Prior to his rally at The Fish House, Mayor Rudy Guiliani ate a quick meal with his campaign staff in private dining room in the Atlas Oyster Bar with Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum. Nearby in the Captain’s Room at the Atlas, Republican leaders enjoyed sushi from The Fish House – checks in hand – to hear a few words from the GOP presidential hopeful before he spoke to public at the rally in The Fish House next door.
Former Congressman Joe Scarborough was there with his “Morning Joe” team: Mika Brzezinski and his producers. Actually spoke with both about the success of their show and the caliber of guests that they’ve had since the beginning of the year. For instance, yesterday morning they interviewed Mitt Romney about his victory in Michigan at 6 a.m.
Mike is the daughter of Zbigniew Brezinski, former national security advisor under the Carter presidency.
Besides Joe, his TV team and the Scarborough family – Mom & Pop, son, brother George, niece Emily, in the room were Commissioner Gene Valentino & his wife Maureen; attorney Jim Reeves; Dr. Coy Irvin; Clay Ingram; Jim Shirley; Randy Sansom – brother for Fl House Speaker Ray Sansom and about 15 other GOP “deep pockets.”
Guiliani gave a brief ten-minute speech to the group. McCollum introduced him as the man who knows how to control big government and how to combat terrorism.
Guiliani talked about how he turned around New York City – a city that was considered before he took office as the “Crime Capitol” and the “Welfare Capitol” of the country. He talked about how he cut taxes and how those lower tax rates actually produced more revenue for the city. Guiliani pulled out a single sheet of paper from his pocket and said, “This is what the tax return form will look like if I’m elected and my tax plan passes.”
The mayor then shook hands and walked over to The Fish House for his rally.
—One side note: Outside The Fish House, a dozen Ron Paul supporters lined Barracks Street with signs yelling at the people walking up to the restaurant for the Guiliani rally. Not sure it helped their candidate.