Giuliani, McCain to skip early 2008 test

[villager]

Source: AFP

Giuliani, McCain to skip early 2008 test
06-06-2007, 23h15
WASHINGTON (AFP)


Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani (L) and Arizona Senator John McCain (R) make their points during the Republican Presidential Candidates Debate 05 June 2007 at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire. Giuliani and McCain, two top candidates for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, announced Wednesday they would skip the first key test of the race, the Iowa straw poll.
(AFP/File)

Rudolph Giuliani and John McCain, two top candidates for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, announced Wednesday they would skip the first key test of the race, the Iowa straw poll.

Former New York City mayor Giuliani announced first that he would not compete in the event, a festive feature of Republican politics, to concentrate instead on winning the Iowa caucuses nominating contests in January.

Hours later, McCain, who like Giuliani trailed rival Mitt Romney in a recent survey of straw poll voters in the key Midwestern state, said through his campaign team that he would also give the August event a miss.

"In light of today's news, it is clear that the Ames straw poll will not be a meaningful test of the leading candidates' organizational abilities, so we have decided to forgo our participation in the event," McCain's campaign manager Terry Nelson said.

"John McCain has built a solid grassroots organization in Iowa and intends to win the state's caucuses. He appreciates the unique and critical role the caucuses play in the nomination process."

Giuliani's team said that though he was not taking part in the straw poll, their candidate would be in the state often, and was 100 percent committed to winning the Iowa caucuses.

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