Having had to deal with it before, I can assure you that it is no easy feat to "move" a candidate through a Republican Party convention. When I say "move" — I am referring to the scheduling nightmare of a candidate who has a major speaking engagement (usually at a meal function) and then wants to maximize his or her time by scheduling meetings with various individuals and groups.
Such would be the challenge for Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who spoke at the luncheon at the CRP Convention today. The Mayor actually arrived in Sacramento last night, and leaves the hotel in a bit. And he has had many, many meetings with folks (I have spoken with many of them).
Well, this afternoon, he was originally scheduled to speak to the Board of Directors and members of the influential, conservative California Republican Assembly at 2:30 p.m. (this group is a major influence within the State GOP — Governor Mitt Romney spoke to them at the CRP Convention last August). Apparently that 2:30 p.m. time didn’t work for Giuliani, and CRA President Mike Spence graciously asked his membership to come back for a 4:00 p.m. meeting.
Well, at around 4:45 p.m., the over-200 leaders of the CRA from all around California were finally dismissed by Spence, without hearing from the Mayor. After repeated assurances from the Giuliani campaign that the candidate would be down soon, he never came.
I am sure that there were a lot of important and successful meetings that the Mayor conducted at the convention, and you’ll be able to read a lot about the reaction from his major speech in tomorrow’s FlashReport. But I can tell you this, this de facto dismissal of the CRA was not a good campaign move. After all, it was Giuliani’s campaign that set up the meeting in the first place.
Ironically, Giuliani’s California point man is former GOP Gubernatorial candidate Bill Simon, Jr., who is all too familiar with the relevance of the CRA — who were strong backers of his campaign.
On a closing note, I certainly tried my hardest, working through my California colleagues who work for Giuliani, to get ‘invited’ into any one of these more intimate gatherings with the Mayor. It hasn’t happenned yet…
Now I am a conservative, and have endorsed no candidate for President. But I would like to think that the Mayor would want to meet with folks like me. I’m not sure what is more frustrating… To be asked to meet with Giuliani and have him not show up (such as what the CRA leaders had happen today) or to just not get an opportunity to meet with him at all?
I’m truly open to listening to the Mayor’s thoughts and idea — and would love the opportunity to share my observations with all of you who read this blog.
I guess that won’t be happening at this convention. Perhaps we’ll catch up to Giuliani later on in his California swing… We’ll see…