Is Rudy Entering The Race ?

This surprises me just a little bit. I figured after the embarrassment of his short-lived presidential run in 2008, Rudy Giuliani wouldn't want any part of another run for that office. But it looks like he might be a glutton for punishment. With Daniels and Huckabee out of the picture now, the establishment Republicans are casting about for someone to take on the right-wing extremists in the race (which includes most of the candidates except for Romney, who seems to be as adept at shooting himself in the foot as Gingrich).

And the name some people are tossing around is that of Rudy Giuliani (and rumor has it he may actually be considering jumping in the race). CNN decided to find out if there was any chance for a Giuliani candidacy, so they included his name in the latest poll they did with Opinion Research. The CNN/Opinion Research Poll was done May 24th through May 26th of 1,007 adults (and has a margin of error of 3 points). Surprisingly, Giuliani did very well in the poll, finishing in first place (although Romney and Palin were both within the margin of error).

Here are how the Republicans stacked up in this latest poll:

Rudy Giuliani...............16%
Mitt Romney...............15%
Sarah Palin...............13%
Ron Paul...............12%
Herman Cain...............10%
Newt Gingrich...............8%
Michele Bachmann...............7%
Tim Pawlenty...............5%
Rick Santorum...............2%
Jon Huntsman...............1%
Gary Johnson...............1%
Buddy Roemer...............*
Someone else/no one...............8%
No opinion...............2%

And here are the numbers when they took Giuliani out of the mix:

Mitt Romney...............19%
Sarah Palin...............15%
Ron Paul...............13%
Herman Cain...............11%
Newt Gingrich...............11%
Michele Bachmann...............7%
Tim Pawlenty...............5%
Jon Huntsman...............3%
Rick Santorum...............2%
Gary Johnson...............2%
Buddy Roemer...............1%
Someone else/no one...............9%
No opinion...............2%

Those numbers may be good enough to get Rudy Giuliani to enter the race. He's always had a taste for power, and I think he'd love to be relevant again. The real surprise for me is that the candidacy of Herman Cain may be actually getting some traction. This poll backs up a couple of other recent polls showing he has now jumped up into double-digit territory. Maybe the Republicans have finally found their token Black (after Michael Steele turned out to be such an incompetent fool).

The other interesting item is the hopeless nature of the candidacies of Huntsman, Santorum, and Pawlenty. I never expected Huntsman and Santorum to get anywhere, but Pawlenty was supposed to have a real chance according to some pundits. Unless he gets out of that 3-5% range in the polls pretty soon, he's just going to be another "also ran".

There's still some talk of Texas governor Rick Perry entering the race, and the Austin American-Statesman is reporting that he and his advisors are seriously thinking about it. And right-wing radio nut Laura Ingraham says she heard from a source close to Perry that he definitely will be entering the race. I'm not believing it -- at least not yet. The latest Texas Tribune/University of Texas poll put his support at only 4% in his home state.

I think it may be time to heed the words of the late great Molly Ivins. She said, "Next time I tell you someone from Texas should not be president of the United States, please pay attention." This nation needs to take those words to heart.