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Our Beloved Former Mayor, who spent $3 million on his fourth-place finish in New Hampshire, wants us to know that New Hampshire wasn’t a sign of how his campaign was going to do moving forward.

I have to give him this one. Back then, he wasn’t in fifth, running behind Fred Thompson.

Also, in New Hampshire his staff was getting paid.

"We have enough money, but we could always use more money," said Mike DuHaime, Giuliani’s campaign manager and one of those who now is working for free. "We want to make sure we have enough to win."…

DuHaime and other aides stressed that relinquishing pay was voluntary and was limited to senior staffers, many of whom already had contributed the maximum allowed by law to the campaign, $2,300. Aides said some people offered to give up their checks, prompting the campaign to then ask if others wanted to volunteer. They insisted no one was forced to work without pay.

"I want to do everything I can to make sure Rudy’s president, and I speak for a lot of the campaign when I say that," DuHaime said. "None of us joined this campaign for money."**

According to the article, in the last three months of last year Giuliani spent $5 million more than he took in, and he’s got less than $7 million primary money in hand. He needs $35 million to pay for ads for the Feb. 5 primaries. The campaign has already decided it was too expensive to buy ads in Miami (but then there are no Republican donors in Miami, right? and it’s not as if he needs Florida).

So for you folks in Miami, here’s his new ad

Titled "Super Bowl," it says: "With pundits and politicos handicapping the campaign like the Super Bowl, it’s easy to lose sight of what’s at stake," such as the economy or the Iraq war. Because "the media loves process," it is up to Florida "to turn down the noise and show the world that leadership is what really matters."

except I don’t think I would have gone with a sports metaphor. I don’t think they want the press asking him about sports

According to a clip played by sports reporter Jared Max on WCBS-AM Thursday morning, Giuliani spoke about the impact of the steroids scandal on the pursuit of the record for all-time most home runs by Yankee slugger Alex Rodriguez.

"Is Bobby Bonds’ record a legitimate record that A-Rod should be shooting for," Giuliani asked, "or should A-Rod be judged by the Babe Ruth standard, assuming A-Rod did not take steroids?"

A good question, except Bobby Bonds, long retired from baseball, is the late father of the current homerun record holder, Barry Bonds. It’s Barry who is accused of using steroids, though he denies it.

And if Barry Bonds is stripped of his record, it reverts not to Babe Ruth, who had 714 home runs, but Hank Aaron, the former Atlanta player who hit 755 before retiring years ago.

Maybe he goes to Yankee games because he really enjoys George Steinbrenner’s company.

I see this working out well for him, don’t you?

*poll here
**after all, if his staffers did feel pressured to "volunteer" and really did want their multimillionaire boss to pay them for their work, I can’t think of any reason why they wouldn’t say so