I’ve had a very busy morning and there hasn’t been a whole lot of big South Carolina news, so there hasn’t been much to write about. Something that has caught my eye though is brand new polling that shows presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani with a very thin lead in California and Florida.

In Florida, Rudy has a bare 29% plurality, with Mike Huckabee at 24% and Mitt Romney at 20%. In the last SurveyUSA poll two weeks ago, Rudy had 32%, with Huckabee at 18% and Romney with 15%.

In California, it’s Rudy 28%, Huckabee 20%, Romney 16%, John McCain 14% and Fred Thompson 13%. In the December 3 poll, Rudy was at 32%, and his closest competitor, John McCain, had 18%.

It’s a forgone conclusion that Giuliani will lose Iowa and probably New Hampshire. He has a shot at South Carolina, but with the rise of Mike Huckabee as well as possible late comebacks from John McCain and Fred Thompson, it will be nearly impossible for him to do well in this state.

And until now, the Giuliani campaign has been fine with that because their strategy was built entirely around Florida and the Feb. 5 voting states. But Giuliani will need a sizable double-digit lead going into those states just to make up for the incredible boost the early states will give to whomever emerges as the frontrunner. Thus, polling like spells disaster for Giuliani and it could mean that we will be seeing a whole lot more of the former mayor in South Carolina over the next month.

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Photo: NewsDay