A Republican victory in Virginia next week would send a national message that “enough is enough” on the expanding federal government, former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said Wednesday.
In a short speech at Springfield’s Greenspring Retirement Community, Giuliani — acting as a surrogate for Republican gubernatorial nominee Bob McDonnell — equated a vote for McDonnell to a call to rein in federal spending and power.
“This is a chance for the people of Virginia to say ‘enough is enough’ and we’ve gone to far in the direction of building government, growing government,” Giuliani said. “It’s getting out of control, and there’s got to be a balance.”
But asked afterward whether a win by McDonnell would be a direct rebuke of the Obama administration, Giuliani said flatly: “Nope, I do not see that at all.” Tuesday’s election will instead be a “statement of the people of Virginia of what they want for Virginia.”
“I think that’s going to be in line with the kind of message that will be a good message for the Republican Party nationally, which is: sensible levels of government, not out-of-control government,” he said.
His speech comes a day after President Obama took his second trip to the commonwealth to campaign for McDonnell’s opponent, Democratic state Sen. Creigh Deeds. Deeds has been struggling in every recent poll, which show McDonnell with double-digit leads. A Rasmussen poll released Wednesday showed McDonnell’s lead ballooning to 13 points, with only 5 percent of respondents undecided.
In some ways, Giuliani is an unlikely spokesman for McDonnell. The two differ sharply on several social issues. McDonnell is ardently pro-life, Giuliani is pro-choice. Giuliani has extolled the benefits of gun control, McDonnell is endorsed by the National Rifle Association.
The two do align more closely on fiscal policy, which McDonnell has emphasized far more heavily during the campaign than his conservative social stances, which have been a frequent target of the Deeds campaign.
“I think that’s our best message: Our party organizes around fiscal common sense and around strong national defense … I think on some other issues we can allow a broader range of opinion,” Giuliani said.
