For Giuliani, Missed Greetings -- and Chances

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Giuliani Talks About Florida Strategy

Republican presidential candidate Rudolph W. Giuliani answers questions about his campaign strategy in Florida and super Tuesday at the Jacksonville International Airport.

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In response to a query about whether he would be afraid of getting killed politically if he tried to greatly cut taxes, he grinned and boomed: "They'll kill me? The Mafia never killed me. You think I'm scared of them?"

His famous pugnacity often played well at New York news conferences and subway stops. But, at the Villages, it left some spectators baffled. Jack Huebner smiled and rolled his eyes. "Sometimes he talks tough, but it doesn't really sound presidential," he said.

But some of the candidate's friends lament that there hasn't been enough of the feisty and freewheeling Giuliani during the race. A former adviser, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he still has dealings with the campaign, wistfully recalled the time that Giuliani took a sleepless 90-hour bus tour through New York's five boroughs during his 1997 mayoral reelection campaign. "He talked to people, took hard questions, didn't mind controversy, and said what was on his mind," the old friend said. "He was kind of magic when he just let it go; he connected. He didn't do that kind of thing a lot, but when he did, it paid off. He's been so careful in this campaign."

Giuliani was wrapping up in the Villages: "Here's what I want you to do for me. Let's show them that Florida is Rudy Country."

The candidate worked a rope line for about 15 minutes, but he did not cross over into a crowd that, while thinning, still included about 150 supporters and undecided voters. Instead, he returned to the stage, sat down in a chair and, being that this was the night of the South Carolina primary, gave a series of television interviews.

An easygoing Voight walked off the stage and chatted with the crowd for the next half an hour. "I made some quite lovely films down here in Florida that I really enjoyed doing," he said. "Always have loved Florida." Women reached out to hug Voight. Men stuck out their hands to be shaken. A Giuliani aide confirmed that the former mayor's mingling was finished. Supporters who didn't have tickets for a fundraising dinner that followed had had their last look. After talking with reporters for a few minutes, Giuliani was off. "Where is Jon Voight?" Judith Giuliani asked him as he started exiting toward the stage.

"He'll be coming," he said sideways.

"We've lost Jon Voight," she said.

But Voight wasn't lost. He was on the floor of the Scarlett O'Hara Room, still regaling the crowd -- shaking hands, trading stories. By then, Giuliani had found solitude in a side room, where he prepared for his dinner speech and then the motorcade into the night.