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Matthew Freeman is a Brooklyn based playwright with a BFA from Emerson College. His plays include THE DEATH OF KING ARTHUR, REASONS FOR MOVING, THE GREAT ESCAPE, THE AMERICANS, THE WHITE SWALLOW, AN INTERVIEW WITH THE AUTHOR, THE MOST WONDERFUL LOVE, WHEN IS A CLOCK, GLEE CLUB, THAT OLD SOFT SHOE and BRANDYWINE DISTILLERY FIRE. He served as Assistant Producer and Senior Writer for the live webcast from Times Square on New Year's Eve 2010-2012. As a freelance writer, he has contributed to Gamespy, Premiere, Complex Magazine, Maxim Online, and MTV Magazine. His plays have been published by Playscripts, Inc., New York Theatre Experience, and Samuel French.

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Polling Question

Let's assume Rudy Giuliani is the Republican Candidate for President in 2008. My assumption is the McCain's support of the escalation in Iraq is basically going to sink his ship, and the Mitt Romney is viewed as too Mormon and only recently socially conservative by the Republican base. Brownback is crazy, so I'm hoping he's out. So let's go with America's Mayor.

Which of these races looks best to you?

Rudy v. Clinton
Rudy v. Obama
Rudy v. Edwards

6 comments:

Mark said...

I just don't see how Rudy wins the nomination, without some serious manuvering that will make Romney look unwavering in comparison. And if he does, I imagine there will be a serious third party candidate on the right, like a Roy Moore or Brownback himself.

Freeman said...

There may be a third party candidate to satisfy the unsatisfied Christian Right. It's a weird field: I would have thought McCain was a shoe-in, but he's just playing it all wrong. He's courting evangelicals when his strength was that he was viewed as a moderate, and he dug in deep with Iraq, which is political suicide.

Giuliani's polling huge right now, and Romney's already getting too many questions, I think, to get him the republican nomination. He's got the stigma of taking on conservative positions that his record disproves, he's not some wunderkind on Defense, and he's Mormon, which Evangelicals are ironically suspicious of. Giuliani has tons of baggage, but he's also centrist-looking enough for most and will win over a lot of the far right simply because of his connection to 9/11 and that he looks strong. He's at least the frontrunner in my eyes.

Mark said...

The fact that he's the frontrunner really speaks to the weakness of their field. You're right that Romney's rather obvious pandering is going to keep him from getting out of the starting gate. And that McCain's played it all wrong.

So I guess Rudy is indeed the frontrunner - and God knows Republicans love their 9/11 porn. But it remains to be seen whether he'll flip like Romney on the social issues, engendering charges of pandering, or if he'll hold firm and prompt a third party bid from the right.

Check out Yglesias today on this subject. His point is that conservatives will forgive a lot of policy stands if they think someone will do a sufficient job of shitting on liberals - and he's probably right.

Freeman said...

Good posting. Thanks for the link.

You're definitely right there - the field is weak for Republicans. Part of it, and rightly so, is that they hitched their wagon to certain restrictive social issues so firmly that they can't break free. For all the talk about how Democrats should move to the center, the turnaround for the Republican field is poetic justice. Their going to wind up defending themselves against charges of flip flopping and centrism.

Anonymous said...

I like Obama right now. I also think, Obama-Biden would be a great ticket. Charisma and experience working side by side.

Mark said...

Yeah, then Biden can constantly tell Barack how "clean" and "articulate" he is. (snark)