GIULIANI'S HOMETOWN: Mark notes in his post on the varied hometowns of the presidential contenders this year that Giuliani is "certainly an only-in-New-York character." Well, yes if you mean the New York region, but no if you mean New York City. Giuliani actually moved out to Long Island as a kid, and I think that correlates to who he appeals to and why. His base in New York were white ethnics in the more suburban provinces of the outer-boroughs. And he was always popular among the denizens of New York's suburbs, or expatriates in L.A. and Florida, who found a safer, cleaner Times Square on their rare urban ventures. But the New York urbanites, and not just minorities, often felt oppressed by his police-state approach to governance, his favoritism of business interests over community groups and his general high-handedness. When Mike wrote in TNR last week that Giuliani would put New Jersey but not New York in play I assumed this is what he was referring to (it was actually, as he went on to explain, merely that New Jersey is closer to being a swing state than New York, which is also true, of course). As a New Yorker who grew very tired of telling out-of-towners (and I mean liberal Democratic ones) over the years that no, Giuliani wasn't necessarily an amazing mayor, nor was he beloved by all his constituents, I think this demonstrates a miscalculation the media may make about Giuliani's appeal. If he makes it to the general election he will be a fearsome candidate because he speaks the language of suburbanites, especially those security moms, and he could pull some of their votes in Shaker Heights. But, cultural liberals in cities will probably be turned off by his authoritarian style and his signature achievement being creating what they view as anti-septic New York City.
--Ben Adler
