Could Murdoch Be The Man?

"Not that one anecdote an election makes. But this is representative of the kind of story that the conservatives I've been talking to say they're hearing from the conservatives they've been talking to. It is also the sort of sentiment contributing to poll numbers indicating that between one-quarter and one-third of Americans would not vote for a Mormon--a number that grows much bigger when you include less definitive options, such as those who say that they wouldn't be comfortable voting for a Mormon or those who believe the country isn't ready for a Mormon (two-thirds of America, if last September's Gallup poll is on target.) Not insignificantly for Romney, a February 2007 Gallup poll showed that, the more religious a person is, the more likely he is to have a negative view of Mormonism."

I wonder if he'll have to give a JFK-style speech addressing his religion--although, in a pluralistic society, he shouldn't really have to.

New York magazine reveals that Rudy met Judith Nathan at "Club Macanudo, a swanky cigar bar on East 63rd Street . . . Sometimes a woman would approach him, interrupting his cigar-smoking to express her admiration, maybe get an autograph. Perhaps flirt mildly. So it wasn't surprising when Nathan, a pretty woman with rich brown hair, came over and said hello . . .

"A few days after their fateful meeting, the mayor had an aide retrieve Judith's business card from his desk drawer at City Hall, then he phoned and asked her out."

This one has gained some traction in the liberal blogosphere. Washington Monthly's Kevin Drum explains:

"As part of a campaign stop planned for Iowa last week, Rudy Giuliani's Des Moines office called Deb and Jerry VonSprecken to see if they'd host an event at their farm. They agreed. After several days of planning and a security check, though, Deb was told to call Giuliani's New York office:

"'They wanted to know our assets,' she revealed, and added that she and Jerry have a modest 80 acre farm and raise cattle.

"Later she received a call from Tony Delgado at the Des Monies location. 'Tony said, "I'm sorry, you aren't worth a million dollars and he is campaigning on the Death Tax right now." Then he said they weren't going to be able to come,' Deb continued.

"The guy's just all class, isn't he?

"POSTSCRIPT: So what really happened? It sounds like Giuliani's gang was playing an old time conservative game: trying to find a family farm that would eventually have to be sold in order to pay inheritance taxes. Of course, they can practically never find one, since inheritance taxes don't even start to kick in until a farm is worth several million dollars, and there aren't very many family farms worth anywhere near that. But that doesn't keep them from trying."

Come on--don't all politicians look for people who illustrate the problem that their plan (on taxes, Social Security, whatever) is going to solve?

But get this, via Greg Sargent: "Senator John McCain put in a personal call to an Iowa woman that was snubbed by Rudy Giuliani's campaign, asking to meet with her and apologizing to her on 'behalf of all politicians,' the woman told me this evening.

"'John McCain personally called me -- today, this afternoon,' the woman, Deb VonSprecken, told me. 'Wow. He said, I want to come and meet you.'(TM)"

Apparently, she was too traumatized to agree to an immediate meeting.