Hard Choices on the Path to Feb. 5

FORT MYERS, Fla., Jan. 27 -- Almost as soon as the Republican primary ends here Tuesday, Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) will ditch his trademark town hall meetings and begin an aerial trek from one media market to the next, touching down long enough to hold tarmac rallies before moving on.

It is exactly the kind of campaigning that McCain dislikes and has largely been able to avoid. But a campaign of comfort zones will quickly give way to one of time zones after Tuesday, with just a week to go before what could be a decisive day of contests on Feb. 5. That is when Republicans in 21 states, including New York and California, will go to the polls.

"It's basically a de facto national primary," said Charlie Black, a senior McCain adviser. "So we'll spend time making national news."

None of the four remaining major candidates for the Republican nomination has the time to compete in every state that will vote on Super Tuesday. Instead, they will be immersed in the process of picking and choosing, employing divergent strategies aimed at winning the most states and delegates.

McCain and former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani -- if he survives past Florida -- will spend much of their time in the Northeast and in California, where they hope big victories in the largest states will deliver the most delegates. Both will also aim for a few Southern or Midwestern states, such as Illinois and Georgia, where a lot of delegates are at stake.

Desperate for momentum going into the coast-to-coast primaries, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney spent the early part of his day in Florida blasting McCain's economic stances. A loss in Tuesday's primary could be crippling; a win would give Romney a boost heading into the next round.

Romney has not decided which states to target on Feb. 5, spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom said. He said the candidate expects to perform well in Massachusetts, where he was governor, and to win in Utah -- Romney is a Mormon, and Mormonism is the dominant religion in the state. His personal wealth could also allow him to compete in more places than his rivals, though the campaign has so far focused its television advertising in Florida rather than in Super Tuesday states.

A top Romney adviser said the campaign is taking a "cost per delegate" approach, looking to win delegates with the least amount of money spent on ads and time spent stumping by the candidate. The adviser said one target may be Colorado, where the campaign can stop after California and where a caucus will be held instead of a primary, something that may favor the well-organized Romney camp.

Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, who has not won since finishing first in the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 3, has little money to work with and is concentrating on a few Southern states, where his campaign thinks that a strong showing will keep his candidacy alive. Huckabee left Florida on Saturday to stop at a Baptist college in Alabama and will appear Monday in Nashville, showing off his skills on bass guitar at a recording studio in the Music City while campaigning in another Feb. 5 state.

"On Super Tuesday, they're not going to be everywhere, and I cannot imagine they're going to be in these states," said Huckabee campaign chairman Ed Rollins, referring to the South. "Romney's not going to spend $500 million; my sense is he will pick and choose, McCain will pick and choose, and we'll go where we think we can win."

Advisers to McCain and Romney said they will not entirely concede the South to Huckabee. Black said McCain will probably target Georgia -- which has 72 delegates, the most in the South -- and Tennessee. Fehrnstrom said Romney will also compete in Georgia.

Despite their varied approaches, the candidates will almost certainly cross paths, and they will all debate Wednesday in California.