What really derailed the bid by Giuliani? Political press.

Before voting began in Florida, the Giuliani strategy seemed well-founded. There was no clear front-runner for the Republican nomination, and three candidates had notched victories. So what happened?

Rudy Giuliani was treated with enmity by the political press. He was cornered as the "9/11 candidate." And he endured a concerted effort to trash the fiscal and domestic successes he orchestrated in New York before Sept. 11. That treatment proved fatal to his campaign.

A case in point: One hour after Giuliani left Fort Myers, DrudgeLines, the ticker for the Drudge Report, featured a news item emblazoned in red amid otherwise black-and-white type: "LA Times: Rudy Giuliani hints at dropping out." The posting there hardly merited the headline about hints of dropping out. En route to Fort Myers, Giuliani had remarked to the reporters on his plane that "the winner of Florida will win the nomination" and predicted he'd be that winner.

The blog called that (the only quote attributed to Giuliani in the piece) "an unusually categorical statement," suggesting that only a victory in Florida would keep him in the race "despite previous vows to continue." But nowhere was any actual "hint," from Giuliani or his campaign staff, attributed or otherwise, of dropping out.

Before most Floridians even went to the polls, the political whispers had become deafening with "news" of Giuliani's imminent withdrawal....

[Giulliani was generally considered the most nationally-electable Republican (as national polls consistently indicated) in large part due to his non-conservative stance on abortion, which the majority of Americans agree with and so could be expected to get him over the hurtle the Republican party perennially faces with the national electorate . It's a consistent phenomenon: the more viable a conservative candidate the more biased his coverage in the MSM -- while 'maverick' Republicans who's policies defy conservative principles become media darlings...]



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