FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
Rudy Giuliani is slipping in the state considered "crucial" to his presidential chances.
An average of three polls taken in Florida show Giuliani in third place. John McCain and Mitt Romney are neck-and-neck at 27% and 25%. Giuliani is way back at 16%... practically tied with Mike Huckabee, who gets 15%. It's looking more and more like Giuliani's dream of being president is headed for the scrap heap. Two months ago Giuliani was the prohibitive favorite in Florida at 38% to 17% for Mitt Romney and 11% for John McCain.
One pollster is quoted by the Miami Herald saying Giuliani has "virtually no chance to win in Florida." Another says, "If he can't make it there in Florida, he can't make it anywhere." Guess the words of that famous song don't always ring true. And Florida is winner take all…if you don't finish first you don't get a single delegate.
Giuliani's campaign, of course, disputes all this, insisting he'll win. He argues his message just needs a little more time to sink in.
It's really quite stunning. Giuliani was the national front-runner for months. In a decision that strategists will probably talk about for years to come, he chose to virtually ignore the early states. Huge mistake. He goes into Florida 0 for 6 in states that have already voted. And, apparently the people in Florida don't like a loser, either.
If Giuliani loses in Florida on Tuesday, it could be the beginning of a collapse that will go down in history… since he won't have the momentum going into Super Tuesday. You know, kind of like he hasn't had any momentum coming out of Iowa, New Hampshire, Wyoming, Nevada, Michigan or South Carolina.
Here’s my question to you: What went wrong for Rudy Giuliani?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Delane writes:
To quote Joe Biden; "A noun, a verb, and 9/11." Best analysis of Rudy since he joined the race!
Michael in Fountain Inn, South Carolina:
Rudy's problems began the day he decided to run. He was always perceived as a single issue candidate, and unfortunately for him, that issue wasn't the economy.
Ed writes:
Jack, Rudy was known initially as a solid crime fighter and, most including I believed, a political moderate. But then he went pro-Bush, pro-Iraq war, and hawkish to the right side of the bald eagle (pun intended). That's when I wrote him off - we don't want another Bush rubber-stamp clone.
Jon from Tempe, Arizona writes:
Giuliani had the deck stacked against him. The arcane process that we have for primaries in this country put all of the states that Giuliani could not win ahead of him. I honestly believe if we would have a national primary in this country Giuliani would have been the nominee.
David writes:
Nothing went wrong. Just like any election, the voters get to know the candidates. Rudy is not a likeable person, he has no foreign policy experience, and he is a horrible speaker and debater. The Republicans have no one that fits the bill exactly, but he came up short time and time again.
Alain writes:
Too bad. He should have seen that little cartoon about the turtle and the rabbit. The one opportunity the States had burned to a crisp.
David writes:
Rudy mistakenly believed after 2000 that Florida determines who the president is instead of campaigning in the other 49 states.