I’m kind of surprised:
Republican ex-mayor of New York City Rudolph Giuliani won backing for his 2008 presidential bid from billionaire publisher Steve Forbes, who will also help lead his campaign, Giuliani’s team said.
Forbes, editor-in-chief of Forbes Magazine which publishes an annual list of the world’s richest people, will act as co-chair on the national campaign and as senior policy advisor to Giuliani, who is favorite to win his party’s nomination for the presidency early next year.
Forbes himself sought the Republican nomination for the presidency in 1996 and 2000.
“Steve and I share an economic vision that embraces supply-side economics, tax relief, and spending restraint,” Giuliani said in a statement released by his campaign team.
“As mayor of New York City, Rudy Giuliani showed how exercising fiscal discipline, including tax cuts, lowers deficits, spurs economic growth, and increases revenue,” Forbes was quoted as saying in the statement.
“It is time the rest of the country benefit from a true fiscal conservative leader who gets real results.”
Steve Forbes is a free market conservative through and through so his endorsement of Rudy is an important one. Captain Ed explains why:
Without a doubt, Team Rudy hit a homer on this endorsement. It gives more conservatives more leeway towards discounting the social positions of Giuliani in a time of war, and increases his potential to attract centrists and independents to the GOP in 2008. Giuliani has shown that he understands conservative concerns with his record and that he will work towards reaching an accommodation with them. In a field lacking a credible conservative of national standing, Rudy could carve out a wire-to-wire frontrunner victory.
