Senior Giuliani Aides Forgo Paychecks

Campaign Denies Voluntary Move By Some Staffers Is A Sign Of Overall Money Troubles

(AP)  About a dozen senior campaign staffers for Rudy Giuliani are forgoing their January paychecks, a sign of possible money trouble for the Republican presidential candidate and last year's national front-runner.

"We have enough money, but we could always use more money," said Mike DuHaime, Giuliani's campaign manager and one of those who now is working for free. "We want to make sure we have enough to win."

At the end of December, the campaign had $12.7 million cash on hand, $7 million of which could be used for the primary, DuHaime said Friday. He disputed the notion of a cash-strapped operation and said Giuliani continues to bring in money; several fundraisers are scheduled this week in Florida.

The former New York mayor has yet to win a contest and is counting on a victory in delegate-rich Florida on Jan. 29 to prove his candidacy is viable heading into the multistate contests slated for Feb. 5, where he believes he can prevail in states such as California and Illinois.

It's an unorthodox and costly strategy because Florida and states that follow have some of the most expensive media markets in the country. And with so many states voting in such a short time period, candidates can do little else but rely on paid media - and news coverage - to get out their message.

Republican strategists estimate that it will cost roughly $35 million to run one week of heavy levels of ads in the two dozen states that hold contests on Feb. 5.

Giuliani has struggled to grab his share of the spotlight from rivals Mike Huckabee, winner in Iowa, and Sen. John McCain, the victor in New Hampshire, as well as Mitt Romney. Recent polls show Giuliani, the undisputed leader in most 2007 national surveys, losing his top spot.

DuHaime and other aides stressed that relinquishing pay was voluntary and was limited to senior staffers, many of whom already had contributed the maximum allowed by law to the campaign, $2,300. Aides said some people offered to give up their checks, prompting the campaign to then ask if others wanted to volunteer. They insisted no one was forced to work without pay.

"I want to do everything I can to make sure Rudy's president, and I speak for a lot of the campaign when I say that," DuHaime said. "None of us joined this campaign for money."

Still, the move raises questions about whether Giuliani's bank account is as flush as it should be for him to cobble together enough delegates to secure the party nod. One aide said money was getting tight.

Through September, Giuliani had raised $45 million and had $11.6 million available for the primary campaign. With $7 million in cash on had at the end of December, that means Giuliani had spent nearly $5 million more than he took in during the last three months of the year.

All Republican candidates have struggled to raise money for the 2008 presidential race, an indication that GOP donors aren't as energized as Democrats. Nearly every GOP hopeful set sky-high fundraising goals, but failed to meet them.

Giuliani, for his part, spent $300,000 on radio ads in Iowa and more money on direct mail, only to come in sixth. In New Hampshire, he spent some $3 million on TV and radio ads, and flooded mailboxes with direct mail; he finished fourth. He has been spending millions over the past month to run TV ads in Florida, and had a high rate of spending throughout most of last year.

Over the past few days, Giuliani has moved his handful of paid staffers out of Michigan and South Carolina to Florida, which has emerged as his best shot to re-ignite his campaign.

He also launched two ads in Florida, one of which urged viewers to discount media pundits and their election analyses. The ad seemed as much aimed at voters as it was to fundraisers, who are crucial to the well-being of his campaign at this stage.

Other candidates also are refocusing their strategies to deploy resources more wisely so they have enough cash to compete into February.

Romney, the multimillionaire former Massachusetts governor who lost both Iowa and New Hampshire, ended his television advertising in South Carolina and Florida to concentrate on Michigan. That state's primary is Tuesday.

[abbe91]

I guess he could get more money from his friends from Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifah al-Thani and Khalid Sheikh Muhammad (the terrorist mastermind who wired funds from Qatar to his nephew Ramzi Yousef prior to the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, and who also sold the idea of a plane attack on the towers to Osama bin Laden).

[watcher269-2009]

Rudy is spending all the money on his security details protecting his Hookerss. Heeheehee

[duffyn]

Looking forward to another eight years of peace & prosperity like we had when Bill Clinton was prez. You know, the one who actually has a brain :)

[merlgrey]

Posted by perception5 at 07:48 PM : "Mitt Romney is by far the best of all the conservatives. As for Michigan, they should be running ads asking Mitt to lead this nation so they can become prosperous again. This great nation is lucky to have someone with his qualifications and credentials desiring to serve us. Make no mistake, he is the only candidate who can win the White House and usher in the positive change so many people want."


Dept of Justice has declined to prosecute $300 million in fraud that benefited Romney''s Bain entity when Romney was still controlling manager in 2001.

The Law firm of MNAT and TBF have confessed to supplying false more than 19 affidavits to the federal court during the eToys bankruptcy case as they worked for eToys when they sold the assets of eToys to their other client Bain/KB Toys for tens of millions in discounts.

Now it is discovered that the US Attorney, Colm F Connolly, was a partner with the MNAT law firm in 2001. Refusing to prosecute your former partners, clents and associates seems to be a good career move as Colm Connolly is now nominated to be a US Dist Ct Judge.

You can see our online affidavits at http://www.laserhaas.wordpress.com or http://fraud-corruption-mnat.townhall.com/default.aspx and the Wall Street Journal story on the plea deal made by law firm TBF, which is now disbanded, where TBF only had to pay a $750,000 fine and remained in charge and continued with the $300 million in Fraud. http://www.wjfa.net/bk/etoys.html

[sgtrds]

Not even president and he''s already running a deficit. Yep, he''s a republican alright!

[valendug]

Jewliani always was a free spender with that 9/11 money he "appropriated.

[perception5]

Mitt Romney is by far the best of all the conservatives. As for Michigan, they should be running ads asking Mitt to lead this nation so they can become prosperous again. This great nation is lucky to have someone with his qualifications and credentials desiring to serve us. Make no mistake, he is the only candidate who can win the White House and usher in the positive change so many people want.

Giuliani is a is a good Mayor, but he''s not going to win over the conservatives. McCain is history, literally. Good at war, not much else. Thompson is a good man but he''s too old also. I don''t have to say anything else about the remaining candidates, they aren''t conservative and they preach doom and gloom. We''ve had enough of that from the Democrats.

It''s time for everyone to get on board and support the only hope we have - Go Mitt Romney - lead us to victory!.............GO MITT !!

[logicanada]

Rudy''s parents obviously didn''t ever tell him not to run with scissors.

[merlgrey]

this is what happens when giuliani goes out in public:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5csHHBtLwds

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G65rqf3gI3Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUE7RQ5I_g8&feature=related

[lawyertom1]

Your campaign is dying Rudy. Adios.

[merlgrey]

interesting that rarely does anyone make the effort to defend or tout giuliani on any of the internet news comment boards.

i bet he wishes he had the loyalty of pauls supporters that paul receives for free. wonder how long rudy can keep his people loyal without paying them off?

[logicanada]

If Hillary and Rudy win their respective nominations, who do you think will have the nicest dress?

[tylenol6]

Scumbag Rudy did terrible in the republican debates last
night. He seemed lost and couldn''t come up with any good
answers. I can''t believe Rudy''s not going to pay his campaign staff. Oh wait! Rudy is making millions of dollars on that NAFTA superhighway so that mexican trucks drive from mexico, thru the U.S. into Canada. Yes, someone needs to ask Rudy about his connections to Cintra (connected to the king of Spain) and how
Rudy is going to make MILLIONS of dollars off of this
deal. They are trying to make the american people believe this highway dosen''t exist or a conspiracy.
That''s funny, Lou Dobbs @ CNN even reported on it.

[clestes-2009]

Hopefully we will see the last of this unqualified, incompetent candidate when he returns to NY.

Only in the 2008 race could such a bumbling boob be considered for president.

Rudy! The only president (besides McCain) worse than shrub!

[ixoye_02]

Boo hoo hoo for Sleaziani. I guess Rudy could only mention fear and 911 so much that people got tired of hearing Rudy''s BS. So, far Rudy doesn''t have a voice in this campaign and all of the other Republican candidates seem to have something to say about different things. Rudy may think he is being slick by waiting for the bigger states'' primaries because he thinks that he has an advantage. But I think that Rudy''s advantage is long evaporated. If Rudy cannot even become a central figure in the first few primaries, what makes Rudy think that he will be relevant in the big states'' primaries? In any case, I hope Rudy is toast with respect to the republican nomination. Rudy can''t even get his message out to all Americans, what more if he is president?....More of the same................

[omega39-2009]

You know, if you can''t handle the economics of your campaign, you can hardly be expected to do well with the US economy.

[skyk-2009]

Who in their right mind''s gives anything to these losers? They don''t have an orginal idea amoung them and this bozo is so far up the butts of the mob he can''t see sunlight.

[marcodele]

It brings a tear to my eye reading about millionaires sacrificing thousands of dollars.

[antoniof123]

This is getting funnier and funnier with these guys. I am amazed in the past it was the Democrats that were always strapped for cash. I guess even big business is starting to see if you bite the hand that feeds you (the middle class) you will not have anything left once it runs away.

[briannorwood]

Stick a fork in him...he''s done.

No way the GOP is gonna give the nod to a closet Democrat for the nomination.

Huckabee is looking better and better!