Giuliani visits city again

BY COLBY FRAZIER
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

Republican presidential hopeful Rudolph Giuliani visited the Santa Barbara piggy bank yesterday for the second time in the past year, kicking off the day with a fundraiser at the Four Seasons Biltmore and later making a public appearance at Joe’s Cafe.
Throngs of media and onlookers gathered at Joe’s, where Giuliani shook the hands of patrons and Joe’s employees, and posed for pictures with fans before fielding questions on the sidewalk out front.


“California is obviously one of our biggest states for fundraising and for voting,” Giuliani said. “It’s very nice to be in Santa Barbara.”
David Lack, an event organizer, said yesterday’s fundraiser brought in about $100,000 to the Giuliani campaign, bringing the total amount the former New York City mayor has collected from the Santa Barbara area alone to about $300,000.
Giuliani’s most recent visit comes on the heels of visits by democratic candidates Barack Obama, who spoke for free at Santa Barbara City College before attending a fundraiser at Oprah Winfrey’s Montecito home, which lined his campaign coffers with $3.5 million, and Dennis Kucinich, who visited the Arlington West war memorial on Santa Barbara’s waterfront and also spoke free of charge at City College.
Lack said candidates, republican and democrat, have spent more time campaigning in California since the state moved its primary election up from June of next year to February.
The state, which is the most populous in the country, has always been a popular fundraising stop off.
“They used to take California for granted,” Lack said. “They used to just take the money and run.”
As Giuliani made his way around Joe’s Cafe yesterday, photographers stood on chairs and tables to get better views of the charismatic candidate, who has vowed to end illegal immigration, restore fiscal discipline and keep America on the offensive against terrorists.
One television reporter asked Giuliani what he planned to do about illegal immigration and what he would say to the cooks in Joe’s Cafe, whom he had just shaken hands with and who may have been undocumented workers.
“You have to be Id’d if you want to come into the U.S.,” Giuliani said. “We’re not trying to hurt anybody, we’re trying to help people.”
Giuliani said illegal immigration has seen its day and that legal immigration, which he said made America what it is today, should be the goal.
On the topic of the war in Iraq, Giuliani said, “We have to win, we have to be victorious.”
As Giuliani was out of hearing range, Bob Hansen, a Santa Barbara city council candidate, was heard saying “damn republicans.”
But others seemed thrilled to see Giuliani.
“I like him,” said Nicole McCoy, who was at Joe’s with her husband Bret and son Robby. “I liked him the moment 9/11 happened.”
Bret McCoy said he appreciates Giuliani’s ability to speak from conviction.
Though Robby McCoy, 20, said he’s still not sure who he’ll vote for, he enjoyed seeing Obama speak and credited the candidates who make public appearances, even if they are brief.
“It’s nice that they’re at lease accessible,” he said.