Rudy Giuliani Looks to Make Final Stand in Florida GOP Primary

From Florida today we will have one final indicator before Super Tuesday how the Republican presidential race will shape up. New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is campaigning heavily in Florida, banking on a strategy that is risky at best.

If Giuliani does not win Florida, he will likely drop out of the race. He bypassed the earlier primary states in New Hampshire, Iowa, Michigan, Wyoming and South Carolina in order to pursue a strategy for Super Tuesday that meant starting his campaigning early in Florida which has the most delegate votes of any state thus far. The early results and exit poll indicators have not been kind to Giuliani.

John McCain and Mitt Romney have been ahead of Giuliani since the past week and Giuliani looks to be in third place, followed by Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. Florida has 57 delegates. The Democratic Party will not be having a primary in Florida because Florida was stripped of its Democratic delegates by having its primary earlier than Super Tuesday on February 5. On Tuesday, February 5, there will be 1,023 delegates up for grabs in 23 different states for Republican presidential candidates.

John McCain has been campaigning with Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman in Florida. Lieberman appeals to the large Jewish and Cuban vote in Florida. Romney and McCain look to be in a dead heat for front runner status in the GOP primary. The winner of Florida will take some momentum and an advantage into Super Tuesday primaries. Romney's economic policy has played well in Florida and across the country as Romney has used his background in business as an executive of Staples to win over voters.

Giuliani remains confident that he can win Florida after campaigning there for the better part of the last month. If he wins Florida, he would gain much needed momentum and could win the large delegate states of New York, New Jersey and California.

Unlike the Democratic primary in which the winning candidate gets that proportion of delegates from that state, the GOP primary is a winner take all primary in which all delegates in that state go to the winning candidate. Romney and McCain are neck and neck in delegate counts.

Romney has a ton of money still in his campaign disposal. He spent $30 million on the Florida primary which is five times the amount that McCain spent, according to CNN.com.

Another factor in the mix is the fact that many voters in Florida vote absentee. 474,000 registered Republicans have already cast their vote in the GOP primary before the election day started. This factors well for Giuliani because only a week ago he was leading in Florida polls. He was also the only one campaigning in Florida for quite a while before his political rivals started campaigning in the Sunshine state.