2004 Presidential Election and Beyond: The Giuliani Years (GAME THREAD)

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Trumpmentum! Thanks, NHI!

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Trumpmania: General Election:

New York State, June to November, 2006:
With a strong victory in the primary and seeking to unite the party behind the Trump/Skelos ticket, Donald Trump has proved that he can be a formidable candidate. It remains to be seen if he can actually defeat Eliot Spitzer and the invigorated NY Democratic Party, but Trump and his team remain confident of a strong victory by the time November comes.

"I will defeat Spitzer, make no doubts about it. You can write it down." Those were the key words in Mr. Trump's speech after winning the Republican Primary with a wide lead over rival John Faso, and needless to say the crowd was electrified. If one thing can be said about Donald Trump, is that he knows how to handle a crowd and be an amusing candidate to follow. And that is precisely the skill he used to win over the local party, going out there and talking to the voters and the activists and securing his flanks with the national endorsements he received, which helped to craft the argument of a Donald Trump who would continue many of the successful policies of George Pataki and Rudy Giuliani while still being his own man; a man with a conservative vision and what he dubbed "common-sense proposals and common-sense talk". There were rumours that Trump would try to get Faso to run as Lt. Governor, but he chose to unite the party and balance the ticket in a different way by unexpectedly choosing one of the most experienced Republicans in the State, the Deputy Majority Leader of the New York State Senate Dean Skelos, whose legislative experience was considered an asset and a way of convincing the voters that Trump was indeed going to be able to run the state in the best way possible by working with both parties.

And it seems the people of New York are actually vindicating Trump's confident and slightly pompous rhetoric, with polls showing Spitzer leading by a mere five points (with earlier polls suggesting that Mr. Faso would struggle to gain more than 35% of the vote) and Trump close enough to win the election with a strong effort. Despite the belief that the conservative businessman can do well in New York City (specially with President Giuliani's appearances in the state) Steve Schmidt and the Trump Team have taken no risks and they have diverted a substantial amount of resources into the city of Buffalo, Erie County and Western New York in general, knowing that maximized turnout in those areas could put Mr. Trump over the top. Ads continue to run across the state, promoting Trump's business record and leadership and Skelos's experience and "gravitas" as the perfect duo to lead the state for the next four years, and blasting Spitzer for not having a clear vision. Mr. Trump has attacked his rival over his platform and what he considers are the "wrong ideas" for the state, with special emphasis on the "tough on crime" aspect of the Republican ticket. And while the Republican campaign has never talked about it in a direct way, there have been allegations from independent groups that Mr. Spitzer could be involved in suspicious campaign contributions dated all the way back to 1998 and, furthermore, that he may be involved in a scandal regarding call girls. Trump is no stranger to controversy over some events of his past in business, but it remains to be seen if that can be exploited as a crippling weakness. New York was certainly a Safe-Democratic state for a long time with isolated exceptions to the rule (like current President Giuliani), but with the renewed strength of the GOP and Mr. Trump's unusual financial advantages and media coverage, is there a chance for Republicans to retain the Governorship and send the Democrats into disarray?

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Trumpmania: Victory!

New York State, November 8th, 2006:
With the Midterms favoring the Republican Party it seems Donald Trump was able to stage his unexpected victory, narrowly defeating a very strong rival to become the next Governor of New York. Mr. Trump gave a passionate speech to his supporters, and he pledged to get to work as soon as he could to give New York the leadership and the common sense he hopes to bring.

"Over the years I've participated in many battles and have really almost come out very very victorious every single time. I've beaten many people and companies, and I've won many wars. I have fairly, but intelligently won many billions of dollars, which in a sense was both a scorecard and acknowledgement of my abilities. During my lifetime I was always a little different right? A little different than what you've been hearing? You see, I've always been told that a person of great accomplishment and achievement can not become a politician or run for political office, because there are too many enemies along this highway to success. But today New York proved all of them wrong. (Applause) I have a reputation for telling it like it is. I'm known for my candor, and I congratulate the Democrats on a strong showing here, but the people have let their voice be heard.

The fact is, this theory of a very successful person running for office is rarely tested because most successful people don't wanna be scrutinized or abused. And that's what happens. If you see it, that's what happens. We don't have time to wait 25 years and get it right, we can and we need to work hard now. I want to see a strong New York state, and we can do it. We're sitting on top of something that is amazing, incredible wealth, incredible people, incredible opportunities for the future. The bottom line of my views (and I suspect that most if not all of my party agrees with this) is that we need to make the places in were we live strong again, we need to ensure that the people living here will prosper. You can trust me when I say this: we have such unbelievable potential, and we have to use it. We need the right leaders!

During this year I had the chance of touring the entire state and meeting truly great people, and I am glad to be able to serve and to lead as your new Governor. I will miss my companies, yes, but public service involves sacrifice and when I said I would be devoted to this state I meant it. I'm glad to have decided to run in this race, I'm glad to this victory, and by this time next year I hope you will be glad with my work here, bringing true common sense to politics and to the people of our great state. Thank you all very much, thank you!"