CNN's Political Ticker Blog: Giuliani Stands By Support Of Publicly-Funded Abortions

CNN's Political Blog has the details, but a small sample is below.

"TALLAHASSEE, Florida (CNN) -- Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani told CNN Wednesday he supports public funding for some abortions, a position he advocated as mayor and one that will likely put the GOP presidential candidate at odds with social conservatives in his party.

'Ultimately, it's a constitutional right, and therefore if it's a constitutional right, ultimately, even if you do it on a state by state basis, you have to make sure people are protected,' Giuliani said in an interview with CNN's Dana Bash in Florida's capital city.

A video clip of the then-mayoral candidate issuing a similar declaration in 1989 in a speech to the 'Women's Coalition' appeared recently on the Internet.

'There must be public funding for abortions for poor women,' Giuliani says in the speech that is posted on the video sharing site YouTube. 'We cannot deny any woman the right to make her own decisions about abortion.'

When asked directly Wednesday if he still supported the use of public funding for abortions, Giuliani said 'Yes.'"

Rudy Recap

We’ll pass it over to our Cooler correspondent who was live at Valley High last evening:

I got to the school at about 620 which I thought was going to be a little bit late since the invitation said the doors open at 530. Turns out I was early because America’s Mayor wasn’t going to grace the stage for quite sometime. As I was driving in I thought it was funny to see Dave Loebsack, John Edwards, Barack Obama, and Chet Culver stickers on 3 different cars in the parking lot.. I guess they are checking out the competition. When I arrived at the school I thought for a second I was in the wrong place because there were so many young people there. A couple dozen people looked like they were barely old enough to drive, more or less vote, and a lot of twenty-somethings as well. This was not the typical GOP crowd. Most GOP events I’ve gone to require an AARP card for entry. just milled about for the next half hour or so chatting with a few folks I know. It was a little annoying that we had to stand, I’m getting lazy in my old age. Most of the folks I talked to were there because of the “curiosity factor” that surrounds Rudy and his 9/11 mystique. By gametime I’d guess there were about 400 people or so there, but I give the same caveat that I did in the McCain and Romney recaps- I’m not a professional guesstimater… The room had a lot of hand-painted signs that said things like “America’s Mayor” and “Go Rudy Go” etc..

Rudy finally got on stage about an hour after he was supposed to and he got right into it. As he walked up to the stage a group of kids started one of the weakest “Rudy Rudy” chants I’ve ever heard. The Romney guys did much better at this. (Is there a cheering section competition at the straw poll? Maybe there should be.) Rudy’s speech was far more fiery/animated than McCain’s and quite a bit more than Romney’s was. This was what I would call a traditional rally speech as opposed to a policy address or a townhall meeting (conversation as HILLARY! would call it). Rudy talked about leadership, 9-11, and fiscal issues mostly. He covered the social issues by saying (this quote is rough) “I’m not going to stand up here and tell you what you want to hear, that would be you leading me.” He asked that people look at his record a couple of times. He called himself the true fiscal conservative in the race. He ended up by telling us that there were a lot of issues he hadn’t covered and he’d be back to go over those. He listed off education, health care, and gun control among them. Then he finished the speech and took no questions. All in all he was up there for about 20 minutes.

While I thought it was a good speech, it was very very very impersonal. I definitely didn’t leave there feeling like I had met Rudy. That was much more the feeling after McCain’s event and to a lesser extent Romney as well. We bustled back out into the cold (everytime I do one of these things the weather is terrible) and I headed down to one of the new restaurants over by Jordan Creek for a beer. All in all, not a bad night.

There you have it. Other news that came from Rudy’s trip.

Jim Nussle called the straw poll a “circus” and Rudy wouldn’t commit to participating.
In Cedar Rapids Rudy saw many of the same things he did in Queens (according to Rudy) and he walked through the neighborhood discussing revitalization. Rudy also met with legislators and did an interview with Radio Iowa’s Kay Henderson. Head over to her blog and check it out. Kay also reported on a rude welcome Rudy received from some Iowa social conservatives.

That’s all we have from Rudy’s first big day in Iowa.

The Final Money Tally

Romney 23 mil
Rudy 15 mil
McCain 12.5 mill
Brownback 2 mil
Tancredo 1 mil
Huckabee 500K

Good day for Mitt, not so much McCain and the Huckster..

We’ll have a recap of Rudy’s first trip to Iowa tomorrow.

Show Me The Money

Looking like a good day for camp Romney… In primary dollars, Mitt outraises Hillary.
Impressive.

Line Change!

Ok so we are a little late to the party on Fred Thompson. Color us a little bit skeptical about his candidacy. That being said, numbers don’t lie, and the most recent ARG poll shows America’s TV Prosecutor running 3rd in Iowa.

So Thompson jumps onto the Cooler line in the 6th slot at 25-1. Like Newt his odds are reduced by a) the likelihood that he won’t run and b) the fact that even if he does run, he has no Iowa organization to speak of.. That being said he has the name ID, he has a record that could be argued is more conservative than any of those above him on the Cooler line (not definitively). If for no other reason than to spice things up over the next few months, count the Cooler among those who hope Fred dips his toe in the water and does some campaigning in the Hawkeye.

In other line change news, Mike Huckabee dips from 16-1 to 24-1 because of rumblings that he might not be in this race for the long haul. Huckabee visited Western Iowa recently to very little fanfare and he has made no noise in the endorsement/staffing areas since he added Bob Vander Plaats and Danny Carroll over a month ago. Combine that with the rumors circling that he’ll be running for Senate in Arkansas instead and his strength seems to be diminishing in Iowa. If he doesn’t start to pick up momentum soon, he’ll be surpassed by the hard working Tommy Thompson.

On the agenda for the rest of the week: RUDY makes his inaugural visit in Iowa- the Cooler correspondent will be back for that, Tommy announces his bid formally in Des Moines, Mitt has a grand opening, and we’re two weeks away from the Abraham Lincoln Spring Showdown…

Following Drudge

As we’ve pointed out at the Cooler before, Matt Drudge is not going to be a friend to Rudy Giuliani or John McCain. At least not nearly as much of a friend as he was to George W. Bush.

Case in point, Saturday’s Drudge Report headlines:

Superscript Headlines on Bernie and Judy (why do we think this won’t be the only time this duo appears on this website):

Ex-Partner Of Giuliani May Face Charges; Kerik Counts Said To Include Deception During Cabinet Bid...

Giuliani: Wife won't be Cabinet member...

And further down the page, a “McCain memory” highlighting statements on how/when/where/if he rejected John Kerry’s VP advances.

'I was approached by Kerry to run as his running mate and I rejected it out of hand'...

McCain Said VP Slot 'Was Never Offered' By Kerry...

McCain Said 'Obviously, I Would Entertain' Running With Kerry...

We’ll be back later today with an addition to the Cooler Line…