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What a difference a few months make. On the campaign trail, you could actually say weeks or even days make a difference. A year ago it would have been safe to say that the general election was going to be a voting slugfest to the final count between ex-New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani and New York Senator Hillary Clinton. According to recent polls, the senator is losing ground and the ex-mayor may not win even one primary.

It does not look good for Rudy Giuliani in the Florida Primary. According to a Rasmussen Poll taken in mid-July last year, Guiliani was 9 percentage points ahead of both Arizona senator John McCain and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney (22, 13, 13). Three weeks later, the ex-mayor would enjoy his largest lead in the Florida polls, surging well ahead of Mitt Romney and watching as John McCain reached almost his lowest point in the polls (30, 15, 7, respectively). By December, as the media touted of the important upcoming Iowa Caucus and New Hampshire Primary, Giuliani, who decided not to campaign in either state, began to slip, falling behind Romney, 23% -19$ (McCain would be at his lowest in mid-December, with only 6%). But by January 9, Rasmussen would poll a resurgent Senator McCain, fresh from a win in New Hampshire, one percentage point ahead of his two closest rivals. Today, Rasmussen has McCain and Romney in a dead heat for the Florida Republican vote with 31 % of the Republican Primary vote and Rudy Giuliani a distant third with 16%.

How in the world did that happen? Several factors seem to have come together to give McCain his momentum, Romney his steady growing numbers, and Giuliani his consistently falling points. One was that Giuliani came off as arrogant when he decided not to campaign in the smaller primary and caucus states, focusing on Florida and states with high delegate counts. As a result, he finished poorly in the contests leading up to Florida. McCain just steadily plugged his message. Romney did the same. Occasionally McCain and Romney would take time to take shots at each other and now seem to do it as a matter of course.

Another factor was former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee's surprising win in the Republican Iowa Caucus. It brought another element into the Republican fray that had seemed to lie dormant until Iowa - the Christian factor. Huckabee is an evangelical and a former minister. Giuliani is pro choice when it comes to abortion, sees nothing wrong with domestic partnerships, and was responsible for

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