Yes it is a slow news day.

It was just a few weeks ago on Meet the Press, Rudy Giuliani said repeatedly “look at my numbers in Florida”. Since that broadcast Giuliani’s once high Florida lead has diminished and nationally he now faces a growing movement toward former Gov. Mike Huckabee and a resurgence in buzz surrounding Senator John McCain.

Meanwhile the headlines don’t look good. The New York Sun reports Giuliani Begins Retreat from New Hampshire while the New York Post reports Rudy Looks Past Iowa.

Giuliani made no secret early that his campaign would be heavily focused on winning big states rather than early primary states. He seemed likely to capture states like New York and California while few saw a chance for wins in New Hampshire and Iowa. As the campaign built national momentum though it sought to capitalize by moving into this early primary territory hoping to squeak out a second or third place win and capture headlines. The money and time spent by the campaign, especially in New Hampshire, seemed to do the opposite. As team Giuliani spent, the poll numbers went down.

At this point in the campaign mainstream media outlets and it seems Internet outlets as well aren’t counting delegates or doing electoral math. They are buying and selling the horse-race in early primary states. Their plan? To sell the underdog story if one exists or in lieu of that the “comeback kid” angle. It is a media mainstay which ignores commonsense replacing it with, media sense, which creates a story within a predictable pattern that is self serving and more entertainment than anything else. Putting aside delegates, organization, and national support the media will either attempt to carry the winner of the early states momentum onto the big race or turn on these winners with raw and bitter force. The outcome is a normalized field where David receives a “fair fight” against Goliath even if he didn’t really do much to earn it.

It is all very interesting to watch but we see how destructive it is to campaigns like Giuliani & Clinton’s and I have to wonder if its the best way to pick viable candidates or simply the best way to sell a news story. Destroy the momentum of the frontrunners, build up insurgents and then turn on whomever sells the least from headlines.

Rudy Giuliani sat down with Tim Russert for the hour on Meet the Press this morning. Some highlights:

- Brushes off Iowa polling, “No nominee has won all the primaries (in the hotley contested ones)” doesn’t expect to win them all, pointed out high numbers in Florida.

- New NIE report on Iran does not take a pre-emptive military action off the table. “The pressure works” with sanctions.

- Supports staying the course in Iraq because the generals on the ground continue to believe we can make progress. From this point on we should learn to set a strategic objective, work at the objective and stay the course as long as there is a chance to achieve the objective.

- Did not envision the kind of attack we had on 9/11, was not educated enough on al Qaeda before then.

- On his place on the 9/11 Commission. Was a “mistake” for him to be on the panel because of his decision to run for the presidency. Says he realized it was a conflict of interest to be part of the panel which would become very political.

Says that he told Jim Baker that it was one of his reasons… Did not mention it as the “primary” reason but he did mention it.

- Won’t release list of clients for his legal or consulting firms because of confidentiality agreements.

- Bernard Kerik. Giuliani equated the situation to “bad judgement” on his part but if you “look at my record” you will see traditional good judgement.

- Security details for Judith Nathan. Russert attempted to pin Giuliani down on dates for when the details started (meaning when she was his “mistress”) Giuliani tried to dodge a bit. Not a lot of news.

- Russert asked about Huckabee’s 90’s comments on gay lifestyle being “sinful”. Giuliani does not believe homosexuality is sinful but rather the acts. Mentioned his own “sins”.

- Does not support Congressional fuel mandates to raise miles-per-gallon on new automobiles.

- Would not “pledge” to balance the budget but would make it a priority in his first year. Does not “do pledges”.

- Ended with a picture of Giuliani as a child wearing a Red Sox jersey. Played on a little league team called the Red Sox.

So basically 58 minutes (with commercials) on Giuliani’s personal, business and pre-9/11 life and two questions at the end on current policy. Plus a silly picture at the end What did we learn? Pretty much nothing. Great job Tim… great job.

Today The Politico dropped what could be a bombshell about Rudy Giuliani’s practices as mayor. Records have been released showing that Giuliani was charging tens of thousands of dollars in security expenses to “obscure” agencies for trips to the Hamptons around the same time he was having an extra-marital affair with his now wife Judith Nathan who had an apartment in Southhampton.

Politico claims the documents show that the expenses had nothing to do with the agencies they were charged to.

So far news outlets are waiting for an official response about the charges from the campaign.

Last night Mark Halprin announced Giuliani would receive a major endorsement. Today he is reporting that it is conservative christian leader Pat Robertson!

It is a major grab for Giuliani who faces questions about his ability to attract conservative voters. Also reported is that John McCain will pickup the endorsement of former 08 candidate Sam Brownback who was well liked by potential conservative primary voters but could not break into the top-tier. Earlier this week Paul Weyrich, the former co-founder of The Moral Majority endorsed Mitt Romney.

So in short, the Republican nomination fight might well be a nail biter as everyone is picking different sides.

Mark Halprin is reporting that the Giuliani campaign will reveal a major new endorsement which Halprin labels “biggest endorsement yet”.

Any ideas?

Check out videos of Giuliani on NBC Nightly News including some unexpected praise for Senator Hillary Clinton.

Road to 2008 considers a recent piece by Frank Rich in the NY Times & David Kirkpatrick in the NY Times magazine to wonder if the values voters influence isn’t waning.

I personally find it somewhat difficult to come to a conclusion on this issue. I do believe the far flanks of the party are waning in their influence. A year ago the conventional wisdom was that the anti-war wing of the Democrats would put their hold over the election. So far that has been anything but true. Meanwhile the conventional wisdom about the right was that religious conservatives would halt the chances of Giuliani, McCain & Romney and yet two of those three are in the top-tier and McCain is slowly putting his campaign back together.
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This item is currently running on Drudge:

Excerpt from Mayor Giuliani’s interview that airs tonight on FOXNEWS’s Hannity & Colmes at 9PM ET:

R. GIULIANI: “Honestly, in most respects, I don’t know Hillary’s experience. She’s never run a city, she’s never run a state. She’s never run a business. She has never met a payroll. She has never been responsible for the safety and security of millions of people, much less even hundreds of people.

“So I’m trying to figure out where the experience is here. It would seem to me that in a time of difficult problems and war we don’t want on the job training for an executive. The reality is that these areas in which - maybe there are some areas in which she has experience but the areas of having the responsibility of the safety and security of millions of people on your shoulders is not something Hillary has ever had any experience with.”

This is Rudy’s big blow not just to Hillary but to everyone to be honest. He can easily negate McCain, Obama, Edwards and Thompson on this point. Romney is the only other one of the top dogs who has executive experience both as a businessman and a Governor. If beyond 9/11 there is one major advantage to Rudy it is his ability to argue he is experienced in all aspects of government, federal, local and when you consider the size and scope of NYC and its activities even state along with his experience and contacts with business.

If I were Giuliani this is my message and it is the one I run with 24/7 to take attention away from social issues.

According to a report detailing Giuliani’s Q3 filing documents from the Associated Press Rudy Giuliani raised $11.4 Million with $10 million available for the primaries. He spent $13 Million, his biggest spending quarter yet and has $16 million total cash on hand $11.6 million of which he can spend on the primaries.

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