Rudy and the Dreaded “R” Word

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Rudy and the Dreaded “R” Word

Steven Taylor | Friday, December 21, 2007

That would be “retooling” (via the LAT): Falling polls lead Giuliani to retool his campaign plans

Now, with his lead shrinking in national polls, and even in Florida, according to some measures, Giuliani is retooling.

After seeing no results from expensive TV advertising on Boston stations, whose markets include the populous southern part of New Hampshire, he has scaled back. He is spending more time in New Hampshire and waging what some call a “stealth campaign” in Iowa. He is also doing something that is potentially far more challenging for him: He is recasting his belligerent persona. Maybe, he seems to have realized, it’s not enough to be the toughest guy on the block.

It is rarely a good sign when reporters start talking about how a candidate is “retooling” and “recasting”–especially when no votes have been cast.

This piece is interesting, if anything because it contradicts a NY Sun piece from earlier in the week that suggested that Giuliani was pulling his resources out of NH to focus on Florida.

In regards to Florida, the RCP average has Giuliani only at +2, and Rasmussen actually has Huckabee up by 4 points. That’s not much of a firewall for Rudy. Even his national position is slipping, as the RCP average only has him at +1.6.

About the Author: Steven is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Troy University in Alabama. He is the author of the book Voting Amid Violence: Electoral Democracy in Colombia, forthcoming from University of New England Press and the contributing editor on Colombia to the Library of Congress’s Handbook of Latin American Studies. He has his PhD from the University of Texas in Austin and a BA from the University of California at Irvine. He does most of his blogging at PoliBlog, which he started in February 2003.

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