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Posted: January 29, 2008 5:31 PM
Polls Show Giuliani, Huckabee Fighting for Third in Florida
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Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who has spent nearly the entire month of January campaigning in Florida and forgoing other state contests, will soon learn if his strategy in the state will pay off. If he prevails, that payoff will be huge — all 57 of Florida’s GOP delegates. But if he loses, his campaign could effectively be over.

Going into the Tuesday’s voting, Giuliani was battling for third place with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee while Arizona Sen. John McCain and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney were battling for first place, according to a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released Tuesday morning.

For his part, Giuliani was “feeling good” about his prospects but hinted he would have to reassess his run if he did not win. “Wednesday morning, we’ll make a decision,” Giuliani told reporters on Monday. “The winner of Florida will win the nomination; we’re going to win Florida.”

If good news is hard to find for Giuliani in Florida on Tuesday, MSNBC found some in New York, where Giuliani still is honored with a sandwich named after him.

Dan Schnur of the New York Times argued that critics, too, will be making a meal out of Giuliani come Tuesday’s results.

“As his poll numbers have tumbled during the last several weeks, the chorus of criticism has grown louder,” Schnur wrote. “By the time the polls open on Tuesday, they’ll be roasting the former mayor of New York on an open fire.”

Meantime, Giuliani’s rival for third place, Huckabee, has been talking about food as well — fried squirrel. Huckabee, also on MSNBC, last week described eating squirrel cooked in a popcorn popper when he was in college. “I bet you never did that,” Huckabee bragged.

Slate’s Samantha Henig provided an explanation after wondering if eating squirrel is safe.