Rudy Giuliani says he’s staying in the race, even if he loses Florida.
Indeed, he might as well see how well he can do in friendly states on Super Duper Tuesday. But a loss — particularly by the margins suggested by recent polls – would pretty much doom him. After being a nonentity in Iowa, Wyoming, New Hampshire, Michigan, South Carolina and Nevada, a third or even a distant second for Giuliani would demonstrate that he’s a candidate who can only appeal on the most friendly of territory. McCain’s won outside his “comfort zone” — South Carolina and arguably finishing well in Louisiana’s caucuses – and so has Romney (Wyoming, Nevada).
By the way, for much of the last year, we heard from Team Rudy that he would put quite a few blue states in play. Yet in these states with open primaries, we haven’t seen independents, moderate Republicans, and conservative Democrats coming over to support him.