Giuliani Camp Downplays N.H., Iowa

WASHINGTON — The Giuliani campaign moved swiftly to fight the perception that the former mayor is losing strength in the Republican primary race, dispatching two top advisers to make the case that he is better positioned than Mitt Romney to finish the first month of voting with the most delegates in hand.

The advisers — a campaign manager, Michael DuHaime, and a strategy director, Brent Seaborn — downplayed the significance of Iowa and New Hampshire, which are the first two voting states where Mr. Romney has built a double-digit, in favor of the slew of delegate-rich states voting on February 5, including New York, New Jersey, and California.

"We are the only candidate on February 5 who has right now a large number of delegates that we essentially can count on coming to us [then]," Mr. DuHaime told reporters in a conference call yesterday morning, citing polls that show Mr. Giuliani with a large lead in states like New York and New Jersey. "You look at the mayor having a triple-digit delegate-count lead coming out of February 5."

The Giuliani campaign had recently put more focus on the early states, but with new polls showing Mr. Romney has regained a comfortable edge in New Hampshire, it appears to be returning to a strategy based on success in the larger states that follow.

Mr. Romney and Senator McCain of Arizona in particular are emphasizing the early states with the hope that success in Iowa and New Hampshire will give one or both of them a shot of momentum heading into the next primaries, but Mr. DuHaime said Mr. Giuliani had built a "momentum-proof" lead in some larger states. A Romney spokesman, Kevin Madden, called that idea "preposterous." "That's a campaign strategy that's based on just hope," he said, "and in politics, hoping ain't the best strategy."