Tom Foreman
360 CorrespondentHere's what I like about this election: None of the rules apply.
For all the endless, and boy do I mean endless, hours of nattering by the supposed political insiders, now almost all of them admit they don't have a clue about what will happen next.
Who will be the nominee for the Democrats? Who for the Republicans? What issue will be the trump card: the war, the economy, immigration?
The "experts" all just shrug now, and spout a lot of platitudes about a changing electorate, and campaign financing, and the early primary schedule, and yadda yadda yadda. In other words they make excuses for being wrong in the first place and try to convince you that their opinions
still matter.
Well, they don't.
The truth is, this is turning into an election like most of us have never seen in our lifetimes; the first in ages without a natural heir to the White House; the first ever with what is shaping up to be a national primary contest.
Which brings us to Rudy Giuliani.
Months ago Rudy made it clear that he was embarking on a risky, avant-garde campaign strategy. He was effectively going to concede the early contests, and focus on a big knockout punch in Florida. Conventional wisdom said he was a fool; once the early states anointed a front-runner, Rudy would be abandoned on the beach with a bunch of tattered campaign signs and a red face...not from the sun.
But no front-runner has emerged. Or three have. In any event, suddenly the vote seems headed to Florida with the nomination still up in the air, and Rudy's risky strategy seems to have him perfectly positioned.
It may yet not work. Truth is, for all of his campaigning in alligator alley, voters may or may not give him the nod.
But his strategy, which so many of the political pros called whacky such a short time ago, now doesn't look so farfetched. That's what happened when all the rules get broken.
What do you think? Will the nomination still be a jump ball, when the Republicans hit Florida, and does Rudy have a shot at bringing it down?
