Giuliani says he's still in it to win in N.H.
By Brian C. Mooney, Globe Staff
DURHAM, N.H. -- Rudy Giuliani returned to New Hampshire today with a new slogan but diminishing prospects for an upset in the first presidential primary, now only three weeks -- and two holiday interruptions -- away.
"Tested. Ready. Now." That's the theme for the stretch drive to the early contests, unveiled by the New Yorker on Saturday in what his campaign had billed as a major speech in Tampa, but which broke no new ground on issues or contrasts to his opponents for the Republican nomination.
During a town hall-type meeting today attended by employees of Goss International, the printing press manufacturer, Giuliani vowed to make a strong push in the Granite State, which votes on Jan. 8, five days after the caucuses in Iowa. Giuliani has visited Iowa only once in the past five weeks.
"I'll be spending some of my Christmas holiday here in New Hampshire, which I really look forward to," the former New York mayor said after taking a half-dozen questions from the group. "We'll be here and we'll be working really hard to get your vote ... We want to do everything we can to win the vote here."
But after more than a month of heavy television advertising that polls indicate failed to improve Giuliani's standing in the state, the campaign has decided to pare back its ads before Christmas. In three of the four most recent public polls in New Hampshire, Giuliani has slipped into third place behind Mitt Romney and John McCain. In the fourth survey, he trails Romney by double digits, one point ahead of McCain, who has since picked up a series of newspaper endorsements.
Giuliani plans to return Friday to start a three-day swing through the Granite State, his campaign said, before taking time off for Christmas. He continues to raise funds aggressively, presumably to stockpile for heavy spending in later-voting, large-delegate states, the linchpin of his highly unusual strategy that anticipates he may not win any of the early-voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire, Michigan, South Carolina, or Nevada.
His public schedule for this week, for instance, includes no events on Tuesday, three events on Wednesday in Missouri (one of the more than 20 states that will vote on Feb. 5), and no events on Thursday.
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Someone needs to slap down Iowa and New Hampshire and put them in their place. They have minimal populations, are overwhelmingly white and old. They are completely unrepresentative of the American situation and only cater a very few special interests. That is why their choices are so far from the mainstream. I'd love it if they vote for a dark horse like Huckabee, only to be shown how little their votes matter in the elections in states where there are more people and more diverse people.
It's time that we stopped being held hostage by Iowa and New Hampshire. Let's break the cycle!
A $515-billion spending bill was passed under the cover of darkness, Monday night that undermines plans for a U.S.-Mexico border fence, says many media reports. The spending plan carefully manipulated the already signed President Bush bill into a dying provision for a two-tier barrier that has worked well in California, the newspapers reported. Republicans are screaming about the contrived move that's expected to result in a SINGLE-TIERED TRAVESTY OF A BORDER FENCE. It is strange we can afford to pay for the Iraq war, but the protection of the American taxpayer it seems is not even a priority? "The fact that the amendment was buried in a bloated, 3,500-page amendment tells of the underhand coersion of Kay Bailey Hutchinson of Texas and Democrats unserious approach to border security and illegal immigration.
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