Via BoGlo’s Political Intelligence: Giuliani aides work for free

Rudy Giuliani’s campaign confirmed today that several senior staffers are skipping paychecks, but insisted that it is a sign of their commitment, not of money troubles.

Call me old fashioned, but I am a big fan of getting paid, even when I am committed to my professional activities.

And call me a cynic, but I can’t imagine that this was a spontaneous:

“Several members of our staff wanted to work without pay — including the campaign manager — as a way to contribute more to our efforts because they feel so strongly about Rudy’s run,” a campaign statement said. “Some other members of our senior staff were asked on a voluntary basis to forgo their paycheck for the month so all of our resources could be targeted toward Florida….That said, our campaign is not — and has never been — living hand to mouth.” move by the staff:

Meanwhile, according to CBS’ Ryn Corsaro, the money not going to pay the help is going to pay for Florida:

Giuliani Will Spend “Almost Everything” On Florida:

Rudy Giuliani says his campaign will spend nearly all of the cash on hand they have left on the upcoming Florida primary contest.

And, call me crazy, but given the above (along with Giuliani’s showing to date), the following sounds a bit, well, delusional: (via the SF ChronicleGiuliani camp finds the GOP race right where he wants it.

The logic, according to the piece, is this:

To Rudy Giuliani, the Republican race for the White House is unfolding just the way he hoped it would: It’s a mess.

[…]

The way Giuliani’s strategists see the race, his rivals poured millions of dollars into three small, homogenous states in pursuit of 66 delegates - a fraction of the 2,380 needed to nominate a candidate. Meanwhile, Giuliani’s campaign set up operations in delegate-stuffed states like Florida, home to 57 delegates, and California, which dangles 173 delegates.

While this all sounds good on paper, and logically should work this way, the fact of the matter remains that our somewhat loopy nomination system is not driven by the mathematics alone. The media coverage and the perception of voters means more at this point than the number of delegates on the table. And this fact is being reflected in the polls (again, from the SF Chron piece:

However, there’s a wrinkle developing in Giuliani’s plan: He’s starting to fall behind in the polls.

A USA Today/Gallup poll taken last weekend showed former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee as the candidate Republicans were most likely to support. Giuliani, who had led the national poll for six months, dropped seven percentage points from a December survey. He was preferred by 20 percent of the voters, compared with 25 percent for Huckabee.

And Florida is still over two weeks away. What will the perception of America’s Mayor^TM be after loses in Michigan, South Carolina and Nevada?