Amid family displays, Giuliani goes solo
Adapts strategy to downplay messy private life
MT. PLEASANT, Iowa - The Iowa caucuses are a showcase for the families of presidential candidates; most of them, anyway.
Republican Mike Huckabee addressed Iowans in Indianola last weekend while his wife, Janet, was stumping for him 130 miles away in Algona. Ann Romney, the wife of his opponent, Mitt Romney, has been an almost constant presence at her husband's side in the stretch run to tomorrow night's Iowa caucuses. On a weekend bus tour through farm towns east of Des Moines, Fred Thompson traveled with his wife, Jeri, eldest son, Fred Jr., daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren, all of whom were introduced at a stop in a bowling alley in Montezuma.
On the Democratic side, Chris Dodd moved his wife and two children to Iowa for the 10-week runup to the caucuses. Hillary Clinton campaigns frequently with her husband, mother, and daughter. John Edwards's wife, Elizabeth, and Barack Obama's wife, Michelle, have been stalwarts on the trail.
For Rudy Giuliani, however, the stretch drive of his pursuit of the Republican nomination has been mostly a solo excursion in recent weeks. His wife, Judith, until late fall a presence as surrogate, fund-raiser, and campaign trail companion, now rarely appears with him. In the past 6 1/2 weeks, she has appeared in public three times, all in Florida, where she is well received.
It's another manifestation of the Giuliani campaign adapting its strategy to minimize exposure of his liabilities, in this case his messy private life. Giuliani's sharp plunge in the polls - for months they indicated he was the clear national front-runner - began around the time of news reports about police security details for Giuliani and his future wife while they had an extramarital affair when he was mayor of New York. After the stories, Mrs. Giuliani's public schedule was curtailed.
These personal circumstances have long been seen as potentially damaging for Giuliani, especially among socially conservative Republicans who often play an outsized role in the primaries. The heightened attention to the candidates' every move in the final days, with their family members everywhere, has served to emphasize Giuliani's solitude, even if some Iowans say Giuliani's other strengths outweigh the family factor.
In an interview last weekend with Time magazine, Giuliani said he does not involve family members extensively in his campaign because he wants to protect their privacy.
"I think that people respect the fact that you want a certain degree of privacy for your family and the only way you can ask for that privacy is if you don't involve them too much," Giuliani said. "Because if you involve them too much the issue is going to be, or if they get involved too much then the issue is going to be, 'then we have a right to pry into their lives.' I've conducted myself that way pretty much my entire campaign. I don't see changing it."
Giuliani's relationship with his two children has been strained since Giuliani's surprise announcement at a 2000 press conference that he was leaving their mother, Donna Hanover.
Since the run of bad press that started in late November, Giuliani has more or less disengaged from the wide-open early-state races, often campaigning in Florida, California, Illinois, and Missouri, while his rivals concentrate on Iowa and New Hampshire.
He appeared at four public events in Iowa over a 30-hour period last Friday and Saturday but otherwise has all but written off the contest in the kickoff state. Giuliani was tied for fifth in Iowa with Ron Paul in the average of five public polls conducted in the past week and aggregated on the RealClearPolitics website. He plans to attend a rally in Hialeah, Fla., on caucus day tomorrow and return to campaign in New Hampshire through the first primary next Tuesday, Jan. 8.
In New Hampshire, Giuliani, who had been solidly in second place behind Romney a month ago, has slipped into a distant third in the RealClearPolitics average of six polls in the past two weeks, as John McCain has closed in on Romney. Most of McCain's gains appear to have come at Giuliani's expense.
For Giuliani, all roads lead to Florida because its Jan. 29 primary is the key to his unconventional and untested strategy that has committed unusual amounts of time and resources to large, later-voting states, mostly on Feb. 5, that will produce the bulk of delegates to the party's nominating convention next summer. The campaign is banking on his support holding in those states even if he finishes poorly in the earlier contests.
"This is a marathon, not a sprint, and it will be decided in the next several weeks, not the next several days," Randy Mastro, a former deputy mayor under Giuliani, asserted. "When people are voting for a president, they look to proven leadership. . . . No one is perfect; Rudy Giuliani is the first to say he isn't a perfect person."
In Iowa, some analysts believe, Giuliani's half-hearted effort was a mistake. His record of cutting taxes, crime, and welfare in New York and his strong stand against terrorism, not to mention his famous role in New York City's response and recovery from the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, are all assets in most voters' minds.
"This is clearly, in my view, a bungled opportunity for Giuliani," said Peverill Squire, a political science professor at the University of Iowa. "In a crowded Republican field, he was positioned to finish in the top three if he had made a serious effort." Hearing about his personal life "obviously works against him a bit, but if he had been here, put in the time, and emphasized the other characteristics which tend to be received more positively, he could have overcome it," Squire said.
Interviews with undecided voters who attended a Giuliani town hall-style event last Saturday evening on the campus of Iowa Wesleyan College seemed to support that theory. All of them were aware of the stories about Giuliani's private life, and some were clearly displeased, but each said they admired other Giuliani traits and might vote for him at caucus.
"There's a great deal about Rudy that I like . . . his support of Israel and he's pretty firm about terrorism and national defense," said Donald Gartin, a retired general contractor from Mt. Pleasant. "But I didn't like him using public money to finance his love affair. It's bad form and bad taste. My wife will not vote for Rudy because of that." He was referring to reports that during their affair, Giuliani and his future third wife had security provided by New York City police. Police authorities assigned the security after determining there were credible threats against her, and Giuliani has said he had no role in that decision.
"I like his leadership - when I hear the word, I think of him, because he handled himself pretty well under pressure," said Brendan Unkrich, a 28-year-old farmer and part-time basketball scout from nearby Swedesburg. He said he's heard all the stories about Giuliani and his family and wondered: "If you can't get along with your family, how are you going to get along with Congress?" More importantly, however, Unkrich said: "Frankly, I want somebody who is going to get the job done." 