Giuliani's Iowa stealth campaign
GOP presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani has said he is not focusing on the upcoming Iowa straw poll, yet sources "on the ground" in Iowa claim that his operatives are battling hard to gain traction in tomorrow's straw poll nonetheless.
The "name of the game," according to these sources, is managing expectations. Giuliani was recently seen to be struggling in the polls, the object of some controversy over his claims about 9/11, his bellicose attitude toward foreign intervention and also his affiliation to a controversial law firm pursuing a mid-America "superhighway." Thus a decision was likely made to de-emphasize the Iowa straw poll.
In doing so, Giuliani diminished expectations that he would finish well, and this in turn allowed his campaign the ability to push hard in Iowa, knowing that even a fairly low place finish could be "spun" into a momentum builder.
Accordingly, the Giuliani campaign will have reportedly have a tent, is said to have purchased tickets for supporters and is focused on energetic outreach on behalf of the quasi-absent candidate.
