Rudy's Go-For-Broke Florida Ploy May Snap Under McCain's Pressure
BY JOHN TOSCANO

Rudy Giuliani's strategy of the moment is to win the Florida primary in 13 days on January 29, putting him in a favorable striking position for the crucial, all-important 24 primaries which occur seven days later on Super Tuesday, February 5.

The feisty, energetic ex-New York mayor is hustling like mad, bouncing around the Sunshine State, where he's campaigned for 40 days and maintains four campaign offices manned by 28 paid staffers. His aim is always to flush out his targeted quarry, friendly transplanted ex-New Yorkers and nail down their vote on January 29.

But beside having suffered a steady general decline in popularity over the past several months, which caused his rating to drop in the national polls, the hero of 9/11 now also has a rejuvenated, resurrected John McCain breathing down his neck.

Coming off a spectacular, come-frombehind victory in the New Hampshire primary, where Giuliani was an also-ran, the veteran Arizona senator has passed his New York rival in three different Florida polls in recent days.

In fact, McCain has surged past Giuliani, who previously had a comfortable lead in Florida, and now leads him by as many as 12 percentage points in one survey.

Worse still, in the three polls, Giuliani's other GOP rivals, Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney, are nipping at his heels.

The momentum is definitely propelling McCain upward, as it is in other primaries in Michigan and Nevada. If this pattern holds true, in the remaining 13 days of those campaigns, McCain could possibly lengthen his lead and Huckabee and Romney could possibly overtake Giuliani.

While Giuliani has been campaigning exclusively in Florida, he has sacrificed his chances in Michigan, where the voting will take place tonight, and in Nevada and South Carolina, where the voters will go to the polls on Saturday, January 19.

Giuliani has had Florida all to himself since New Hampshire. But after Saturday, McCain, Huckabee and Romney will swoop down on him and campaign in earnest for 10 days because the only other primary scheduled before Super Tuesday on February 5 is the Maine primary on February 1.

Giuliani is not only campaigning here virtually nonstop, but he's also throwing his financial resources into the effort at the rate of about $700,000 a week. Beside covering onthe ground forays up and down the Florida peninsula, his strategy also includes TV ads.

It's a real crapshoot for the relentless Rudy who decided many months ago to concentrate on Florida and its 114 delegates and then go for broke on Super Tuesday, when he'll pursue major targets, such as California (173 delegates), his native New York (101), Georgia (72), Illinois (70) Tennessee (55) and New Jersey (52).

But a loss here in Florida will make Giuliani's Super Tuesday goals harder to achieve.