Top Policy Dog Steers Rudy Right

Bill Simon hosts crash course to earn Giuliani conservative cred
By Jonas Oransky,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 26, 2007 9:21 PM CDT
Top Policy Dog Steers Rudy Right
Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani, center, speaks to a group of supporters as his senior advisor, Bill Simon, left, smiles in San Francisco, Monday, July 23, 2007. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)   (Associated Press)

Giuliani is going to "Simon University," where think tank types school him to be a hawk and a tax-cutter, the Washington Post reports. Bill Simon hosts, teaching Giuliani how to think conservative heartland instead of New York elite. Simon, Giuliani's policy director, "has the added advantage of being a serious social conservative and a pro-lifer," one analyst says.

A Nixon insider's son, Simon lost his bid in the California gubernatorial primary by 5%. But he won over Giuliani by hosting talks for him with Stanford scholars last year. Now some New York insiders accuse Simon of spinning Giuliani into a conservative he never was, but Simon likens Giuliani to Bush in terms of policy: "I think I would shy away from pointing out differences" between them, he admitted. (More Rudy Giuliani stories.)

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