The most important political event of the week occurs on Thursday over in Iowa. Every candidate is slugging it out in the Hawkeye State, all but one, Rudy Giuliani. He left Iowa on Saturday and isn't expected to return until after the caucus if not at all. His hopes in the state have been bleak at best, but once the Shag Fund story hit last month it has been all downhill since. Even when he was there, the presentation by the campaign was lackluster at best.
From The NY Times:
On one side of the street in the middle of town, Mike Huckabee was stumping at a restaurant. Outside was a big bus that said “Mike Huckabee” on it in huge letters, crowds of people and reporters milling around, and another campaign bus from C-Span. It looked like a Hollywood set of a presidential campaign, with all the trappings.
Across the street, Mr. Giuliani had a campaign stop in a bakery and restaurant. The place was pretty crowded, and the event attracted a lot of reporters and photographers, but it all seemed pretty low-key compared with the hoopla across the street – more like a campaign stop in a mayoral campaign than a presidential campaign.
Mr. Giuliani’s final town hall meeting, in Mt. Pleasant, had a better crowd. Aides pointed out to reporters that extra chairs had to be unfolded at the last minute to accommodate the audience. In the end, there were probably around 150 people there – a good-sized crowd for a Giuliani event, but a fraction of what other candidates draw.
Maybe he just doesn't get it, or perhaps he doesn't care. Doing damage control in what was friendly territory down in Florida is taking up more of his time nowadays. Damage control has been his priority ever since Judy Giuliani made all of the national papers. He can't break double digits in either Iowa or New Hampshire and is hedging his bets on the other early states, but that might not be enough for Mr. Tough Guy from the city.
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