Giuliani campaign strategy is out

[Ron Burgundy]

AP - The presidential campaign strategy for former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani — complete with a $100 million fundraising target for this year — is out of the bag.

WASHINGTON - The presidential campaign strategy for former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani — complete with a $100 million fundraising target for this year — is out of the bag.

The 140-page schedule for the Republican's budding presidential bid was reported in Tuesday's editions of the New York Daily News.

The paper said an anonymous source obtained the document after it was left behind on a campaign swing in 2006, but Giuliani spokeswoman Sunny Mindel claimed it was actually pilfered from luggage from a private flight.

"This wasn't left in a hotel," Mindel told The Associated Press. "This is clearly a dirty trick. The voters are sick and tired of this kind of thing."

Mindel said that while working on the 2006 campaign trail, a Giuliani aide lost a piece of luggage containing the paper.

"After repeated requests over the course of a few days, the bag was finally returned with the document inside. Because our staffer had custody of this document at all times except for this one occasion, it is clear that the document was removed from the luggage and photocopied," she said.

She did not say exactly where or when the strategy paper was lost, or what was in it, but Mindel played down its importance, saying it is "simply someone's ideas which were committed to paper over three months ago."

The Daily News said the schedule includes a plan to raise at least $100 million in 2007 by reeling in major GOP donors such as Lew Eisenberg and Larry Bathgate, both from New Jersey, and Fred Smith, the CEO of FedEx. Those three are already supporting Arizona Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record)'s bid.

The document also predicts some $100 million could be spent against Giuliani to highlight political vulnerabilities like his three marriages and moderate stances on social issues including gun control and gay rights.

The newspaper said one page of the document cites the concern that Giuliani might "drop out of (the) race" because of his potentially "insurmountable" personal and political vulnerabilities.

Among those potential problems are his highly publicized split from second wife Donna Hanover and the travails of former aide Bernard Kerik.

Kerik pleaded guilty last year to misdemeanor charges of taking money from contractors with alleged mob ties, when he was the city's corrections chief. He was also President Bush's choice to head the Department of Homeland Security, but the nomination was scrapped after questions arose about his background.

Giuliani is a hugely popular fundraiser for his party, due largely to his response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.