Giuliani crosses party lines with tardiness

The local strength of GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul continues to show itself in unconventional ways. On Thursday, while some curious Republicans waited for a glimpse of Rudy Giuliani on the shores of Lake Coeur d’Alene, about a dozen Paul fans stood on a nearby patch of grass with signs supporting their guy.

Generally well-behaved, they did make a little noise, chanting Paul’s name loud enough to be picked up by the television cameras when Giuliani pulled up at the Hagadone Corp. headquarters.

One has to wonder, however, what Paul would think about one of his more ardent North Idaho fans, white supremacist Richard Masker, a self-described conspiratologist. Masker was talking up the Texas congressman as a true conservative and talking down the former New York mayor as a tool of the Jewish-Zionist world government conspiracy that pulls the strings on its puppets in government.

Masker, who was sporting a spiffy white knit shirt with a “White Pride World Wide” logo and handing out fliers about his own particular issues, didn’t seem to have much truck with the other Paul supporters. He spent more time hanging around the news media, drawn to the attention like a moth to a flame. Or a leech to a vein.

Convoluted white racist logic aside, there was one thing that raised a question about whether Giuliani is a true Republican during his Thursday stop in Coeur d’Alene. His tardiness.

On the campaign trail, it’s a general rule of thumb that Democrats are inexorably late, while Republicans are relatively prompt, at least by “political clock” standards. That is to say, their morning events start when they say they will start, and even though candidates of all stripes tend to stay to answer “just one more question” or shake a few more hands, they are not running more than about 15 minutes late by their evening gigs.

Democrats usually start their morning events late enough for reporters to grab a latte no matter how long the line at the drive-up. They manage to fall further and further behind as each event unfolds, so it’s a sure bet the cocktail hour will be extended and food will have to be kept warm in the kitchen for dinner events.

(Someone probably has polling on this showing that bartenders vote for Democrats, chefs vote Republican.)

Giuliani was late beyond Democratic standards, about an hour and a half behind schedule by the time the three black SUVs pulled up to the gate at Hagadone HQ.

Which was a concern, Duane Hagadone said at one point, because he had to get out to Kidd Island Bay and get back in time to fly to Sun Valley that night. Hagadone, who had a speedboat waiting to whisk the guest of honor to the $500-a-pop reception, also was waiting for Mayor Rudy’s plane to land.

To kill time, and further rattle the co-hosts of the event, Hagadone said he called the party to hint that he might take the candidate past his floating golf green for a picture. It would only take about an extra 20 minutes.

Just kidding, he said he told them when the joke was met with stunned silence.

When he finally arrived, Giuliani did take a few minutes to chat with the press, during which he insisted he’d be a great fit for Idaho: He has a similar less-government-is-best-government brand of conservatism. Time will only tell on that. But anyone catching Spokesman-Review photographer Kathy Plonka’s shot of hizzoner getting into the boat had to wonder:

When was the last time you saw an Idahoan get into a speedboat wearing a coat and tie?

Such a deal

Even candidates who have blown their budget on the primary can probably take advantage of this one: Pig Out in the Park. The event, which may provide you with more people in one place than any event for the next several months, will let you set up a booth for all six days for the cost of the electricity.

Organizer Bill Burke said he was repeating an offer that worked well last year, that any candidate, organization for or against a ballot issue, or any nonprofit can have free booth space. They need only pony up the $35 electrical fee so they can have lights in their booth.

“Our largest audiences are at night, so they’ll want to be there,” Burke said of the need for electricity.

Those interested can call Burke at (509) 921-5579. But hurry up – the foodfest starts Wednesday.