HOW JUDY BLEW IT FOR RUDY

How Judi killed off Rudy Giuliani
BY HEIDI EVANS DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Thursday, January 31st 2008, 4:00 AM

Rudy catches a buss from wife Judi in Florida Tuesday night.
She brought enough political baggage to fill a Louis Vuitton trunk.
Indeed, part of Rudy Giuliani's presidential flameout can be traced back to his Judi - the woman he fell for in a cigar bar in 1999 while he was the married mayor with a wife and two young children at home.

"She was a major part of the reason for Giuliani's collapse," said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics. "Rudy wanted to head up the 'family values' party, and Judi didn't fit that label. Even worse, Giuliani was estranged from his children. Their refusal to campaign for him spoke volumes to voters."
Among the low notes that brought national embarrassment to the one-time GOP frontrunner: her use of taxpayer-funded NYPD detectives as personal valets and chauffeurs while she was the mayor's mistress; revelations of a secret past marriage; and interrupting Giuliani's speech to the National Rifle Association with a cutesy cell phone call to say hi.

Mike McKeon, the campaign aide who was in charge of handling Mrs. Giuliani's national "roll-out" last March, said that despite her lack of campaign chops, she was an experienced public speaker who would remain on the trail.
"Judith is nothing but an asset, and, as the campaign continues, she's going to be a larger and larger asset," he had said. "She'll be one of our key surrogates."
Never happened. Judith Giuliani was rolled back inside the campaign tent as fast as she was rolled out.

Doubts emerged early about the former pharmaceutical sales rep's ability to be a polished stand-in for her husband.
Previous Page Next Page 12