Giuliani wows crowd at downtown restaurant

Customers burst into applause as Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani walked into a downtown restaurant this morning, grabbing hands and flashing his classic grin.

The event was the first public appearance in El Paso County for the leading GOP candidate.

“How fast is your heart beating?” one woman asked another after taking her picture with the candidate.

“What a nice-looking guy,” another woman said after he shook her hand.

“Mr. President, nice to see you,” one man told Giuliani.

Most customers at the downtown Olive Branch pulled out their cell phone cameras to snatch a picture with the former mayor as they tried to make a New York connection with him.

Giuliani sat down to have a cup of coffee while customers pelted him with questions about the environment, Pakistan, health care and immigration.

As he drew a picture of a fence on a paper coffee coaster, he said he has plans to create an identification system for everyone in the country.

“We should know who’s here,” Giuliani said. “Every other country has a system, we’re just catching up.”

Giuliani was also scheduled to appear at private fundraisers: a $1,000-a-head round table at the home of Sinton Dairy executive Joel Midkiff and a $250-per-person lunch reception at The Broadmoor.

He is the second front-running Republican candidate to visit Colorado Springs in the past month or so. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney spoke at the county GOP’s Lincoln Day dinner on July 18.