Despite his reputation as a tough guy, Rudy Giuliani doesn't seem to want to get very tough on his chief rival in Florida.
Look here, and you'll see Rudy's Florida campaign manager Bill McCollum calling John McCain "out of touch" on the issue of a catastrophic insurance fund, a big deal in hurricane-prone Florida.
Then, look here, and you'll see Rudy being asked about the claim McCain is out of touch. He won't go as far as his own surrogate -- won't, really, do anything at all with the question: "I don't believe that Republicans should be attacking each other. I think we should be pointing out our policy differences."
Resulting in some speculation about why. GOP consultant Tony Fabrizio has some ideas, via AP:
"There's the tactical consideration — what Fabrizio called the 'pool table' problem posed by a multi-candidate race — that criticizing, say, McCain would help Giuliani, but also help Romney. That's because some of the voters Giuliani pulls from McCain could go to him, but a big portion could also go to Romney.
" 'They are in a very difficult situation,' he said of the Giuliani campaign. 'I don't think it's a clear shot for him to figure out who to go after.'
"And then there's the campaign's general lack of strategy or consistent message, resulting in disarray, Fabrizio said. Giuliani is fading everywhere he has tried to play, and this has happened without any of the other candidates criticizing him or airing one negative ad, Fabrizio noted.
" 'All they did was go backward from the day they got in to today,' he said. 'It's the incredible disappearing Rudy Giuliani.' "
Comments (1)
RE: Upcoming Florida Race & Beyond.
The NY GOP will soon admit they were CLUELESS to National Politics when Florida is said & done. (Although I give some play to them to maintain NY Senate with the Rudy on the Ticket idea of theirs)
3 points on Florida as of today's date......
1 - Speaking to other sources on other campaigns, Romney is clearly still in this race even with defeat in Florida. He can place possible second. $$$ is the reason for Romney stay power and he is not going away at this time.
2 - I said this before somewhere else, but I will say it again.....Expect NY State GOP & Rudy Spin!
Early votes have been cast already in Florida many weeks ago.
As expected most went to Rudy as he was up in the polls in Florida for many of those weeks.
IMO....Rudy comes in second or fourth depending if 20% or 40% votes were cast already in early voting.
3 - Thompson out of Florida, Means....It could be a second place finish for Huckabee or even better....
Unless Thompson endorses McCain?
Half of Florida (North and to the Panhandle) - Half of the State is strong, strong Social Conservatives!
Jim Kelly - NY Conservative Camapaigns