The Charlie Rose Show - 1 - 8/1/07 The Charlie Rose Show Session One Guest: Rudy Giuliani Charlie Rose: Rudy Giuliani is here. He was the mayor of New York City for two terms, from January 1994 through December 2001. After the attacks of September 11th, he became known and loved as America’s Mayor. In February of this year, he announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for the 2008 presidential campaign. He has been the Party’s frontrunner ever since. He just returned from New Hampshire where he spoke about healthcare. I am pleased to have him at this table to talk about issues and politics. Welcome. Rudy Giuliani: Thank you, Charlie. Nice to be back. You just returned from New Hampshire. It is said, I want to come to politics primarily later, that because of Fred Thompson's entry, you're putting more attention on New Hampshire and Iowa. True? Rudy Giuliani: No. No. No. I don't know if Fred is going to enter or not. We haven't made any choices based on that. Our strategy has always been, from back in January, to -- first of all you got to raise the money. You wish you didn't have to, but you got to get over that and say that's the cards you're dealt. You got to raise the money. So our first emphasis is making sure we have enough money to contest, when you get down to pretty soon, October, November, December, January, all these big states were thrown at us very quickly. California, New York, Florida. Charlie Rose: But those are states in which you do the best. Rudy Giuliani: Illinois, New Jersey. We wanted to organize those, make sure we had a really, really solid organization there so we can win those primaries. And we got started a little later than I guess the Charlie Rose: McCain. Rudy Giuliani: -- John and even Mitt, they both started before we did. So we think we have plenty of time to catch up in both places. I'm now spending a lot more time in Iowa and New Hampshire. We're going to do that for the rest of the year, and we think we have plenty of time to catch up there. We didn't think, if we had not put our organization together in Prepared by National Capitol Captioning 2820 Washington Blvd. #21 Arlington, VA 22201 The Charlie Rose Show - 2 - 8/1/07 those big states, that we would have the time to catch up, and so, you know, that's part of the inside baseball strategy. Charlie Rose: So your campaign is pretty much where you want it to be. Rudy Giuliani: We're very comfortable with it, where it is, you know, a lot of hurdles. A lot of things that can go wrong, a lot of things that do go wrong. A lot of things that go right. But I've been through campaigns like this before, and this is -- obviously, much, much wider scope than running for mayor of New York City, but you have to have spring training to run for president -- Charlie Rose: This will do? Rudy Giuliani: Running as mayor of New York City and being mayor of New York City is pretty good spring training for it. Charlie Rose: You have been slipping a little bit in the polls, in some polls. Why is that? Rudy Giuliani: Well, we have been slipping in some and going back up in others. So I mean we just had won where we were 14 points ahead and we just jumped ahead in New Hampshire and in Iowa, and we haven't spent a lot of time there. Some polls are a little different. I mean they're very -- they're very inaccurate right now. I mean my major goal at this stage of the campaign is to be competitive in every state. I think we are in the primaries, competitive in every state. Charlie Rose: But you're going to win in New Hampshire and Iowa. Rudy Giuliani: That's our goal. And -- but our goal is to be competitive in every state, and then our goal, which I think is different than the people who are running against me on the Republican side, is to be competitive in every state as a general election candidate, which would be something I believe the Republican party really needs. We need a candidate that doesn't have to give away the Northeast, doesn't have to give away the West. The way we have the last three, four elections. Charlie Rose: And you see yourself as that candidate? Prepared by National Capitol Captioning 2820 Washington Blvd. #22 Arlington, VA 22201 The Charlie Rose Show - 3 - 8/1/07 Rudy Giuliani: I mean if you look at polls, the polls -- that's one of the dramatic things that the polls say. Charlie Rose: It is said the reason Fred Thompson is rising in the polls, even though he hasn't announced, is that conservatives are looking for a candidate, and they haven't found one, and Fred Thompson might be it. Rudy Giuliani: Fred is a good man. Fred is a -- got a really good record. Hard to comment on him right now because he's not really in the race -- he’s sort of half in the race, half not in the race. You know, ultimately, I think I have the things that will appeal to the Republican Party as the person they should nominate. I think I have the most experience, executive experience of anybody running on either side. I mean you look at the three leading Democratic candidates, good points, bad points. One thing is clear. They've never held an executive position. Charlie Rose: The top three are senators. Rudy Giuliani: Never run a city, never run a state, never run a business. I've done two of those three. I ran a city -- Charlie Rose: Which state did you run? Rudy Giuliani: New York state. [laughter] New York City is the size of a state. It's the third largest government in the country. And it's about the sixth or seventh budget. And I ran it. I ran New York City under a lot of stress. And I'm not talking about September 11th, I'm talking about way back in, you know, when you used to interview me in 1993 and 1994. And this place was the crime capital of America, the welfare capital of America. These are definable changes that took place in a city where people thought changes could never take place. I think I can do the same thing for America. Charlie Rose: You're talking about a city that's now run by a mayor who also has a good record, has built on what you -- Rudy Giuliani: Yes. Charlie Rose: What's the relationship between the two of you today? Prepared by National Capitol Captioning 2820 Washington Blvd. #23 Arlington, VA 22201 The Charlie Rose Show - 4 - 8/1/07 Rudy Giuliani: Admiration. I admire Mike, I believe he admires me. He makes it clear all the time that I had a lot of success and he's building on that and making his own success. I am very appreciative of the fact that he's been such a good mayor. I worked 24 hours a day, I think people living in the city will tell you that, as mayor of New York City. I dedicated myself to it totally for the eight years that I was mayor. I was very afraid that the changes that I had made, the accountability that I had brought about, the reduction in crime, the total change in welfare, the change in children's services, I thought a lot of that would be negated if the wrong person were elected as mayor. It hasn't been. Mike has preserved those and built on them. For that he gets great credit, and I will always admire him. We have some differences politically, on political philosophy. Charlie Rose: In what? Where are the differences? Rudy Giuliani: I'm not going to emphasize that until Mike is a candidate, but the reality is, overall big picture? I am very grateful that I was -- I told Mike this. I endorsed him when he ran. I gave him an endorsement at a key time in the election. You remember, he was down by like 14, 15 points -- Charlie Rose: Most people think he wouldn't have won without your support. Rudy Giuliani: Well, I have never regretted that endorsement. I never will, because he has done a very good job as mayor of New York City. And I respect that. I know how difficult it is to be mayor of New York City. Charlie Rose: Is his record better than yours? Rudy Giuliani: People get to judge that. His record is very good. I think my record was very good. I don't know. I think we both did a good job. Charlie Rose: Better relationship with the African American community. Rudy Giuliani: In some ways, but, you know, I ran against, twice, the first African American mayor of the city. I was dealing with a lot more stresses and strains, many of which I did away with by the time he took over. So he inherited a different set of problems, a different set of issues that he had to work on. I inherited a set of problems I had to work on. And I think that I, in many ways, left him a situation in which you can kind of build on that.