'Sideshow'

I have never considered Rudy Giuliani's presidential candidacy much more than a carnival freakshow, but it is bracing to see him described in similar terms in his homewtown newspaper.

Once more, he noted that his unorthodox strategy rested on surviving long enough to win the Florida primary on Jan. 29, and several of the delegate-rich states that will vote on Feb. 5. Mr. Giuliani questioned the importance of winning the traditional early states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

“By historic purposes, or in a historic context, they are all early states now,” he said.

But there was no escaping that Mr. Giuliani finds himself at an ebb. After his sixth-place finish on Thursday in the Iowa caucuses, where he even placed behind Representative Ron Paul of Texas, Mr. Giuliani is little more than a sideshow in New Hampshire, which votes on Tuesday. His long-held lead in national polls has evaporated. And on the stump here, he has drawn small crowds, scant news media coverage and somewhat muted enthusiasm.

With all the speculation about how a second consecutive loss might affect Hillary Clinton's fundraising, this factor gets only glancing mention in the Times story.

The risk is that a rival will emerge from Iowa and New Hampshire who is positioned to get favorable news media coverage, consolidate the party, reap big donations and win support in the later states that Mr. Giuliani is counting on.

Mike DuHaime, Mr. Giuliani’s campaign manager, said the campaign always knew that this would be a tough time, and factored it into its plans. Mr. DuHaime said the campaign had enough money to carry it into Florida, where it is already buying air time.

But this is more than a side issue. There are only so many losses a candidate can sustain before he starts to look like a loser, and nobody wants to back a loser - with their votes or their money. I'm not sure what it is about Florida that makes Rudy think that state's primary will turn his fortunes around and carry him to the nomination. Even if he were to win, the losses he has endured will blunt if not negate any momentum he thinks he will gain.

Barring a freakish occurrance on the scale of a planetary alignment, it is starting to look like Rudy is done.