Giuliani's Prospects Not Looking Too Good

People have been wondering about former mayor Rudy Giuliani's campaign for a long time (his presidential campaign plan notebook went missing last January! he pays more attention to his friends' advice versus that of election consultants). Now, with the Florida primary on the horizon, it seems his New York-based supporters are starting to worry.

The first few weeks of the new year have brought Giuliani embarrassing finishes in Iowa, New Hampshire, and Michigan as well as national polls - ones he used to lead with large margins - where he is now tied or in second or third place. The Times reports "supporters say they are confident that if Mr. Giuliani carries Florida or runs a very close second, he will remain the odds-on favorite" to take all delegates from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. But Cooper Union historian and Giuliani biographer Fred Siegel thinks Giuliani winning Florida requires "a miraculous comeback. I wouldn't bet on it."

Also, Giuliani's strategy to concentrate on Florida might be backfiring among voters. One Florida conservative told Newsday, "It concerns me that he really hasn't campaigned a lot, and he's placing everything on Florida," while another said, "He squandered his lead." And more damning, a Giuliani fan said, "I haven't seen him put out the effort yet." Ouch, but he does have 12 events scheduled for the Sunshine State this week.

Check out this ad Giuliani is running in Florida; it's about Giuliani's tax plan and the Observer thinks the music is Star Wars-y. And the Washington Post's campaign blog spoke to an investment adviser/big game hunter at a speech Giuliani gave for the North Florida Chapter of the Safari Club. He might vote for Giuliani (Mitt Romney is "too much of a slickster"), adding, "What was that lunatic's name -- Al Gore -- can you imagine Al Gore in 9/11?"

Photograph of Giuliani signing a pizza box in Florida yesterday by Mari Darr-Welch/AP

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on January 17, 2008 2:09 PM

Comments [rss]

weatherman2012

Yes, I vote for Colochita and Ron Paul. Now that Rudy is out of money he should start worrying about finding a new young girlfriend when his current bitch bails on him.

areacode212

Colochita is the poster of the day.

Tim N.

Maybe he should think about breaking into the double digits before he "emerges" as the GOP boy.

Virgil makes an interesting point... especially the way the GOP primaries are going, any of the three Dems would make short work or a crippled Rudy. The swift boating by the real heroes of the eleventh would also help.

What's interesting is that the country seems to be waking up to the supreme arrogance of this little man. Rudy, if you want to win the nomination, it helps if you win something.

And here's a scoop:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/18/us/politics/18fence.html?pagewanted=all

Times is running with a story tomorrow morning about how Giuliani Partners is a part-owner in a company that builds the technology needed for the type of border fence he's been proposing in his stump speech. IOW, go with this plan because it will make me (and Judi) millions of dollars.

freddyhere

Rudy has no need to worry as everything is going according to plan. His unconventional strategy will play out just as he had envisioned and he will emerge as the Republican victor next month!

Go Rudy!!

matthew gannon

I'll vote for Rudy if he bans pictures of pandas from the Internet.

While/st I'm relieved that Rudy appears to be a presidential loser, I have other concerns. If the GOP nominee is elected, which is a huge concern on its own that I'm ignoring for now, I'm troubled by the possibility of Rudy becoming the A.G. given his yen for overzealous policing.

Atleast he'd keep the topless statues uncovered in the Justice Department.

Colochita

Let's not fight anymore, you guys. We're all just pandas waving amongst ourselves.

Loopus

Tsk Tsk SP..."thats" "isnt"??!! What the fuck?!! Did you go to school? Detention for you dumbass...

SP

You guys are fucking idiots. Thats some language you can understand, isnt it?

jsri

Jen....as long as everyohe is beating up on you for your dropping a word or two from a sentence...you also misspelled Giuliani in the headline. Which is why most writers call him Rudy.

Loopus

Right on colochita...heh heh...

I'm personally all for "amongst" and the use of "whilst" instead of while...

Colochita

ha ha... I think you are the overwrought one now. "Well actually, in the 16th century... blah, blah... today one would blah... blah..." - who cares??

SP

And yes, "preciously overwrought" is an apt description of the use of amongst in this context. It's archaic, and more appropriate for a 16th century poem than a blog post in 2008. The same way that today, one would use amid instead of amidst. Both are correct, just, as I already said, using amongst or amidst is precious and unnecessary.

SP

colochita, please, spare me your stupid assumptions.

virgil

On topic for just a moment:

I wish to god Guiliani would somehow get the nomination. I know it's pretty unlikely at this point, but my fondest fantasy from the moment I heard he was running was to see him destroy his own "America's Mayor" halo as his true tyrannical nature blossomed under the fertile compost of a presidential campaign.

KinoSport

Thank you, Virgil. Why are people treating Gothamist as if it were The Elements of Style?

virgil

"preciously overwrought"? Land sakes, that's a perniciously filigreed morsel of verbiage.

liulide

cooper union represent. w00t!

Colochita

I feel certain that you just moments ago learned that amongst is a word.

SP

It's preciously overwrought. "Among" would have worked just fine.

EastRiver

root for the Yankees...or Red Sox...whichever.

This is not an endorsement of Giuliani but you - and the media - really twisted his words on this one.