Into The Great Wide Open

By: Brian Montopoli
Topics: Rudy Giuliani

DES MOINES -- Rudy Giuliani campaigned far less in Iowa than his opponents in the run-up to the caucuses, and he wasn't expected to do well here. And he didn't: With most precincts reporting, Giuliani had less than ten percent of the GOP vote on Thursday night. It was a poor showing for the onetime national frontrunner, even considering the diminished expectations.

But there was some upside for Giuliani tonight: Mike Huckabee beat Mitt Romney. And that means that the Republican field continues to have no real frontrunner. It's good news for Giuliani, whose strategy depends on the field remaining fluid until the larger, delegate rich states vote.

"We congratulate Mike Huckabee on a hard-fought victory in Iowa," Giuliani Campaign Manager Michael DuHaime said in a statement. "This race is wide open and we will continue to run a national primary campaign designed to win the number of delegates necessary to become the Republican nominee."

Romney outspent Huckabee 20-1 here, and his loss severely diminishes his standing in the Republican field. He now goes to New Hampshire to battle John McCain, with whom the former Massachusetts governor is neck-in-neck in state polls. Despite his win here, Huckabee, a former Baptist minister, has fewer campaign funds than his rivals, and he may have less appeal nationally than he does in Iowa, which has a relatively high-percentage of religious GOP caucus-goers.

Ron Paul's campaign, meanwhile, didn't have the breakthrough here it had hoped. But with roughly 10 percent support, and a win over Giuliani, Paul's campaign is spinning his showing as a victory.

"I think it's a pretty big statement that we finished substantially in front of the national frontrunner," said Paul spokesman Jesse Benton. "This was a difficult environment and we did not have a lot of time, but we were able to build to double-digit support. It speaks to the grassroots support Dr. Paul enjoys."

Brian Montopoli
Brian Montopoli is the senior political reporter at CBSNews.com.
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by shingles1 January 4, 2008 1:56 PM EST: Except that Giuliani''s support is cratering nationally - his support has dropped from 30% to 20% in the last two months, ie. his trend lines are going in the wrong direction. And in New Hampshire Giuliani polls a pathetic two percentage points above Ron Paul, and behind McCain, Romney, and Huckabee.; Reply to this comment


by jack3213 January 4, 2008 1:45 PM EST: Guliani is right, it comes to the bigger more delegated states that matter, no the samll ones. Huckabee will not win that, neither will Romney. It will come down to Rudy & John, and then one will be President and the other Vice.; Reply to this comment


by spires01 January 4, 2008 6:27 AM EST: Go Huckabee!!!; Reply to this comment


by richbrodie January 4, 2008 4:34 AM EST: There is way too much concern with how many digits there are in a candidate''s percentage. It''s pretty stupid to make that a criterion for viability. I mean if Dr. Paul gets 10.1% does that really mean that he becomes "viable", but if he only gets 9.9% then he''s not viable? How ridiculous!

No meaningful conclusions can be drawn by comparing his showing negatively to Huckabee, for whom Iowa is merely a fluke, nor positively to Giuliani who wasn''t campaigning in Iowa.

The important thing is that in the last several weeks he has shot up FIVEFOLD from 2 to 10 percent. And even MORE significant is that tonight Mitt Romney, even with all his name recognition and free media hype, only received somewhat more than double the number of votes Paul did, instead of twelve times as many, as would have been the case had the contest been held when he was still a 2 per cent.

This election season is often compared to a horse race, and I see a certain dark horse closing pretty *** fast on the front runners!; Reply to this comment


by richbrodie January 4, 2008 4:01 AM EST: There is way too much concern with how many digits there are in a candidate''s percentage. It''s pretty stupid to make that a criterion for viability. I mean if Dr. Paul gets 10.1% does that really mean that he becomes "viable", but if he only gets 9.9% then he''s not viable? How ridiculous!

No meaningful conclusions can be drawn by comparing his showing negatively to Huckabee, for whom Iowa is merely a fluke, nor positively to Giuliani who wasn''t campaigning in Iowa.

The important thing is that in the last several weeks he has shot up FIVEFOLD from 2 to 10 percent. And even MORE significant is that tonight Mitt Romney, even with all his name recognition and free media hype, only received somewhat more than double the number of votes Paul did, instead of twelve times as many, as would have been the case had the contest been held when he was still a 2 per cent.

This election season is often compared to a horse race, and I see a certain dark horse closing pretty *** fast on the front runners!; Reply to this comment


by giantrobot2 January 4, 2008 3:15 AM EST: Congratulations Mike!

Mike Huckabee made political history today. Being outspent 20 to 1 and with every news organization in the world twisting the truth about him they couldnt fool the American people.

Mike Huckabee is a great role model for society. He has so much integrity, honesty, humbleness, charisma and good sense of humor.

Mike Huckabee is taking American to higher ground with a new American spirit. One that stops the squabbling and bickering from left to right to one that leads the country up.

This truly was the David and Goliath story. Mike Huckabee took out his sling shot with a small stone in it and knocked down the giant Romeny. Crash!!! You can hear the earth shake with the aftershocks of the giant falling.; Reply to this comment


by newideas1 January 4, 2008 2:16 AM EST: Mike Huckabee earned his victory tonight with the sweat, determination, and principled discipline that we should all expect from a President. If you are impressed with his victory, I encourage you to take my challenge by visiting:

www.abuckforhuck.com; Reply to this comment