Stepping to the Plate, Giuliani Is Seeing Only Softballs

[meegbear]

In a swing through South Carolina this week, Rudolph W. Giuliani chose to campaign at a fire house, which is a little like Derek Jeter meeting with Yankees fans — a most unlikely forum for hostility, or even much skepticism.

Instead of the sometimes barbed give-and-take endured by the other candidates, Mr. Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, fielded a few questions from the firefighters and police officers who gathered to hear him here. The questions, which began with comments like, “Being in your presence here is just unbelievable,” stuck almost entirely to issues on which Mr. Giuliani is most comfortable, like airport security and border control.

More than the other major presidential candidates, Mr. Giuliani has limited himself to events with narrowly defined, friendly audiences, avoiding the kind of uncomfortable interrogations his rivals have occasionally faced. Aside from a couple of brief swings through diners, including one yesterday in Delray Beach, Fla., he has done little of the politicking that exposes candidates to random sets of people — at shopping malls or train stations — who might be of any political stripe, and can raise any issue.

Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton, John McCain and Barack Obama and others have held forums in Iowa and New Hampshire that were open to anyone and were widely advertised in advance — Mr. McCain did three on Saturday alone. People who were clearly skeptical pressed the candidates — Mrs. Clinton and Mr. McCain on their Iraq war positions, and Mr. Obama on his relative inexperience.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/23/us/politics/23rudy.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&ref=washington&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin

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Sounds like another repug who's afraid to deal with "real people".

[fryguy]

1. no surprise

he's taking straight from KKKarl's play book. why meet or be in the presence of anyone who is other than adoring fans of his persona

[InternalDialogue]

2. Early-campaign "gimme" appearances.

Similar to major university ranked football teams front-loading the schedule with small, directional colleges. By the time the real games begin, they can point to a spotless 6-0 record.

Rudy and his handlers don't want anything to tarnish his record in the early going. They know it's easier to roll over the bumps in the road once there's a little momentum built up.