Former Front-runner Giuliani, Now Hoping to be Comeback Kid

[JI7]

The former New York mayor's rapid descent after leading national Republican polls for most of 2007 is one more remarkable chapter in the story of Campaign 2008. In the space of 12 months he has gone from improbable candidate to unlikely nominee to surprise front-runner to a man now left to joke about becoming the Comeback Kid of this campaign.

Giuliani has lost his lead in national polls. He had Florida to himself for two weeks before the other candidates -- preoccupied with contests Giuliani bailed out of -- and yet the most recent polls here show him falling here. He has lost his lead in New York, the key of his Feb. 5 strategy, and a poll released overnight from the Public Policy Institute of California shows him at just 10 percent in the state he boasted he could put into play in a general election.

More than just his support has eroded. The latest NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll shows that his public image has been battered by his long exposure to the voters. Last March, as he was rising atop the GOP field, 57 percent of Republicans gave him a positive rating. In the new poll, just 28 percent rated him positively.

"This has become a very competitive race and I always expected it would be a very competitive race," Giuliani said Thursday night, "and I believe that I'm going to have the same fate that the New York Giants had last week, and we're going to come from behind and surprise everyone. I think we're going to do very well on February 5th, and I believe that I'll get the nomination."

In a way he never expected, Giuliani's candidacy now is in the hands of the voters of Florida. If he falls short, he will have to look to himself for the answers to why it happened.



http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/01/25/former_frontrunner_now_hoping.html?hpid=topnews

[allalone]

1. if he got to be prez

will he wear one of those fetching red and white dresses to the inaugural ball?

[bklyncowgirl]

2. He'll declare a moral victory if he gets 2 percentage points over Ron Paul

I really do think this is time to stick a fork into Rudy--Gov. Childs may have done that by endorsing McCain, but who knows this is Florida after all.

[JI7]

3. i'm taking great pleasure in seeing him go down

[rug]

4. More than Judi, I'm sure.