Republican Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign says it is unfazed by former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s recent surge in the polls and insists there is plenty of time to catch up with such better–known rivals.
“We are three weeks into the race!” Romney spokesman Kevin Madden exclaimed to The Examiner. “If this were a ballgame, you and I would be just sipping our first beers as we watch the leadoff hitter warm up in the on-deck circle!”
An ABC poll last week showed Republican support for Giuliani at 44 percent — a 10-point jump since mid-January. Support for Romney fell from 9 percent to 4 percent, while support for Arizona Sen. John McCain fell from 27 percent to 21 percent.
“The poll numbers suggest that Rudy’s surge since the first of the year have denied Romney oxygen,” said Michael Barone, co-author of the Almanac of American Politics. “He’s just not getting as much attention as he would like, despite his considerable fundraising and organizational achievements.”
Romney supporters cited Time and Fox News polls that showed support for their candidate has actually increased in recent weeks. And Romney beat Giuliani and the rest of the Republican field in a straw poll over the weekend at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington.
Political handicapper David Yepsen of the Des Moines Register said any talk of Romney fading in the race is premature. He warned against reading too much into polls that show Romney trailing not just Giuliani and McCain, but also former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who says he has not yet decided whether to run for president.
“Neither Giuliani nor Gingrich has much organization here in Iowa, while Romney has put together a pretty good grassroots team,” Yepsen said. “So I rate his chances here as pretty good right now.
“I do think Romney’s been bogged down with the flip-flopping stuff. And his announcement tour seemed flat,” he added. “But I wouldn’t interpret that as a fade. Geez, we’re 10 months away” from the Iowa caucuses.
Asked whether there was advantage for Romney in not peaking too early, Barone replied: “You’d rather have support than not have support at any stage in the cycle.”
Still, Romney officials do not seem worried.
“If anything, we have a governor who is relatively unknown by the electorate — and isjust meeting many Republicans for the first time — registering anywhere from 7 to 14 percent in the polls,” Madden said. “Whereas in previous elections, governors from small states who were unknown — Carter, Dukakis, Clinton — were at 1 percent and ended up winning their party’s nomination.”
