Worst. Campaigner. Ever.

Today's Florida primary marks another milestone in the GOP race for the nomination. By all accounts, including his own, Rudy Giuliani is poised to drop out of the contest if he finishes behind Mitt Romney and John McCain. If polls are to believed (and there's every reason not to believe them) Rudy is currently fighting it out for a third place finish with Mike Huckabee.

Of course, "America's Mayor" long ago laid out his strategy for all to see. He would fore-go Iowa, New Hampshire, Wyoming, Nevada and South Carolina, waiting ever patiently for Florida. There he'd spring his electoral trap, snag a win, and be propelled into Super Tuesday with the proverbial wind at his back. The problem, of course, is that with their wins in the early contests McCain, Romney, and Huckabee came to dominate the airwaves. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that the free press generated from a victory is more than even Mitt Romney's fortune can buy.


Another Republican also-ran, Fred Thompson, worked up a cagey strategy for victory. His grand design was to sit back and siphon as much free press as he could from his rivals tanks by playing coy about whether he'd ever even enter the race. In the process, he kept building up expectations. Hungry for a savior, Republican pundits watched Law & Order and dreamed of a Reagan-esque future. It wasn't to be. At his very first debate in October, Thompson proclaimed, after fumbling and freezing before the cameras, that he saw "no reason to believe that we're heading for an economic downturn." Gee, how did that turn out, I wonder?

If Rudy drops out today or tomorrow, we'll have a serious debate on our hands. Which man, Thompson or Giuliani, ran the poorer campaign? Vote now and history will forever record your choice for the man whose tactical blunders should never be repeated.