Giuliani: I Could Lose Florida

Rudy Giuliani has focused less than his Republican presidential rivals on early decision states Iowa and New Hampshire and pinned his hopes on Florida instead — but he insists he could lose that state and still win the GOP nomination.

“There is no one win that is absolutely essential,” he told reporters after meeting with veterans in Largo, Fla., on Wednesday.

Giuliani’s campaign is hoping that a win in Florida’s Jan. 29 primary will propel him to a strong showing in Super Tuesday voting in 20 states on Feb. 5, Newsday reports.

But Giuliani is “placing all his eggs in a very big basket,” warned Susan MacManus, a political expert at the University of South Florida.

“So if he doesn’t win that basket, it could cause him problems.”

A Quinnipiac University poll published last week had Giuliani leading in Florida with 28 percent of the vote. Mike Huckabee trailed with 21 percent, followed by Mitt Romney with 20 percent and John McCain with 13 percent.

But an average of surveys conducted in mid-December indicates that Giuliani has a lead of just two percentage points over Huckabee and four points over Romney in Florida, according to Newsday.

At his meeting with the veterans at Largo’s American Legion Post, Giuliani called them “my heroes.”

Rudy — who has been emphasizing his role as a leader following the 9/11 attacks — also compared a photo of firefighters raising an American flag above ground zero after the attacks to the famous photo of Marines raising the flag on Iwo Jima in 1945.