Rudy Giuliani, Hillary Clinton and MoveOn.org

On the morning of September 11, 2007, the New York Times newspaper ran an ad from antiwar group MoveOn.org which called General Petraeus independence into question. The ad referred to the General as "General Petraeus or General Betray Us?". The next day, Mrs. Clinton had her opportunity to question General Petraeus and told him that his positive progress report on the military surge required "a willing suspension of disbelief". It appeared that Clinton was challenging the credibility of a four-star, and well-regarded, military officer at the same time the anti-war crowd was questioning his character. This scored points with her Democratic primary election voter base which is represented by liberal anti-war voters such as the 3.2 million member group MoveOn.org. It remains to be seen if these comments will come back to hurt her in the general election next year.

Both the MoveOn.org ad and the Petraeus comment by Senator Clinton provided a political opportunity for Rudy Giuliani. The former New York mayor demanded that the Times let him buy ad space (at the same reduced ad rate that the Times gave MoveOn.org) to answer the anti-war group. Giuliani's campaign received the reduced rate and published an ad. The full-page ad would accuse Clinton of "spewing political venom" and "defending MoveOn.org."

MoveOn.org fired back at Giuliani and bought an ad that attacks him for skipping out on meetings of the Iraq Study Group. The Iraq Study Group called last December for sweeping changes in US strategy in Iraq. The ad accuses Giuliani of going "AWOL" and eventually quitting the study group when he had the chance to influence policy . The spot will run in Iowa, site of the first caucus of the presidential nomination process. Giuliani's camp has said they would wear what they called MoveOn.org's character assassination tactics as "a badge of honor."

Of course, both the Giuliani and Clinton campaigns are acting in their political self- interests in this matter.

The Giuliani campaign is being challenged for the Republican party conservative vote by Fred Thompson. Thompson had moved into an eight point lead over Rudy Giuliani prior to the ads from MoveOn.org. However, the race for the Republican Presidential nomination has once again become a statistical tie after the MoveOn.org controversy. (according to the Rasmussen public opinion poll). Giuliani is trying to appeal to the conservative voter by engaging the MoveOn.org. ad attack on General Petraeus. He is also trying to link Hillary Clinton to the ad based on her questioning of Petraeus.

Hillary Clinton still maintains a sixteen point lead nationwide in public opinion polls over Barack Obama for the Democratic party nomination. Her lead would be at risk if the progressive antiwar vote in the Democratic primary turns away from her. In fact, the only obstacle between Hillary and the Democratic nomination appears to be the war in Iraq. Hillary needs to continue to appease the antiwar voters in her party without appearing too soft on Iraq and the War on Terror. Her ability to walk this fine line will determine her success in the 2008 Presidential general election contest.

Current polls show a Presidential election match up between Clinton and Giuliani to be a statistical tie. The ad by Giuliani was the first public engagement between his campaign and the campaign of Hillary Clinton. It may be the prelude to a general election campaign between the two of them for the Presidency in 2008.

http://www.eworldvu.com

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