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Giuliani Presses Military Boost, Economic Package
Tribune photo by GREG FIGHT
GOP contender Rudy Giuliani was asked during a meeting with veterans in Largo why he’s campaigning here now. Florida is more diverse, he said, so it’s more important to win here than in smaller states that have primaries sooner.
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Published: December 27, 2007
Updated: 12/26/2007 11:35 pm
TAMPA Rudy Giuliani began a three-day campaign swing in Florida on Wednesday, calling for a larger U.S. military and pushing an economic stimulus plan that he says will help the middle class by cutting corporate taxes.
Appearing before The Tampa Tribune editorial board, Giuliani also said he thinks President Bush made the right decision invading Iraq, and that he thinks Republican voters are less concerned about health care, "maybe because Republicans have health care."
But one of the main questions addressed to Giuliani at a news conference and a roundtable for veterans in Largo was why he's here, less than two weeks before the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary.
According to conventional wisdom, those traditional early contests can be decisive. Polls show Giuliani trailing in both, plus South Carolina and Michigan, which also vote before Florida.
The press corps following Giuliani - most carrying heavy coats they shed when they got off planes from Iowa or New Hampshire - asked how he can win the nomination if he loses four or five initial primaries.
Giuliani said he thinks Florida is more important because it's bigger and more representative and because its Jan. 29 primary is the springboard into the Feb. 5 "tsunami Tuesday," when 22 states will vote.
He also said he thinks Florida Republican voters will make their decisions unswayed by the smaller, earlier states.
"This is a big state; it's a state that's very diverse," Giuliani said. "You win Florida, it says something about your ability to win the general election."
"I think the people of Florida will make their own decision," he added. Jan. 29 is "early enough for Florida to make its own statement."
At an American Legion post in Largo, Giuliani said he thinks the Army needs another 10 brigades - perhaps 300,000 soldiers - and the Marine Corps, currently about 185,000 strong, should increase to 200,000, along with increases in the other services.
One veteran at the post is an example of why Giuliani may feel confident about Florida, besides his lead in polls.
Frank Patti of South Venice, a retired airman originally from Brooklyn, is a committed Giuliani supporter, as are thousands of other New York retirees in Florida.
"I was in New York during 9/11, and I saw the job he did," Patti said. "He was the heart of the city."
In a news conference, Giuliani responded to criticism from Democratic candidate John Edwards that Giuliani's economic proposals, including corporate tax cuts, eliminating the inheritance tax and maintaining the Bush tax cuts, would help the wealthy and corporations but not the middle class.
Giuliani has said he wants to cut taxes on the middle class, but hasn't said specifically how.
Giuliani said Edwards "misunderstands the nature of the American economy. ... If you grow the entire American economy, American families are going to grow."
By reducing the corporate tax rate, "you're going to help the middle class," Giuliani said. "You're going to help with more jobs, better jobs, keeping jobs from going to other countries."
Giuliani discussed subjects ranging from health care to the Iraq war in the Tribune editorial board interview.
•Asked about recent criticism of Bush administration foreign policy by GOP contender Mike Huckabee, Giuliani said he thinks Bush "got the big decisions correct," including the decision to invade Iraq.
He said he thinks Iran suspended its nuclear bomb program in 2003 because of the U.S. invasion's success that year in toppling the regime of Saddam Hussein.
•He said the thinks the dominant issue for Florida voters is combating terrorism, which he said includes the Iraq war. But he said he thinks health care will become more important in the general election.
Giuliani said he talks a lot about health care, but isn't asked about it often by voters. "I suspect that our Democratic colleagues would get that question more often in a Democratic audience than we get in a Republican audience," he said. "Maybe more Democrats are concerned about their health care than Republicans, maybe because Republicans have health care or maybe Republicans generally like the idea of private solutions."
•Giuliani said he supports the current trade embargo on Cuba because even though it hasn't succeeded in dislodging Fidel Castro, it helped prevent him from spreading communism.
"The policy of isolating him worked. ... It made it much more difficult for him to develop the kind of economy he would have to develop" to export communism to other nations, he said.
Reporter William March can be reached at wmarch@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7761.
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