President 2008,  Rudy Giuliani

Rudy Giuliani Watch: Dead Heat in Florida

January 14, 2008 /

Republican presidential candidate and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani addresses supporters during a campaign stop at the Village Fish Market & Restaurant in Punta Gorda, Florida January 14, 2008.

The bloom may be off the John McCain New Hampshire bump. In the latest Florida Survery USA GOP poll there is a four way tie – a dead heat.

  • John McCain 25% (27%)
  • Rudy Giuliani 23% (19%)
  • Mike Huckabee 18% (17%)
  • Mitt Romney 18% (17%)
  • Fred Thompson 9% (8%)
  • Ron Paul 4% (5%)
  • Undecided 3% (5%)

Survey of 542 likely Republican primary voters was conducted January 11-13. The margin of error is +/- 4.3 percentage points. Results from the poll conducted January 9-10 are in parentheses. H/t Race42008

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Note that Rudy Giuliani (who has surged four points in a week) started his full court press on Florida just the other day and in addition he has a very well organized absentee ballot and now (beginning today) early voting GOTV program.

Also, note that no other GOP candidate has invested as much time and resources to Florida. No one is running paid media in the state.
Rudy has apparently reversed his slide in the Florida polls and now is contesting the state with vigor.

6 Comments

  • Dennis

    January 14, 2008 at 10:05 pm

    Reports are that Rudy is drawing huge crowds, and that the pollsters are not polling much of south Florida ( including the Cuban community ) where Rudy is strongest.

    I am getting a better feeling about Florida!!

  • Flap

    January 14, 2008 at 10:09 pm

    Florida is making a comeback but the new Survey USA Poll California has Rudy way behind McCain in second place.

    Frankly, I think the poll is an outlier and that it is much closer than that.

    But, Michigan tomorrow will make or break John McCain. Let’s hope it breaks him.

    It will be close.

  • Joe Crandall

    January 15, 2008 at 7:37 pm

    For those of you who have an agenda involving a candidate other than Rudy, well, it’s your right to post what you want here. I AM getting a little tired, however, of reading the same tired anti-Giuliani talking points over and over again. So, I thought I’d address them before anybody posted them.

    My personal favorite is this refrain:

    Crime goes down in NYC? nope, Giuliani had nothing to do with it

    Economy improves dramatically in NYC? again, NOT Giuliani – no way, can’t be

    9/11? Oh yeah, that was so TOTALLY Giuliani’s fault!

    Get real folks (or at least get consistent.)

    For those here who maybe, just maybe are possibly open to hearing some facts about Rudy, here are some responses to these tired talking points:

    Anti-Guiliani talking point #1: Rudy left NYC with a deficit.

    Not sure where this one came from, but here’s a good headline to look at: “Mayor Giuliani Inherited $2.3 Billion Budget Deficit And Turned It Into Multi-Billion Dollar Surplus.” (Steven Lee Myers, “A Deficit Revisited,” The New York Times, 7/31/94.) Yeah, that’s right – the New York Times!

    Anti-Giuliani talking point #2: Bernie Kerik might be a bad guy.

    One of the best qualities I think any person can have is loyalty. The flip side of loyalty is that sometimes, it can really bite you in the ass. ‘nuff said.

    Anti-Giuliani talking point #3: Well, crime was going down throughout the U.S., so it’s not like Rudy really accomplished anything.

    NYC’s crime reduction was THREE TO SIX TIMES THE NATIONAL AVERAGE! NYC became (and remains) the safest big city in America!

    Anti-Giuliani talking point #4: Rudy’s been married three times.

    Honestly, I could give a rat’s ass how many times a candidate has been married, as long as I know he can get the job done. Rudy can get the job done.

    And you know what? Let’s put all of this stuff aside, because we have bigger fish to fry. For anyone just tuning in, the next 4 to 8 years are going to be a bumpy ride in the U.S. The biggest problem we’re going to face? The terrorists was against us (they’re just getting warmed up, folks – seriously!)

    In 1995, NYC hosted a big event at Lincoln Center for various foreign dignitaries. Guess who crashed the party? None other than Yasser Arafat. Rudy’s response? HE THREW HIS TERRORIST ASS OUT THE DOOR! When the city’s liberal elite cried foul, Giuliani replied, “I would not invite Yasser Arafat to anything, anywhere, anytime, anyplace. I don’t forget.”

    Neither will we, Rudy. No matter what happens over the next few weeks, we will NEVER forget.