But, Rudy Giuliani is taking a different approach - the high road - at least for now.

While his rivals accuse one another of dishonesty and lambaste one another’s records, Rudy Giuliani is attempting to stay above the fray, saying he will not attack his fellow GOP contenders.

“I’d rather stay away from criticism of other Republicans. Our objective is to beat the Democrats and the less we criticize each other, the better position we’re gonna be in to beat the Democrats,” he said after a quick stop at an Indianola bakery. “”It seems to me we got so many issues to talk about in which we can distinguish ourselves, our different experiences, our different backgrounds, and give the voters a chance to decide.”

But, the fact is that negative campaign ads work.

In today’s polls from Iowa, Mitt Romney has eroded Mike Huckabee’s lead. And, John McCain has vaulted into the lead (of sorts -within the margin of error) in a national GOP poll. Both as a result of negative ads.

Rudy will play the UNIFIER for now and will wait for the dust to clear between the Romney-Huckabee and Romney-McCain media wars. In the meantime, Giuliani’s media people will focus group test the negative pieces to see which are the most effective to use against the apparent candidate emerging to challenge Rudy in Florida.

Flap has been saying for months that the GOP campaign will be won or lost with the Florida media war between Giuliani and one or more other candidates.

And, Rudy will go NEGATIVE in Florida - because it works.

Stay tuned…….

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Giuliani California Campaign Watch: Call Out for Telephone Volunteers in Thousand Oaks, California

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Technorati Tags: Rudy Giuliani

Cross Posted from the FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog

Rudy Giuliani leaves Barnes-Jewish Hospital Thursday, Dec. 20, 2007, in St. Louis. The Republican presidential hopeful, who spent the night in the St. Louis hospital with flu-like symptoms, left with a clean bill of health according to his campaign.

Time Magazine screams: Is Giuliani Facing Free Fall?

The answer is no.

But is there evidence to support this opinion? Flap found two excellent pieces today that not only accurately describe the Giuliani campaign’s strategy but also outline scenarios for Rudy’s nomination.

Assessing Giuliani’s Strategy

The most important insight, I think, still holds: delegates matter. And Giuliani is in a position to exit February 5 with the most delegates. For now. His biggest threat remains a Mitt Romney, having won Iowa and New Hampshire and opened his checkbook… which is why, despite the downside risk, the Giuliani campaign is comfortable with Mike Huckabee’s rise.

• Are Mike Huckabee and now John McCain “perfect” foils for Rudy in the early states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina?
• Are Huck and Mac the Romney stoppers and the absorbers of costly financed negative attacks by Mitt?
• Will these negative media attacks drive them all into unfavorable opinion territory by the middle of January?

Jim Geraghty over at National Review: Giuliani’s Nomination Path - Tougher, But Not Blocked

Under that scenario, nobody’s the frontrunner by the time they get to Florida, which Rudy is still leading right now. Everybody could (and arguably should) have a win under their belts. In addition to each one of his rivals controling a faction of the pie, they’ll probably have higher disapproval numbers, as they will have been the target of attacks for several weeks as Giuliani faded into the background.

Since he surged, Huckabee has been getting much tougher coverage, as any reader of this blog has seen. Romney’s still getting hit from a lot of different directions - his dad and Martin Luther King, his immigration positions, the usual flip-flop charges, etc. If McCain wins New Hampshire, you’ll see him get coverage that’s much tougher. His foes will start reciting immigrationdeal-campaignfinancereform-gangof14-votedagainstBushtaxcuts over and over again. You’ll see every picture he’s ever taken with Ted Kennedy dominating the airwaves. If Fred Thompson surges, he’ll get knocked around, too. And there’s still some possibility of the murder-suicide effect; if any candidate goes too negative on another, the mud splashes on both of them.

So it’s possible that by the time we get to Florida, most of the other Big Five have won only one or two states and has higher negatives from several tough primary battles. Rudy can swoop in, win delegate-rich Florida, and then try to execute his big state Super Duper Tuesday strategy, and pound home, electability, electability, electability…

It’s not a perfect path to the nomination, but right now, no one has one…

And, let’s look at the numbers, particularly the GOP delegates Giuliani would pick up on Super Duper Tuesday and Florida.

Finance co-chairs Roy Bailey and Jim Lee noted in an e-mail to supporters that in the 25 states where polls have been conducted and are scheduled to vote before Feb. 5, Giuliani leads in 13 - far more than any other candidate.
The numbers are important, because with each state victory comes a share of the 1,191 delegate votes a GOP hopeful will need to capture his party’s nomination.

If Giuliani wins all 13 of the primary states where he now leads in the polls and that vote by Feb. 5, he’ll collect 758 delegates, a Daily News analysis found.

That’s roughly two-thirds of the delegates needed to win the nomination, and more than four times the 170 delegates that Giuliani’s closest rival, Huckabee, would amass by Feb. 5 if he wins everywhere he is leading now.

Is the Giuliani strategy one of patience and attrition? You bet.

It may not be a perfect path to the nomination and Rudy will undoubtedly take some hits over the next few days in the polls. But, somehow, Flap thinks that after Christmas this race will start a whole new inning for the Giuliani campaign in their 29 inning game - watch them score.

Stay tuned…..

Cross Posted from the FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog

Former New York City Mayor and Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani speaks to supporters at the National Italian/American Sports Hall of Fame in Chicago, Illinois December 7, 2007.

Rudy Giuliani continues to lead in the latest Mason-Dixon Nevada GOP poll:

This is quite a turn for Fred Thompson and Mike Huckabee around from the previous Mason-Dixon poll in October where Rudy lead Thompson by 5 points and Huckabee registered only 2 points.

This is a good poll for the Mayor and shows his strength particularly among Nevada women in the first far western state GOP contest.

Will Nevada who caucuses on January 19, ten days before Rudy’s Firewall in Florida, provide the Mayor’s first early state win? Or will it be Michigan on January 15?

Stay tuned…….

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The Byrds–I Feel A Whole Lot Better

All eyes tomorrow will be on Mitt Romney and his Mormon Faith Speech: Faith in America. The direction and even the survivability of Mitt’s campaign will hinge on the speech. It could be the beginning of the end or the beginning of a revival.

Mitt now trails Baptist preacher and politician Mike Huckabee in Iowa and his poll numbers have been falling in other southern states where evangelical Christians make up more of the GOP voter base.

But, Romney is NO JACK KENNEDY.

If Romney missteps he is done.

Rudy Giuliani has lost his front runner status in the Rasmussen Daily Presidential tracking poll to Mike Huckabee but continues to lead the national poll averages and in major delegate-rich large states like California and Florida.

It is conceivable that Giuliani would have to wait until Florida (“RUDY”S FIREWALL”) before registering an election win. He will finish no higher than third in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. He may finish second in Michigan and might win in Nevada.

But, this is the best he will be able to do.

However, if Romney collapses tomorrow or in the next week from the Mormon scrutiny and MSM harping masquerading as anti-Mormon bigotry the Mayor MIGHT finish second in New Hampshire and could win Michigan.

South Carolina will be the grand fight between Fred Thompson and Mike Huckabee. And, might be the end of one or both of them.

The Mayor can wait and has the resources to do so. His strategy has been correct.

The race remains fluid and it comes down to College Station, Texas tomorrow to shake up the race.

Now, do you understand the video above?

Patrick Ruffini just e-mailed Flap and said the speech will be carried here live on the internet at 10:30 AM EST or 7:30 AM Pacific time.

Stay tuned……

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Rudy Giuliani Watch: “ONE HOUR” On Air In New Hampshire

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Republican presidential hopeful, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, shares a laugh with customers after refusing to sign a Boston Red Sox hat Sunday, Dec. 2, 2007, at the Country View Restaurant in Greenland, N.H.

Rudy Giuliani pens this op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal today:

With economic uncertainty weighing on the minds of many Americans, Congress is preparing to recess after another year of profligate spending, protectionist talk and promises of higher taxes. No wonder some people feel like we’re moving in the wrong direction. But I’m optimistic as I look to the future. It’s not our country that’s moving in the wrong direction — it’s Congress, and Washington’s culture of wasteful spending.

Over the last decade, nondefense spending has increased by 65% — the federal government currently spends $24,000 per household — while the number of earmarked pork projects rocketed from close to 1,000 to a height of nearly 14,000. This year, with only one appropriations bill enacted, earmarks already number 2,161.

A return to fiscal conservative principles can put America back on the right track, while giving Washington a much-needed dose of discipline.

Fiscal conservatism is based on two fundamental principles — cutting taxes and controlling spending. In recent years, the Republican Party has successfully cut taxes, but we have fallen short when it comes to controlling spending. The next president will need to strengthen both sides of the fiscal conservative equation, while reforming the culture of wasteful government spending with transparency and accountability. I believe I can do it because I’ve done it, and in a place that might even be more difficult than Washington.

We need to keep taxes low for our economy to grow. It’s not just a theory for me. I cut taxes 23 times as mayor of New York City with a Democratic City Council and State Assembly, and saw that lower taxes can result in higher revenue. Amid fears of an economic slowdown, now is the time to cut taxes, not raise them. But the Democratic presidential candidates all seem determined to impose an unprecedented $3 trillion tax hike on the American people.

Republicans have a clearer understanding of how our economy works. This summer, I unveiled my tax plan, which committed to making the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts permanent, while aiming for still-lower marginal rates. We’ll give the death tax the death penalty, index the Alternative Minimum Tax for inflation as a step toward eliminating it entirely, expand tax-free savings accounts, and expand health-care choice through tax reform. We also need to reduce the corporate tax rate — which is currently the second highest in the industrialized world, behind Japan — to at least the average of the other Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development nations, or 28%. These actions will protect American jobs, empowering us to compete and win in the global economy.

Controlling spending must be a chief executive’s priority or it doesn’t get done. That’s a lesson I learned from Ronald Reagan, and put into action when I was mayor. Real per capita spending actually fell during my administration. We cut the city bureaucracy by 20%, excluding cops on the street and teachers in the classroom.

We can do the same thing in Washington. Over the course of the next two terms, 42% of the federal civilian workforce is due to retire. We’ll only hire back half, taking the opportunity to right-size government by taking advantage of technology like the private sector did in recent years, and ultimately save taxpayers $21 billion annually.

We also need to return to spending controls and caps, a proven way to make Washington set priorities. As president, I will direct all federal agency heads to find 5% to 10% efficiency savings. If they come back to me and say it’s impossible to find 5% savings in a $2 billion agency, I’ll call on the Office of Management and Budget to identify the cuts. It’s time to put the “M” back in OMB.

Reforming a culture of wasteful spending requires standing up to special interests and insisting on transparency and accountability. Congress spent $29 billion on earmarks last year alone. Earmarks are the broken windows of the federal budget, signs of dysfunction and distress. Recent examples range from the absurd ($1.1 million in 2005 for researching baby food made from salmon) to the self-congratulatory ($2 million for the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service). The American people want us to end earmarks once and for all.

But more needs to be done. We need to root out wasteful spending and fraud in benefit payments and contracts by convening a Government Waste Commission, such as the one that closed military bases. It can require Congress to vote up or down on a whole package of recommended cuts, beginning by considering the 3% of programs currently rated “ineffective” by the federal government itself.

Finally, we can both save money and provide better services by consolidating duplicative programs. We don’t need 342 economic development programs or 130 programs serving at risk youth or 72 federal programs dedicated to ensuring safe water (according to a 2004 report). No doubt many of these programs are worthy, but citizens shouldn’t have to navigate a maze of overlapping bureaucracies. Digital one-stop-shop centers will provide better citizen service at lower cost, while transforming industrial age bureaucracies to fit the information-age citizen.

Returning to principles of fiscal conservatism is not an end to itself. We believe these ideas ultimately help government work better for all Americans. Cutting taxes and controlling spending creates a government that is smaller and smarter, more efficient and more effective. It can help balance the budget and reduce the deficit. Most of all, a healthy combination of pro-growth policies and fiscal discipline unleashes the genius of America’s free-market economy — empowering not government, but the citizens it exists to serve.

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