Rudy, Primaries, and Pander Points

On the eve of the Florida's Republican presidential primary, it would appear that Rudolph Giuliani's campaign has collapsed into self-parody. Last Wednesday, Timothy Egan wrote Giuliani's political obituary in a post titled Goodbye Rudy, Tuesday.

More broadly, you can summarize Giuliani’s problems in the line he no longer uses. When the World Trade Center towers came down, he turned to his loyal sidekick Bernie Kerik, and said he was glad George Bush was president.

Now, that line is a triple loser. Kerik, his police commissioner, is under federal indictment, in a sea of troubles. Bush is despised by two-thirds of Americans, and even a majority of Republicans want to go in a different direction. As for the big scare, give Senator Joe Biden credit for writing what may be Giuliani’s obit: “There are only three things he mentions in a sentence: a noun, a verb and 9/11.”

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In today's New York Times, Eleanor Randolph (Editorial Observer) writes

One of the strong contenders for the Republican nomination, Mitt Romney, oozes enthusiasm for the sun, the joy of Florida. The former mayor goes for New Yorkers' souls. He tells them that they must never, ever forget to worry.

Mr. Giuliani is not without the support of at least some transplanted New Yorkers, such as the 25-year-old librarian who said "I'm voting for him because he's a Yankees fan."

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Gail Collins (Heeere's Rudy!) is rougher on the candidate, noting that

Many commentator have pointed out -- really very unkindly -- that the longer Giuliani stayed in Florida, the lower his standing in the state polls.

And recounting the latest variation on his theme of a noun, a verb and 9/11 she writes that

Giuliani has turned hurricanes into nature's way of saying Al Qaeda. ("All of us are subject to the impact of natural disasters ... and of course acts of terrorism, which I remember living through.")
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Before the terrorist attack, after all, Rudy Giuliani was just a lame-duck mayor with abysmal approval ratings, a tabloidy personal life and uncertain job prospects. What 9/11 has given, 1/29 could taketh away.

Finally, I don't know if Collins gets credit for coining the term, but this was the first time I have seen the term pander-point, as in

Rudy was thrown off his game by the public's shift from worrying about terrorism to worrying about the economy, and a dwindling interest in hearing him talk about where he was when the terrorists attacked New York. He's tried to rebound by vigorously promoting a national catastrophe fund to reduce the cost of home insurance in hurricane-prone Florida. This is not in general, an idea that fiscal conservatives cotton to. It's so dicey, in fact, that even Mitt Romney has been hesitant about adopting it as a pander-point.