The L.A. Times’ Andrew Malcom reports this interesting exchange on the Giuliani campaign plane:
Rudy Giuliani appears to be pondering an end to his long pursuit of the Republican presidential nomination.
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 he would win. And his spokeswoman, Maria Comella, said later he was speaking with confidence.
But that’s an unusually categorical statement suggesting that only a total first-place upset by Giuliani, who trails both Mitt Romney and John McCain in all major polls for Florida’s Republican primary tomorrow, will keep him in the competition, despite previous repeated vows to continue.
In one respect, Giuliani is wrong — the winner of Florida won’t necessarily be the nominee. In another respect, though, he’s right — if he doesn’t win Florida, he has no chance at the nomination at all.
