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Rudy Giuliani's Campaign Transformation
By
Jen Chung
Published May 29, 2007
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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By
Jen Chung
Published May 29, 2007
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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Nice guys may not finish first, but it helps with voters. The NY Times' Michael Powell looks at Rudy Giuliani's evolution from mayor to presidential candidate and the shift in style he's had to take. For instance, more smiling, less snarling!
Powell has been covering Giuliani for the past 15 years and includes observations about Giuliani's body language, style (no more combover!), and rhetoric. A NY Times video that has clips of Mayor Rudy and Candidate Rudy is also excellent, because you hear Powell's thoughts about how presidential wanna-be Rudy is much like 1993 mayoral wanna-be Rudy. And then there are gems like this:
In Atlanta, Mr. Giuliani offers to take questions, and a stout blond woman in a red pantsuit shoots straight up, raising her hand and nearly shouting, “I think you are sooooo handsome.”
(In 1994, a woman in Queens translated the same compliment into New Yorkese; she peered carefully at Mr. Giuliani and acknowledged, “You look a lot better in person.”)
And no story about Giuliani's behavior is complete without a reference to the ferret enthusiast Giuliani was horrified by. Of course, Giuliani has been his most charming when he's mocking his pit bull, pseudo-Fascist nuttiness. For instance, this Saturday Night Live bit about graffiti:
Photograph of Giuliani at a Vermont campaign stop last week by Toby Talbot/AP
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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