Paraphrasing KSuv, “It’s the media stupid!”
From Independent Liberal:
In snubbing Iowa and New Hampshire, you must realize that you aren’t simply ignoring voters in those early states. You’re snubbing the national press, which needs to feed off of these early momentum-builders to write their narratives and create their stories. If you don’t compete there, [...]

With 39% reporting, McCain has a very slight edge.

John McCain: 34%
Mitt Romney: 32%
Rudy Giuliani: 16%
Mike Huckabee: 14%
Ron Paul: 3%

As I said earlier, Florida ain’t deciding squat. This race is going for the long haul, to Super Tuesday and beyond.

First, American Research Group has this poll showing Romney pulling ahead…
Gov. Romney is statistically tied for the lead with 34%. That’s virtually unchanged from 33% in the previous roll.
32% support McCain, unchanged from the last roll, while 12% support Huckabee, a decrease of 2 points from 14% over the same time period. 11% [...]

Interesting doublespeak from Giuliani today…
From LA Times:
In a meeting in the back of his chartered plane en route to St. Petersburg, Fla., a short while ago, the onetime, longtime GOP front-runner told a small group of reporters, including The Times’ Louise Roug: “The winner of Florida will win the nomination.”
He then went on to predict [...]

Unless the poll numbers are wrong (which, you know, never happens), Rudy Giuliani is going down tomorrow. Needless to say, no one will be trying the “big state” strategy again anytime soon – except I think Giuliani’s crash-and-burn goes a lot deeper than failed election tactics.
Bowing out of the early contests was just one of [...]

This podcast looks at (1) results of the South Carolina Democratic Primary; (2) a brief discussion about the media coverage of identity politics and (3) a look ahead to the Florida and February 5th primaries…
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[Re-published from 2008Central.net. This liveblog on Donklephant will be updated periodically. For the latest please visit the active liveblog at 2008Central.net]
7:30: Time Russert and Brian Williams (henceforth, Bri-Wi) are moderating this debate, and participating are John McCain, Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, and Ron Paul. I’m looking for Huckabee and Giuliani to [...]

But honestly, so what?
From Politico:
Ron Paul, the Texas congressman frequently dismissed as a long shot candidate with no real chance at winning the Republican presidential nomination, has won nearly twice as many total votes to date as Rudy Giuliani, a candidate still widely viewed as a strong contender.
With his second place finish in Saturday’s Nevada [...]

So much for that late state strategy.
From TPM:
About a dozen senior campaign staffers for Rudy Giuliani are foregoing their January paychecks, aides said Friday, a sign of possible money trouble for the Republican presidential candidate.
“We have enough money, but we could always use more money,” contended Mike DuHaime, Giuliani’s campaign manager and one of those [...]

That’s how some liberal blogs refer to Rudy Giuliani – using l33t speak to devastating effect. Giuliani’s moment has not officially passed, but it looks like it may be gone in, well, a New York minute.
Polling at 8-11% in New Hampshire (a state where an independent-minded fellow like Giuliani should do well) is a [...]

This podcast covers the results of the Iowa Caucuses. We discuss the significance of Huckabee’s victory, the state of the Republican race after Iowa and we also dissect Obama’s victory and analyze the rest of the Democratic race.
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Giuliani has just shot up and is neck and neck and neck and neck with Thompson, McCain and Ron Paul. In fact, of the 4, he’s in the 3rd spot, with Paul trailing by 1%. This is with 41% reporting.

A new poll has him tying with Rudy.
From Reuters:
DES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) - Mike Huckabee has surged into a virtual tie with front-runner Rudy Giuliani in the national 2008 Republican presidential race two weeks before the first contest, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday.
Huckabee, a former governor of Arkansas whose campaign has caught [...]

And after watching his appearance on last Sunday’s Meet The Press, I don’t know if he really cares. He had this “devil may care” attitude. In any event, Rudy kept talking about his lead in Florida when Tim Russert mentioned how he was way back in the pack in all of the first-round primary states. [...]

[Re-published from 2008Central.net. We will update this post on Donklephant periodically, but for the latest check out the live blog at 2008Central.net]
The Des Moines Register is having a Republican debate in Iowa today beginning at 2pm eastern. It is being aired on Iowa Public Television, as well as Fox News and CNN.
2:oo: Yup, we’re live [...]

Folks, this isn’t just an Iowa phenomenon. A number of national polls show Huckabee on top and this latest Rasmussen poll from Michigan shows him in a dead heat with Giuliani and Romney:
Mike Huckabee’s surging campaign has created a three-way toss-up in Michigan’s Republican Primary. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey finds Huckabee earning 21% [...]

He’s moderate on social issues and they don’t like that.
From msnbc:
DUBUQUE, IA — It’s no secret that Iowa Christian Alliance president Steve Scheffler isn’t a Rudy fan. But tonight, within spitting distance of Giuliani’s rival GOP candidate Romney, Scheffler explicitly urged Iowa Christians to oppose Giuliani in the race for the nomination. “If our [...]

2008Central.net’s Co-Managing Editors submitted three questions for tomorrow evening’s CNN/YouTube Republican Debate.
1) Question to any candidate regarding immigration reform and leadership.
2) Question to Rudy Giuliani regarding why he has not visited Iraq yet.
3) Question to Mitt Romney regarding the information gap in the U.S. regarding the distinction between Sunni and Shia Islam.
Take a look, we’d [...]

This podcast covers (1) problems with Bill Richardson’s campaign, (2) the reality of Mike Huckabee’s recent momentum, (3) Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama argue over a Novak Column, (4) the significance of experience in the 2008 election, (5) Fred Thompson’s troubles and (6) more…
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Feel free to email us questions/suggestions [...]

From the Politico daily newsletter:
Fractured results in the initial primaries and caucuses disrupt Mitt Romney’s plan to rack up a series of convincing wins ahead of the big states where Giuliani expects to run well. It’s harder to build a head of steam when you’re fighting gnats, and any success the also-rans achieve will dilute [...]