Why did Giuliani do so good in the GOP primary polls in 2007?

[History505]

What made him appealing to GOP voters?

[Stranger in a strange land]

Name recognition and being the Mayor of 9/11

[Senator Incitatus]

[dead0man]

dude was very popular until we remembered he was a bit of a crazy asshole.  I saw him and Dubya in Council Bluffs Iowa in '04 (I got free tickets and wasn't going to pass up the chance to see a sitting President) and the pop for Rudy was bigger than Bush's by a very noticeable margin.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

911, but just like Christie and Pataki, corruption got the best of him, with Bernie Kerrick

[Orser67]

Yeah, it really is as simple as the fact that he was the "mayor of 9/11." Bush's "9/11 halo" had largely warn off by the 2004 elections as he became defined by other actions, but it took until about 2008 for the same thing to happen to Giuliani.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

It also a case of selective notoriety. People only knew him for 911 and "America's Mayor", and were not aware of his baggage, his record and scandals. 2007 brought that all to light and it is why he collapsed so thoroughly.

[NYSforKennedy2024]

His unity/strength after 9/11, "America's Mayor" gimmick, I suppose one could throw in the fact that NYC didn't swing very far-right despite Giuliani being a NeoCon - though I wouldn't trust him in the oval office to keep things balanced.

[Colin]

A mixture of name recognition, residual good will from his handling of 9/11 and his image, at that time, as a moderate no nonsense law and order Republican who cleaned up New York and ran a tight ship. Then he opened his mouth, couldn't say much that wasn't stupid, and the rest is history.