In a television ad that began airing yesterday, Rudy Giuliani's campaign urged Florida voters to ignore the political pundits when they vote in the Republican presidential primary and to "show the world that leadership is what really matters."
Titled "Super Bowl," the 30-second spot features banks of television screens with commentators as a narrator says, "With pundits and politicos handicapping the campaign like the Super Bowl, it's easy to lose sight of what's at stake."
As images of gasoline prices spinning higher, US troops in Iraq, and a parent and child appear, the announcer says: "An economy in peril. A country at war. A future uncertain."
Over more video of commentators, the narrator says: "The media loves process. Talking heads love chatter." Then, over footage of Giuliani speaking at a microphone, the announcer concludes: "But Florida has a chance to turn down the noise and show the world that leadership is what really matters."
The ad is an affirmation of the former New York mayor's highly unconventional strategy that targets the Jan. 29 primary in the Sunshine State as his best chance to move past his GOP rivals, even with a half-dozen primaries and caucuses before Florida.
Giuliani's lead in national polls has all but disappeared; he finished sixth in the Iowa caucuses, and, despite the expenditure of a considerable amount of time and money, he placed fourth in the New Hampshire primary. He is not seriously contesting Tuesday's primary in Michigan or the Jan. 19 primary in South Carolina and caucuses in Nevada.
But Giuliani has devoted heavy resources and time in Florida, as well as several of the more than 20 states that will vote on Feb. 5, when few candidates will have enough money to wage more than token media campaigns. The Giuliani campaign is banking on his high name recognition.
The Giuliani campaign did not disclose the amount being spent, but a service that monitors all the candidates' ad purchases reported the weeklong total cost at almost $640,000 in the Tampa, Orlando, West Palm Beach, Jacksonville, and Fort Myers media markets, which combined reach about 70 percent of the state's voters.
Giuliani also launched another TV ad yesterday in Florida, and nationally on Fox News Network, promising to propose the largest tax cut in US history on his first day in office.
"I would lower taxes as president of the United States because it's not just an ideology or a theory for me," Giuliani says in the ad.
Giuliani has said he would seek to cut corporate and personal income taxes, index tax rates for inflation, phase out the alternative minimum tax, and repeal the federal estate tax. The ad says the proposal would save taxpayers trillions of dollars, but his campaign has not produced detailed data.
In the ad, the announcer says that as New York mayor, Giuliani "delivered more tax relief than the other Republicans combined." Giuliani pushed through 15 tax cuts, all of which took effect during the expanding national economy of the late 1990s. He also takes credit for seven other cuts initiated by the state Legislature, as well as the largest of the cuts, which was scheduled to expire.
