I’ve always argued when making the case for Giuliani’s path to the nomination is that in order to overcome some of his rifts with conservatives on social issues, in addition to emphasizing national security, he’ll need set himself apart as a true economic conservative. Clearly, this is a strategy Giuliani is embarking on. Deroy Murdock reports that two weeks ago, Giuliani opened up a talk to Manhattan supporters by saying that he just re-read “Free to Choose” by Milton and Rose Friedman, and said that the GOP needed to emphasize those ideas. Earlier this week, he was on Kudlow, declaring, “I don’t like taxes. I don’t know how to make that any clearer” and railing against socialized medicine and government regulation. Today, his campaign announces this endorsement by Forbes, who will serve as a national campaign co-chair and senior policy advisor. While all Republican candidates are going to talk about cutting taxes and restraining spending, what Giuliani will have to be able to convince voters of is that he’s different because he actually accomplished those things in the most hostile of all environments for such ideas–New York City. He’s going to have to find a way to transpose his tough guy image to fiscal issues, so Republican voters think, this is a guy who confroted the mob, who fought crime in NYC, who was tough as nails on 9/11, if anybody can actually restrain spending, it’s this guy.
