Rest In Peace, Team Rudy.

Well, no one will try running for President this way again, eh? The early numbers are coming in from the Florida Primary, and my boy Rudy Giuliani is coming in a distant third. If this holds up, it's entirely possible that he will drop out of the race, rather than waiting until Super Tuesday, where he could lose his home state of New York. Too bad...

I thought Rudy would make a solid, if unspectacular, President. Yeah, he's not everyone's cup of tea, but I agreed with him on almost everything, and I was impressed with him when we met this summer. Back then, we were riding pretty high, but the air came out of the blimp somewhere along the way.

Obviously, the strategy failed badly - it was basically the political equivalent of the prevent defense, and it worked in much the same way - it prevented him from winning. No one will skip the early primaries again. It may be known from this point on as 'pulling a Giuliani'. There were other factors - Fred Thompson's entry, and John McCain's resurrection definitely cost him. But the majority of the blame has to go on the team.

I hear that Rudy HAD to skip the early states because he wasn't going to do well in them. Most forget that Giuliani was leading South Carolina well into the Fall, was second in New Hampshire and third in Iowa. They traded those places in for sixth when they insulted all of them by skipping the necessary campaigning. The guy who made this decision probably won't work another political campaign in his life. This is the political equivalent of the '78 Red Sox, the '51 Dodgers, or the '07 Mets in terms of collapse. It's THAT bad...........

What about 2012? Forget it. The second try rarely goes as well as the first, with John McCain and Ronald Reagan being the exceptions. Once you have that big 'L' stamped on your forehead, it's hard to wash off. Rudy can rest up, enjoy himself again, and work from the sidelines. Take my word - sometimes it more fun that way..

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