Posted on 01/11/2008 10:41:32 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. - Rudy Giuliani's top campaign aides are not being paid this month, an ominous sign as the former mayor makes a do-or-die push to win Florida's Republican presidential primary.
Though the campaign revealed Friday it had $7 million on hand at the end of December, Giuliani said he expects to sink almost the entire wad into Florida.
"Frankly, Florida is real important to us," he told reporters. "So we're going to put, if not everything into Florida, almost everything."
The remarks suggested Giuliani is banking on somehow using a win in Florida's Jan. 29 primary to generate a mountain of cash in lightning speed for the Feb. 5 Super Tuesday contests in more than 20 states.
As improbable as that sounds, Giuliani very likely has more money than Arizona Sen. John McCain or former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, the New Hampshire and Iowa winners, both of whom are known to be running leaner campaigns. Giuliani finished far back in the pack in those two states.
Campaign aides insisted Friday that the decision to forego salaries was a voluntary act of dedication, not desperation.
"I believe in Rudy and believe he should be President," said campaign manager Mike DuHaime, who is among those not collecting a paycheck. "And I'm going to do whatever I can to help." DuHaime declined to provide names of payless staffers, but he suggested it was between 15 and 20 people.
The pay problems came as Giuliani held his first town hall meeting in Florida since voting began this month, and he used the opportunity to highlight an issue aimed directly at storm-ravaged Floridians - federal disaster relief.
"We are vulnerable at our least point of resistance," Giuliani told a crowd of 200 or so here in arguing for increased federal support for local first responders.
Another Republican who flopped in the first contests, ex-Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney tried to pull on the heartstrings of Michigan voters by harkening back to his family's roots there. His father was governor of the state, which holds its primary on Tuesday.
"My mom and dad are buried here," Romney reminded an audience of only 150 or so who turned out to hear him.
Meanwhile, former Arkansas Gov. Huckabee, branded a "liberal" by rival Fred Thompson in a debate Thursday, struck back by noting that Thompson never supported Ronald Reagan's candidacies for President.
“Meanwhile, former Arkansas Gov. Huckabee, branded a “liberal” by rival Fred Thompson in a debate Thursday, struck back by noting that Thompson never supported Ronald Reagan’s candidacies for President.”
Fred supported his mentor and fellow Tennessean Howard Baker in the primaries in 1980 - and Reagan in the general.
I’m pretty sure he supported Ford in ‘76, he was the incumbent. Reagan was never a candidate for President in 76, he was a candidate for the Presidential nomination.
I don’t see how this means much, since Huckabee will destroy the Reagan coalition TODAY and Fred could probably hold it together, even with his warts.
We were all hoping RUdy would go away.
Is it even a win that he was replaced by Huckabee?
It’s like having to choose which you’d rather have, a heart attack or a stroke.
He should set up an agency to adopt Italian orphans instead.
I think he’s playing possum..
I’d argue that it was a loss to replace Rudy with Huckabee. At least you can half-trust Giuliani with the budget and foreign policy and give him a shot at winning the general election.
Of course it was. Or McCain.
But at least McCain might be electable...as if that would be a good thing. :-/
Hmmmmmm.....Rudy's national finance co-chair has stepped down and is working at Rudy's firm Giuliani Partners.
Robert Novak reported the latest FEC figures show Rudy Giuliani leads the SC (Jan 19) money game, then McCain, Romney and Thompson. For Michigan (Jan. 15) and Florida (Jan. 29). FEC has Romney leading Michigan and Giuliani ahead in Florida.
I DO find it believable that Giuliani's viability is tanking from the scandals attached to his name. Giuliani was hurt by scandals involving mobbed-up Bernard Kerik (Rooty's former bodyguard, driver, Police Commissioner and business partner---in that order).
PLUS Rudy's porking his mistress on the public dime and hiding the theft of public services in obscure city agencies, then lying about it to voters.
Unzipped Rudy is something else. Giuliani's messy personal life is a big turnoff to women voters. Rudy had no qualms causing the public humiliation of his second wife by dumping her at a news conference without even telling her. He tried to dump his two young kids out in the streets---saying he was dividing the Mayoral mansion in two---to move in his mistress.
It makes wives and moms around the country skeptical of putting him in the White House. If he can't control his zipper, how can he control the country? One news poll found 50% of women overall - and 48% of GOP women - are less likely to vote for Giuliani because he dumped his second wife Donna Hanover at a 2000 press conference.
Lots of women say Giuliani's assigning seven tax-funded bodyguards/drivers to his girlfriend while his wife was still NYC's First Lady was EVEN WORSE than Rudy's public humiliation of the mother of his children. "Rotten" is a word that came up again and again when women refer to Rudy.
All of that could affect his fund-raising.
This story is true, so if the fact that Fred is doing the same thing in South Carolina. At this point in the primaries it is always do or die in certain States. This is a political reality.
All the while Fred raises $750,000 in one week vs Mitt who can raise $5.5 Million in one DAY. They are all going to be facing money crunches in the next couple of weeks, we should just read these stories with interest and move on.
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