WASHINGTON – Presidential contender Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of ultraliberal New York City, supports a woman’s right to choose an abortion, domestic partnership benefits for gay couples and gun-control measures — and he’s a Republican.
Strikingly, such moderate positions haven’t thus far impeded his efforts to win the GOP nomination.
But his rivals still have hope they will.
“We don’t all agree on everything. I don’t agree with myself on everything,” Giuliani says at nearly every campaign appearance, a stump-speech line that allows him to allude to — and then dismiss — his differences with cultural and religious conservatives on social issues.
“We do believe in many of the same things,” he assures his audiences.
Giuliani then emphasizes his mayoral successes in reforming welfare, reducing spending, cutting taxes and curbing crime. He talks of challenges facing the United States — fighting terrorism and improving education. And, he usually only mentions hot-button social issues directly when asked about them.
