Breakfast with Giuliani

5/9/2007 

I went to “Breakfast with The Mayor Event” today at the Paul Bryant Conference Center in Tuscaloosa Alabama today.  I have several impressions.   First, the Republican Party in Tuscaloosa needs more experience in order to put on a breakfast for 850 people.  The breakfast was bad and I have been to many political events.  Secondly, the timing was a little off but this is common when you have big name speakers,

            The audience was mostly white and mostly business leaders.  The invited big wigs included a who’s who of Tuscaloosa.  The one unusual addition to the audience was the inclusion of large numbers of police and firefighters from the area (but given his background this might be more common at Giuliani events.)

            Giuliani gave a good speech but not a great speech.  The content was excellent and focused on two big issues: terrorism and economic growth.  These are two first-rate themes for a Republican audience and, probably, the two most conservative issues that Giuliani is running on.  The speech was average because of the informality of the delivery.  Giuliani never built to a peak and was way too informal to fire up the voters.  If you wanted a great speaker and someone who inspires using words you have to look elsewhere. 

            As I was leaving I heard two guys talking. One said that he didn’t think the speech was presidential.  The other guy thought Giuliani might be pushing for the vice-president.  This is not what Giuliani wanted from a big campaign appearance and, sadly this means I think he has real problems in his race to become president.