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GOP Contenders Appeal To Voters

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By BILLY HOUSE and WILLIAM MARCH, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 22, 2008

Updated: 01/22/2008 12:11 am

TAMPA - Rudy Giuliani has shifted his campaign emphasis from law and order and national security to the economy.
Mitt Romney is stressing his ability as a former business executive to tackle economic problems, a strategy that helped him win last week in economically hard-pressed Michigan.
John McCain is sticking mostly to his national security message and an emphasis that he stood firm on the Iraq war while others wavered.

"It's a calculated strategy on all of their parts," said Brad Coker of Mason and Dixon Polling and Research as the candidates on Monday headed into the final week before Florida's primary next Tuesday.

The latest polls show the Florida Republican primary as a statistical dead heat among McCain, Giuliani, Romney and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. Analysts say the winner could come away with all 57 delegates with as little as 28 percent of the vote.

As a result, each is trying to grab a big enough piece of a Republican primary electorate that Coker and other analysts say can be divided into three major areas - conservative economic voters, national security voters and evangelical Christian conservatives.

As fears of a national recession have sent pocketbook issues to the forefront of voters' minds, so have those issues jumped to the top of most of the GOP candidates' minds, Coker said.

But in his first TV ad in Florida, which started airing Monday, McCain continued to emphasize his personal sacrifice for the country, and that he was "one man opposed to a flawed strategy in Iraq" and that only "one man had the courage to call for change."

The ad, dubbed "Never Surrender," reminds viewers that McCain supported the troop surge in Iraq when many dismissed it as a hopeless strategy.

By contrast, Giuliani and Romney on Monday were making it clear that their efforts in Florida will involve hitting McCain hard on the economy.

In a speech in New Port Richey on Sunday, Giuliani was still emphasizing the importance of battling Islamic terrorism. But he devoted less time to national security and more time to the economy than he has in appearances as recently as last week.

The shift relates at least partly to his proposal, made two weeks ago in Florida, for an income tax cut and simplification proposal, which he says would be the "largest tax cut in American history."

He also uses the issue to blast McCain, who initially voted against President Bush's tax cuts. Giuliani didn't name McCain. But by Monday, his campaign put out a statement criticizing McCain by name for not supporting those tax cuts and for having voted in the past against cutting capital gains, dividend and inheritance taxes.

Meantime, Romney was firing his own similar broadsides at McCain.

"I'm talking about lowering taxes, both for businesses as well as for individuals, so we can get more money into the economy, boost it," Romney said in one television appearance. "Sen. McCain finds that to be the wrong course. And I think he's wrong again."

Romney's campaign also released a new Spanish-language ad in Florida that has the candidate's son, Craig, speaking of his father's record: "Successful as a businessman, saved the Olympics, and as governor of Massachusetts, lowered taxes and stimulated the economy."

Coker and others say it is not surprising that Romney and Giuliani are emphasizing the economy, and attacking McCain's credentials to lead the country through tough economic times.

McCain spokeswoman Melissa Shuffield said the senator does intend to emphasize military and national security issues, which she says are relevant to a state with more military bases than almost any other.

But she said McCain will also talk about the economy in Florida, and that he has proposed a stimulus plan.

As described on his Web site, it includes repealing the alternative minimum tax, requiring a three-fifths majority in Congress to raise taxes, eliminating "earmarks" enacting more tax breaks for research and development, and lowering trade barriers.

Reporter Billy House can be reached at bhouse@tampatrib .com or (202) 641-5080. Reporter William March can be reached at wmarch@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7761.

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