"As Rudy Giuliani makes a rare trip to New Hampshire today for a town hall meeting with voters, the toughest question he faces could be: Where have you been, Mr. Mayor?
The answer: Florida, California, New York, Texas and other states that will hold early primaries next year and where the Republican presidential hopeful is increasingly devoting his time - at the expense of traditional battlegrounds like New Hampshire and Iowa.
And his absence is starting to show.
Recent polls show former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney - who has spent far more time in New Hampshire and Iowa than other top GOP candidates - opening up double-digit leads there over Giuliani and Sen. John McCain, who are suddenly tied for second in both states.
"It's not rocket science," said Bob Haus, a Republican consultant in Iowa. "Romney is succeeding because he is here, he is in the mail, he is on TV and it's working."
Giuliani aides insist they are playing to win in New Hampshire and Iowa, although he's been to each state less than once a month since January.
At the same time, aides acknowledge that with big, moderate states like California, New York and New Jersey planning Feb. 5 primaries - and Florida jumping ahead to Jan. 29 - the electoral calculus has changed radically.
Under this new math, the moderate Giuliani could afford to come in second or even third in conservative New Hampshire, Iowa and South Carolina, where the expectations will be higher for conservatives like Romney and McCain, as long as the former mayor can win in Florida and slingshot into Feb. 5."
That's right. All of the above are "moderate" states. Sort of like saying Ghengis Khan was a moderate warlord since he killed fewer people than Hitler. The Jurassic Press. They still don't know about the new media, so we need them now more than ever just for the laughs.
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