Word on Wall Street is that New York fundraisers for Rudy Giuliani are calling senior executives with histories of supporting Republican candidates with demands along these lines: "We need five people from your firm to raise $100,000 for Rudy. Get back to us."
The caller then hangs up, satisfied the instructions were clear and will be followed.
If you follow NY City politics at all, you'll remember that although New Yorkers loved them some Guiliani in his first time, by midway through his second he was fairly widely despised. 9/11 almost instantaneously rehabilitated him, but that doesn't change the fact that the pre-9/11 record still exists. Based on that record, this kind of behavior is precisely what I would have expected from his campaign. What I wouldn't have expected, however, is that it would have happened so soon. I'm not entirely sure why, but I expected he would play nicely for at least the first few months.
Put simply, the guy is a jerk. New Yorkers know this. The rest of the country is about to find out.
UPDATE: Kevin Drum has plenty more links for your consideration. Giulani's inability / refusal to define "strict constructionist" last night on Larry King would seem to be particularly damning.
And I love Yglesias' take on the interview:
Nonsense, combined with temperamental authoritarianism
That's Rudy's approach to governing in a nutshell. By 2008 we'll already have had 8 years of that. Do we really want to sign up for 4-8 more?
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