Giuliani: Its all About the Benjamins

Money drives politics. But it is rare for a candidate to admit it:

Support in early voting states such as South Carolina, Iowa and New Hampshire is important, but Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani explained Friday that he has to follow the money.

"You have to raise an enormous amount of money to do this. Everybody knows that. We'd all like it to be different, but that's the reality of it. That drives a lot of the scheduling," the former New York mayor said after he greeted about 250 people at a pancake house here.

Unfortunately for the former Mayor, he cannot stand up before Congress and use his position and free air time to promote his candidacy:

The four Senate Democrats seeking their party's presidential nomination will take their campaigns to the chamber's floor next week, pushing new limits on U.S. involvement in Iraq in an attempt to burnish their antiwar credentials.

Its all about the posturing when it should be about bringing home the troops:

The tit-for-tat between the Democratic presidential candidates flared up during the Iraq funding debate in May, when the four senators sought to outdo one another in their opposition to the war. Clinton and Obama, both of whom had previously resisted firm withdrawal deadlines, wound up embracing a cutoff of funding for the war next year, the toughest, most controversial proposal to reach the floor.

But then again, when is the last time a Senator won the White House:

Only two sitting senators, Warren G. Harding and John F. Kennedy, have succeeded as presidential candidates. One who came up short, Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), said the landscape now appears radically different from when he launched his 2004 campaign, shortly after the Iraq invasion.

Then again, Mr.Giuliani has other matters to worry about:

In his first campaign visit to South Carolina since his state chairman resigned amid cocaine charges, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said Friday he was “shocked” when he learned of the news.