Weeks after losing the only dealmaker, Mark Warner, running for president, another dealmaker steps in: Rudolph Giuliani.
While most Americans know him as the tough-talking New York City mayor, since leaving office in 2001, he's been working as a dealmaker managing a turnaround firm aptly named Giuliani Partners. But, he's now returning to politics.
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However, it is a tentative step because he hasn't thrown his hat entirely in the ring for the Republican nomination yet, but he's taken the first step in that direction by filing to form a non-profit organization to explore the possibility of a run. Other candidates have already staked the same ground, namely Sen. John McCain, R.-Ariz. Only one serious contender has actually filed with the Federal Election Commission to be consider an official candidate: Gov. Tom Vilsack, D.-Iowa.
However, Giuliani's move doesn't mean he's not a candidate. While he hasn't formally declared his candidacy with the Federal Election Commission, he still must abide by its rules. The Commission allows candidates to "test the water" by forming non-profits to raise money. Serious candidates will need to raise at least $100 million by the end of 2007 to carry them through the grueling primary season, according to a New York Times story. Considering Giuliani's ties to Wall Street law firms and banks, he'll have little trouble raising the cash. Its not just his relationships formed with executives while mayor or as a turnaround specialist, but many of his top lieutenants from his days at the U.S. Attorney's Office and City Hall are working at
McDermott Will & Emery,
Proskauer Rose and other firms, according to the Times.
Odds are good Giuliani will not be the only dealmaker on the stump in the 2008 campaign season. Outgoing Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, who helped found Bain Capital, is expected to launch a similar non-profit after leaving the Statehouse next year. Like Giuliani, Romney should have little difficulty raising $100 million thanks to his ties with Bain and the U.S. Olympic Committee. However, one hang up for Romney's fund raising is the lack of large businesses that call Massachusetts home.
Despite the ease of fund raising, both dealmakers may have an uphill battle to win the Republican nomination. Both men's backgrounds maybe unpalatable to the party's base of Evangelical voters. While Romney's political beliefs on paper fit the party's thinking, his religious beliefs — Romney's a Mormon — maybe the catch for the religious right. While Giuliani is Catholic, that's less likely to rankle Evangelical voters when compared to his moderate political stance on such issues as abortion and gay rights. Of course, these issues maybe what makes them front runners in New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York and other early Northeast primaries. Even if they fail to capture a win in South Carolina and other early Southern primaries, wins in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic could win them a Vice Presidential nod at the 2008 convention. —Matthew Wurtzel
See story from the Associated Press via Forbes.com
See story from The Los Angeles Times
See story from The New York Times
See story from The New York Post (includes calendar of important milestones)
