By GINGER ADAMS OTIS
November 25, 2007
His four-hour bus ride from Staten Island to New Hampshire has just begun, but Stephen Thompson wants to smoke.
"I don't mind giving up my Saturday for this," says the 24-year-old manager of Justino's Pizzeria, shivering in the 8 a.m. cold.
"Obviously I feel that the cause is good," he adds, pulling free a cigarette. "I'm a 100 percent supporter of Rudy Giuliani."
Thompson, who was picked up on Staten Island about an hour earlier, lights up as NYU student Samuel Chun, 20, and engineer Jeff Budney, 29, pile into the luxury charter, helping themselves to the doughnuts and coffee set out across the front seats.
"It's a nice day - not raining, at least," Budney says cheerfully. "I'm willing to do whatever works to get Rudy elected."
The three young men are part of a group of about 30 die-hard Giuliani supporters of all ages and backgrounds. They've already made two Saturday pilgrimages north - and they've pledged to do the eight-hour round-trip haul every Saturday between now and the Jan. 8 New Hampshire primary.
Their efforts are a crucial part of the Giuliani campaign's plan to scratch back in the Granite State - the back yard of his GOP rival, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who has spent $6 million to date plastering the region with ads.
According to the latest polls, Romney leads in the state among Republicans with 33 percent of the vote, while John McCain and Giuliani are battling for second, with 18 and 16 percent, respectively.
But as of last week, Giuliani has gone on the attack, hoping to upend Romney with a late surge and to hold off McCain, who took the state from George W. Bush in 2000 by 19 points.
After a town hall meeting yesterday, Giuliani slammed fellow presidential hopeful Fred Thompson, who has attacked the former mayor on gun control.
"Fred Thompson has no record to talk about," he said of the former senator, who is trailing him by 12 points in New Hampshire. "I have a good record to talk about."
A strong New Hampshire showing on Jan. 8 will solidify Giuliani as the front-runner for the Jan. 29 Florida primary, his strategists hope, and build momentum for him as Feb. 5 approaches. New York, California, New Jersey, Illinois and about 20 other states hold primaries that day.
And that's why this Team Rudy is so important.
The volunteers will knock on doors at the homes of registered Republicans and - the big prize among New Hampshire voters - registered independents.
"The independent votes are important votes. If we can pick up even a few it can change results," says Stephen Stepanek, GOP whip for the New Hampshire Legislature.
