Rudy Giuliani is Expected to Drop His Bid for the Republican Nomination

Rudy Giuliani, who has plummeted from an expected front-runner to a distant third for the Republican nomination, is expected to abandon his bid for the republican presidential nomination after suffering defeat in Florida. Giuliani is expected to endorse John McCain, who won the Republican primary in Florida, for President.

Rudy Giuliani took a huge political risk when he chose to ignore small states with early primaries, to focus on later big state primaries, placing special focus on Florida. One thing is almost certain, Giuliani is now slated to become a case study in political science classes across the nation, where professors will ask, "Why did he choose this off-beat strategy?"

What I really don't understand, is why did Giuliani go against the logic of not putting all of one's eggs in a single basket?

Giuliani, a Republican with a liberal social slant, may have needed early primary momentum more than any other candidate. Running for the Republican nomination for a presidency to follow George W. Bush, a President who has, without a doubt, called attention to social issues that he feels are going too liberal (i.e. sex education), makes the task at hand all that much harder for those like Giuliani.

How does a candidate ranking 4th in overall campaign fundraising, end up fifth in total delegates for the Republican nomination?

Take a 40 million dollar vacation in Florida, while your fellow hopefuls are kissing babies and throwing punches in the little states is how.

Giuliani may have managed to dodge the abortion issue in debate, but what he can't dodge is the absolute failure of his hold-your-breath-for-Florida strategy. Even if this strategy had worked in gaining him the Republican presidential nomination, and he probably would have only grasped it by a narrow margin, would he have been able to be successful in his continuing race to the White House?

His focus on Florida may have left Republicans residing in those states that Giuliani ignored feeling slightly jaded. How did he expect those Republican voters to support him in his run for the presidency after being blown-off during his quest for the Republican nomination?

Imagine a school child running for student council only having enough money to buy really nice gifts for some of his classmates in his quest to gain enough votes to be one of two in his class who's name shows up on the ballot. Then, once his name is on the ballot, he makes claims about caring about all his classmates equally. Would the young school child then be able to gain enough votes to secure his place in student council? Probably not.

Michigan voters may not have liked John McCain's answer when he was asked about jobs in the state, but at least they had his attention. The same cannot be said about Giuliani for many states.

Rudy Giuliani's campaign has suffered from some controversy (team member indictments, neo-conservative foreign policy advisers, etc.), but the biggest controversy by far was Giuliani's plan to focus on Florida. We may never understand why he made this decision, maybe he will come back in 4 years with a more logical plan. But for now, all we can do is wait for Giuliani to announce that he is dropping his bid.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/01/30/fl.primary/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudy_Guliani#2008_United_States_presidential_campaign
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/013/656vosea.asp