From the NY Observer:
http://www.observer.com/2007/anti-rudy-catholics-plan-their-assaultAnti-Rudy Catholics Plan Their Assault
by Rebecca Sinderbrand Published: May 22, 2007
Tags: Politics, Rudolph Giuliani
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Rudolph Giuliani.
Even as Rudy Giuliani emerges from his campaign’s first real rough patch, a number of conservative Catholic organizations are in the process of rolling out potentially broad-reaching “viral” initiatives with the common aim of denying him the Republican nomination.
A conservative Catholic P.A.C based in a key swing state is planning an anti-Giuliani “multimedia effort” for a June debut. A national network of politically savvy Catholic activists is creating a heavy-hitting Web site—patterned after the controversial Catholics Against Kerry effort in 2004—scheduled to appear around the same time. And earlier this month, a disabled vet working out of his home in Blytheville, Ark., launched an invitation-only “Stop Rudy” social-networking site, where Giuliani-haters from across the nation have begun to meet and coordinate real-world planning from behind the protection of a members-only log-in.
“We’re not going to hide,” said Joseph Cella, executive director of the conservative Catholic advocacy group Fidelis. “We just want to influence the conversation.”
The emergence of the groups at this point in the campaign seems to have been motivated in equal parts by Mr. Giuliani’s worst moment as a Presidential candidate and his best. His painfully equivocal answer to a question about Roe v. Wade at a May 3 Republican debate angered them. His subsequent dramatic recovery at the next debate on May 15—at which the former Mayor turned in a winningly aggressive performance on the subject of Sept. 11—scared them into action.
Fidelis America, the political-action committee of Fidelis, is arguably the best-established of the anti-Rudy organizations, and it’s certainly the most open about its overall strategy. A Michigan-based Catholic organization cleverly designed to navigate the tangle of federal campaign-spending restrictions, the group’s various arms have been registered as political-action committees, independent-expenditure committees and nonprofits.
The organization, whose executive director previously headed the Ave Maria List, a nonprofit political entity founded by Domino’s Pizza magnate Thomas Monaghan, is perhaps best known for alleging bias when CNN refused to run one of their issue ads featuring Mother Teresa, but later ran a spot by the pro-choice group NARAL. Fidelis promptly launched an e-mail campaign that crashed the network’s servers within hours....