapse, apparently infrastructure isn't about safety, it's about jobs for union workers. The crowd: This is a boisterous crowd. They're not going to hold their... RYAN SAGER http://www.nysun.com/national/giuliani-and-his-shadow-flip/60101/ Wed, 8 Aug 2007 00:00:00 EST Is "Flip," the flip-flop-baiting, Mitt Romney-hating dolphin that follows the former governor of Massachusetts around, going to have to start tailing Mayor Giuliani? While the former New York City mayor and Republican frontrunner doesn't yet have the Utah-size flip-flopping problem of Mr. Romney, he has announced his change of mind this week on a second major issue of concern to Republican primary voters: campaign finance regulation. Asked at an event in Iowa on Monday whether he would roll... RYAN SAGER http://www.nysun.com/national/muzzling-murdoch/59829/ Fri, 3 Aug 2007 00:00:00 EST John Edwards has a problem with Rupert Murdoch, so he wants Mr. Murdoch to have a problem with the Federal Communications Commission as he completes his deal to acquire Dow Jones. To that end, the former North Carolina senator is agitating for his fellow Democrats to "take the necessary steps to stop the merger." One Democratic member of the FCC, Michael Copps, who addressed the progressive YearlyKos convention in Chicago yesterday, even looks ready to help create a problem, telling Mr. Murdoch... RYAN SAGER http://www.nysun.com/national/once-a-favorite-for-the-gop-nod-the-senator-as/57763/ Tue, 3 Jul 2007 00:00:00 EST Spread some butter on this guy — he's toast. Yesterday afternoon, Senator McCain's two top campaign aides, campaign manager Terry Nelson and chief consultant John Weaver, held a somber conference call with reporters to relay the bad news: The McCain campaign has raised only $11.2 million in its second quarter fund-raising drive, far short of its target and on track for another third-place finish behind Mitt Romney and Mayor Giuliani, and as a result is "restructuring." Restructuring, here, is a... RYAN SAGER http://www.nysun.com/national/court-rocks-the-2008-campaign/57275/ Tue, 26 Jun 2007 00:00:00 EST In an opinion declaring that the Supreme Court must "give the benefit of the doubt to speech, not censorship," Chief Justice Roberts handed down a decision yesterday that all but repeals Congress's 2002 ban on so-called sham issue advertising on television and radio in the days before federal elections. The ruling holds the potential to shake up the 2008 presidential race by opening the door to unions, corporations, and nonprofit groups that had been shut out of the political process by the... RYAN SAGER http://www.nysun.com/national/gems-from-the-second-gop-debate/54596/ Wed, 16 May 2007 00:00:00 EST Some of the highlights of the first hour of last night's second-of-the-cycle Republican primary debate in Columbia, S.C.: Brit Hume: This guy just oozes gravitas. Can he be the dark horse Republican candidate, instead of Fred Thompson? Also, there's going to be a cowbell for candidates who speak for too long. Awesome. Governor Gilmore: He's still here. Good Lord. Mr. Hume: Fox News will not seek comment on Jerry Falwell's passing. Perhaps the candidates are relieved that their pandering to the... RYAN SAGER http://www.nysun.com/national/gop-debate-hits-misses-and-wild-misfires/53791/ Fri, 4 May 2007 00:00:00 EST Some of the highlights of the first hour of last night's first-of-the-cycle Republican primary debate in Simi Valley, Calif.: Mayor Giuliani: Got the first question. Seconds it took for him to tout his record in New York City: 1. Seconds it took for him to invoke President Reagan: 10. Not bad. Not bad at all. Senator McCain: Comes out of the gate swinging to prove he's not the Democrats' favorite Republican. He lays into Senator Reid & Co. on the question of withdrawal. "What were they... RYAN SAGER http://www.nysun.com/opinion/giulianis-startling-departure-on-civil-unions/53313/ Fri, 27 Apr 2007 00:00:00 EST In a startling departure from his previously stated position on civil unions, Mayor Giuliani came out to The New York Sun yesterday evening in opposition to the civil union law just passed by the New Hampshire state Senate. "Mayor Giuliani believes marriage is between one man and one woman. Domestic partnerships are the appropriate way to ensure that people are treated fairly," the Giuliani campaign said in a written response to a question from the Sun. "In this specific case the law states... RYAN SAGER http://www.nysun.com/opinion/time-to-ban-the-t-word/53298/ Thu, 26 Apr 2007 11:20:59 EST Apparently, Rudy Giuliani thinks America would be less likely to suffer a terrorist attack over the next four to eight years if he or another Republican were to be elected president. At least, that was the upshot of his recent, outrageous comments, reported by the Politico, in which he expressed a preference for Republican anti-terror policies over the anti-terror policies of the Democrats. I'm betting he also believes America's economy would perform better if his economic policies were... RYAN SAGER http://www.nysun.com/national/mccain-lags-in-home-state-among-independents/53304/ Thu, 26 Apr 2007 14:53:55 EST John McCain's still in the lead in Arizona, his home state (for those just tuning into American politics), but just barely. In the latest Arizona State University/KAET TV poll, Mr. McCain leads Rudy Giuliani by only 32%-27%. Mitt Romney comes in at 11% and Fred Thompson at 6% (a rare win for Mr. Romney in the race for third place). This is a big change from February, when Mr. McCain almost doubled Mr. Giuliani's support, 44%-25% (Mr. Romney was at 6%). Also, I called up the director of the... RYAN SAGER http://www.nysun.com/national/romneys-energy-gaffe/52883/ Fri, 20 Apr 2007 00:00:00 EST The headline practically wrote itself: "Romney Endorses Hitler's Energy Policy." At least that's what I told a flack from a rival campaign who was pushing the story of an odd remark the former Massachusetts governor, Mitt Romney, made yesterday during a speech to the Northern Virginia Technology Council, in McLean, Va. "I'm afraid building a nuclear power plant in our country today would require us first to hire the French to show us how to do it because they've been building 'em and we... RYAN SAGER http://www.nysun.com/opinion/maladroit-mitt/52941/ Fri, 20 Apr 2007 00:00:00 EST The headline practically wrote itself: "Romney Endorses Hitler's Energy Policy." At least that's what I told a flack from a rival campaign who was pushing the story of an odd remark the former Massachusetts governor, Mitt Romney, made yesterday during a speech to the Northern Virginia Technology Council, in McLean, Va. "I'm afraid building a nuclear power plant in our country today would require us first to hire the French to show us how to do it because they've been building 'em and we... RYAN SAGER http://www.nysun.com/national/how-abortion-plays-a-role-in-defining-gop/52814/ Thu, 19 Apr 2007 00:00:00 EST The rhetoric from the Democratic candidates for president yesterday in response to the Supreme Court's decision to uphold a federal ban on partial-birth abortion was predictable. The phrases "could not disagree more strongly," "hard right turn," and "erosion of our constitutional rights" figured prominently. The official responses issued by the Big Three on the Republican side, however, offer a window into the state of the race — and into the role that abortion plays in defining the Republican... RYAN SAGER http://www.nysun.com/national/giuliani-tumbles-mccain-stumbles-and-thompson/52650/ Tue, 17 Apr 2007 10:40:45 EST We've updated our GOP and Dem primary indices for April, to take account of the major, national, public polls taken so far. You can click here to take a look at the indices and the data behind them, OR you can always click the tab on our menu bar, or look at the graphs on our home page. The story, at least on the Republican side, is that so far this month both Rudy Giuliani and John McCain are dipping in support. Mr. McCain's below 20, and Mr. Giuliani's just above 30. So, why are both of these... RYAN SAGER http://www.nysun.com/national/questions-on-schiavo-bedevil-giuliani/52191/ Wed, 11 Apr 2007 00:00:00 EST For a full transcript of Mayor Giuliani's remarks in Florida on March 4 about the Terri Schiavo case, please visit NYSunPolitics.com. Mayor Giuliani's response to a question about the Terri Schiavo controversy while on the campaign trail in St. Petersburg, Fla., raises serious questions about the competence of his campaign staff and his discipline as a presidential candidate. The comments last week indicated that Mr. Giuliani supported the congressional intervention in the Schiavo case in 2005... RYAN SAGER http://www.nysun.com/national/giulianis-1993-nafta-opposition-raises-questions/52102/ Mon, 9 Apr 2007 00:00:00 EST Mayor Giuliani has been gaining momentum among economic conservatives. He was a hit at the Club for Growth's recent winter conference in Florida, where he touted his record as the only fiscal conservative in the presidential race who has "actually practiced it, there in the battlefields." But some of Mr. Giuliani's positions taken while in the battlefields are now raising questions about his fiscal-conservative bona fides. Among them are his decision to endorse Mario Cuomo for governor in 1994... RYAN SAGER http://www.nysun.com/national/q-poll-hillary-beats-all-comers/51937/ Thu, 5 Apr 2007 11:10:04 EST In the latest Quinnipiac University Poll, released this morning, Hillary Clinton beats all comers — both in the Democratic primary and in the general election. Rudy Giuliani comes closest among Republicans to keeping pace with New York's junior senator, losing by only 50%-42%. In the Democratic primary, Mrs. Clinton leads with 44% of the vote. Not so hot on her heels are Barack Obama and Al Gore (not, ostensibly, running), tied at 14%. John Edwards brings up the rear at 9%. On the Republican... RYAN SAGER http://www.nysun.com/national/obama-stunner-25-million-in-the-first-quarter/51843/ Wed, 4 Apr 2007 11:44:10 EST The senator from Illinois, Barack Obama, has posted some stunningly positive fundraising figures for the first quarter: $25 million overall, with at least $23.5 million available for the primary. This money, according to the campaign, comes from more than 100,000 donors, some 50,000 of those having given online. "This overwhelming response, in only a few short weeks, shows the hunger for a different kind of politics in this country and a belief at the grassroots level that Barack Obama can... RYAN SAGER http://www.nysun.com/national/reformers-victory-is-empty/51212/ Tue, 27 Mar 2007 00:00:00 EST Five years ago today, President Bush signed into law the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002. Today, American politics is so clean you could eat off it — except for the mud-slinging, back-scratching, favor-trading, influence-peddling, bald-faced lying, indictments, and convictions. Nonetheless, the folks who brought us the bill known colloquially as McCain-Feingold will be taking a wildly undeserved victory lap this week. After all the big promises leading up to the passage of... RYAN SAGER http://www.nysun.com/national/romney-receding/51201/ Mon, 26 Mar 2007 13:37:52 EST It has not been a good couple of days for the Romney campaign. The former senator from Tennessee, Fred Thompson, who isn't even running, overtakes Mr. Romney in Iowa, where there's a robust Romney campaign apparatus. Mr. Thompson ties Mr. Romney in Ohio. A big financial backer in Florida defects from the Romney to the Giuliani camp. Now, a rival-campaign operative forwards on some other recent bad news for Mitt that you may have missed. Read the whole story at NYSunPolitics.com... RYAN SAGER http://www.nysun.com/national/thompson-takes-bites-out-of-giuliani-romney/51206/ Mon, 26 Mar 2007 17:21:58 EST The latest USA Today/Gallup poll, conducted Friday through Sunday, on the presidential race is out, and it's a humdinger. It's hard to say what the headline even is. Here are a few tries, though: * Romney's support drops to within the margin of error of not existing (that's 3% support in a poll where the margin of error is 3%). * Giuliani's support drops 13 percentage points since the last USA Today/Gallup poll, March 2-4 (that's gotta hurt). * Fred Thompson (not running, by the way) is now the... RYAN SAGER http://www.nysun.com/national/thompson-overtakes-romney-in-iowa/51091/ Fri, 23 Mar 2007 15:00:33 EST Well, the first round of Fred Thompson numbers continues to come in from state-level polls around the country. The latest numbers out from American Research Group show Mr. Thompson at 12% among likely Iowa caucus goers, beating Mitt Romney's 10%. In New Hampshire (also an ARG poll), Mr. Thompson clocks in at 10%; Mr. Romney beats him there with 17%. All in all, not looking bad for my prediction earlier this week that Mr. Thompson could catch up to Mr. Romney in the blink of an eye. However... RYAN SAGER http://www.nysun.com/opinion/george-marlins-interview/51072/ Fri, 23 Mar 2007 00:00:00 EST George Marlin, a longtime conservative activist in New York, has a problem with Mayor Giuliani. In 1993, Mr. Marlin ran for mayor on the Conservative line against Mr. Giuliani and David Dinkins — once bringing a rubber chicken to a debate where Mr. Giuliani didn't show up. Now, he's put together a 40-page dossier, reproduced here, of every "liberal" quote he could find from or about the former mayor, and he's begun mailing it to conservative activists nationwide. Recently, Mr. Marlin spoke to... RYAN SAGER http://www.nysun.com/national/q-poll-thompson-ties-romney-in-ohio/50999/ Thu, 22 Mar 2007 09:45:36 EST According to a Quinnipiac poll out this morning (see Question 2) of registered Republicans in Ohio, Fred Thompson, only a few days after announcing on "Fox News Sunday" that he is "going to leave the door open" to a run for president, has already tied the former governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney. In a survey taken from March 13 to March 19, of 1,122 Ohio voters, both Messrs. Romney and Thompson get 6% of the vote among registered Republicans. Mayor Giuliani came in at 31%, Senator McCain... RYAN SAGER http://www.nysun.com/national/new-york-moves-toward-february-5-primary/50924/ Wed, 21 Mar 2007 19:57:42 EST New York's legislature has moved the state one step closer to joining California in participating in a February 5, 2008, big-state primary. Traditionally, small states Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina have an out-sized impact in the primary process, because they vote early and shape perceptions of which candidates are in the lead (and which candidates are best at on-the-ground, turnout-intensive politics). This year, however, California has moved its primary to February 5 — expected to... RYAN SAGER http://www.nysun.com/opinion/thompson-trumps-romney/50849/ Wed, 21 Mar 2007 00:00:00 EST Dun-dun. That's the sound, ubiquitous on the NBC crime-and-punishment drama "Law & Order," that's been haunting the nightmares of the former governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney, for the last week and a half. That is, ever since the former Republican senator of Tennessee, Fred Thompson, went on "Fox News Sunday" to declare that he's "going to leave the door open" to a presidential run. The lawyer-turned-actorturned-senator-turned-actor — best known from TV as the downhome, tough-as-nails... RYAN SAGER http://www.nysun.com/opinion/mccains-mutually-exclusive-06-analyses/50755/ Mon, 19 Mar 2007 18:03:09 EST Senator McCain of Arizona is offering two mutually exclusive analyses of why the Republican Party lost control of Congress in 2006. Now, of course, he can't offer the first important reason the Republicans lost: Iraq. He and his candidacy are too tightly tied to the president's policies in the region. But, a week ago, Mr. McCain said that the Republican Congress's profligate spending was to blame for the party's losses in November. "I don't think that the Republican Party lost the election... RYAN SAGER http://www.nysun.com/national/rudy-giuliani-life-long-liberal/50660/ Fri, 16 Mar 2007 17:41:08 EST A dossier under the title, "Rudy Giuliani Life Long Liberal," edited by New York conservative activist George Marlin, has just been circulated to a small circle of New York journalists. And, now, NYSunPolitics.com publishes it online in its entirety (click to download the Word document) — appearing for the first time anywhere. According to the email accompanying the dossier in my mail box, "This is the 'Small Book' consisting of 40 Pages of Quotes of Liberal Rudy that will haunt him and his... RYAN SAGER http://www.nysun.com/national/rudys-judy-problem/50556/ Thu, 15 Mar 2007 10:15:51 EST To anyone in attendance at the Giuliani fundraiser at the Sheraton in Midtown Manhattan yesterday evening, watching Judith Giuliani introduce her husband, the former mayor, it became clearer than ever that Rudy Giuliani has some serious female problems. Yes, we all know about his three marriages — and particularly about his very messy and public divorce from his second wife, Donna Hanover. The question going forward, however, is how does he introduce the American public to his current wife. As... RYAN SAGER http://www.nysun.com/national/nyc-bloomberg-would-be-better-president-than/50476/ Wed, 14 Mar 2007 13:38:12 EST More New York City voters would choose Mayor Bloomberg for president than would choose the city's former mayor, Rudy Giuliani. In a Quinnipiac poll released this morning — conducted March 6-12 among 1,261 registered New York City voters — New Yorkers said by a margin of 46%-31% that Mr. Bloomberg "would make a better president" than Mr. Giuliani. Read the whole story and tell us what you think at NYSunPolitics.com... RYAN SAGER http://www.nysun.com/opinion/being-john-mccain/50370/ Tue, 13 Mar 2007 01:55:53 EST Senator McCain hasn't been himself, lately. Not because he's been acting funny (though he has been). And not because he's been a bit down on his luck (though he has been that as well). No, the senator's problem is a stickier one: John McCain is not the "John McCain" of the 2008 race. That's to say, he doesn't fit into the campaign's storyline the way he used to. And since his appeal has always been built on his story — former POW war-hero turned maverick hell-raiser, here to save the Republic... RYAN SAGER http://www.nysun.com/national/domenici-adds-to-gops-woes-in-west/50198/ Fri, 9 Mar 2007 14:54:26 EST The growing U.S. attorneys scandal, where eight former U.S. attorneys are claiming that resisting political pressure to go after Democrats led to their dismissals, is not just a problem for the Republican Party at the national level, adding to President Bush's headaches and hurting the party's image. It also adds to the Republican Party's setbacks out West, where it has a number of Senate and House seats up for grabs in 2008 — in political territory that is increasingly unfavorable to... RYAN SAGER http://www.nysun.com/national/responding-to-the-rudy-rise/50110/ Thu, 8 Mar 2007 19:12:40 EST I just got off the phone with a consultant to the McCain campaign — who was speaking on background — getting his take on the recent surge of Mayor Giuliani (and tanking of Senator McCain) in the polls. "I look at it as, 'Who would you rather be at this point?'," the consultant said. Mr. Giuliani's support is high, but it's also "quite thin." More important than the polls right now, he argues, is to look at Mr. McCain's favorable-unfavorable ratings. So, let's look at those ratings in a couple... RYAN SAGER http://www.nysun.com/national/mountain-west-rises-as-political-power/49922/ Tue, 6 Mar 2007 20:35:38 EST For the past couple of election cycles, two trinities have dominated America's political universe. In the primaries: Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina. In the general: Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania. In 2008, two realignments of the political stars are likely to lead to the upstaging of both. In early '08, a big-state primary seems more and more certain by the day to overshadow its small-state counterpart. California, New York, New Jersey, and Florida have all expressed strong interest in moving... RYAN SAGER http://www.nysun.com/national/romney-giuliani-top-conservative-straw-poll/49736/ Sat, 3 Mar 2007 18:36:17 EST WASHINGTON, D.C. — The former governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney, is the first choice of conservatives' hearts, and the former mayor of New York City, Rudy Giuliani, is the most broadly supported candidate by conservatives. Those were the results today of the annual CPAC Straw Poll, measuring the presidential preference of attendees at the Conservative Political Action Conference. With a total of 1,705 ballots cast by registered conference attendees, this year's marks the largest ever CPAC... RYAN SAGER http://www.nysun.com/national/giuliani-i-am-conservatives-80-percent-ally/49719/ Fri, 2 Mar 2007 22:17:06 EST WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today has been the marquee day here at the 34th annual Conservative Political Action Conference, as two out of the three top-tier candidates for the Republican nomination in 2008 stopped by to make their pitches to the party's base. Mayor Giuliani, with a wide lead over his rivals in the polls, quoted Reagan in making his case for why a twice-divorced, pro-choice, pro-gay-rights New Yorker should be the Republican Party's nominee for president. "My 80 percent ally is not my...