by Rod D. Martin
January 23, 2008

The Miami Herald reports that Giuliani has imploded in Florida. Polling courtesy of our own Kellyanne Conway, who has some serious money quotes in the story.

Not meaning to laugh or anything, especially prematurely, but wasn’t it just the other day that we were reading this in the Drudge Report:

“The field is still wide open, which is what we wanted,” said campaign manager Michael DuHaime, the man behind what the team calls its “late-state” strategy to win the Republican nomination. “You want to avoid a whole lot of momentum for one candidate. The further we get into the calendar, the better it is for us.”

So there you have it. As things stand today, Michael DuHaime is on track to be the Bob Shrum of the Republican Party. Well, assuming anyone ever hires him again anyway.

UPDATE, March 8, 2008: As I should have expected, given the clubby nature of the political consulting business, I definitely spoke too soon about Mike DuHaime’s job prospects. Immediately following what even wealthy Giuliani supporters call the worst-run campaign in American history, he was actually picked up by the RNC as senior advisor for Political Operations, which means that he will be running McCain’s state-by-state get-out-the-vote operation. To be fair, as a Karl Rove and Ken Mehlman deputy, DuHaime actually did a tremendous job with this for George Bush in 2004, so the hire probably shows McCain as a good manager who can get the most out of his available assets. But you have to be glad that this kind of inside-baseball stuff doesn’t get much play, because without all that detail, this is the sort of thing that just makes everyday Republicans crazy.