[Calpernia]

In Blue Jersey, Rudy's own backyard, the results of Saturday's Middlesex County Presidential Convention show he is down more than half since March 2007 in support.

1st Choice

38% Rudy Giuliani
16% Fred Thompson
15% John McCain
12% Mitt Romney
11% Ron Paul
5% Mike Huckabee
5% Duncan Hunter

2nd Choice

27% John McCain
22% Fred Thompson
17% Mitt Romney
12% Rudy Giuliani
8% Ron Paul
8% Mike Huckabee
6% Duncan Hunter

[pissant]

Good news for us, unless their second choice wins.

[Liz]

EXCERPT Giuliani has staked his entire presidential bid on taking Florida's 57 winner-take-all delegate votes Jan. 29..... a victory he hopes will catapault him to front-runner status in delegate-rich states California, NY and NJ---Feb. 5.

Giuliani is aggressively phoning those most likely to use absentee ballots - the elderly, the infirm and military personnel overseas. More than 204,000 GOP absentee ballots have already been requested, state figures show. That's nearly double the 118,696 total GOP votes cast in the recent Iowa caucus.

In more than eight months of campaigning, Giuliani has set up only four campaign offices across a massive state of 18 million people. By contrast, in tiny New Hampshire - population 1.3 million, about the same number of residents as in the Florida Panhandle alone - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's team had 16 offices.

Until this week, Giuliani's operation has relied almost entirely on media ads and phone calls, the two most effective campaign tools in Florida. Tomorrow, registered Republicans can begin going down to their local precincts and casting primary votes.

NY POST REPORT 1/13/08 http://www.nypost.com/seven/01132008/news/nationalnews/rudys_hope_as_mr__sunshine_956934.htm