On the January 5 edition of MSNBC Live, anchor Alex Witt claimed that Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani “is spending very little time and even less money in Iowa and New Hampshire, opting instead to stake his claim on the later states.” Later, Nicholas Wapshott, a senior writer for The New York Sun, agreed, saying, “Well, he really, as you say, he barely attempted to go” to Iowa. However, as Media Matters for America previously documented, in an August 8, 2007, article, the Associated Press reported that Giuliani said: “Our largest staff contingent is now in Iowa. ... We're going to make a big effort in Iowa. We're making a big effort and our strategy was to focus on the caucuses.” And in a June 6, 2007, article, Reuters quoted Giuliani campaign manager Michael DuHaime saying: “We are 100 percent committed to winning Iowa and I believe we will do so.”

More recently, on the December 27 edition of the CBS Evening News, national correspondent Byron Pitts told Giuliani, “Here's something I've heard from people who support you in Iowa and New Hampshire, and this is a quote, 'Why has Rudy Giuliani written off New Hampshire and Iowa?' ” Giuliani responded: “We haven't. We've had a proportionate strategy in that we've tried to spend time in all of the states. I see it as a nine-inning game.” When Pitts asked: “But don't you have to play the first three?” Giuliani replied, “Sure, we have. We've been in Iowa quite a bit. We've been in New Hampshire even more than Iowa. We think this strategy fit our campaign.”

According to National Journal's The Hotline (subscription required), Giuliani maintained 12 paid staff members in two offices in Iowa, in contrast with caucus winner Mike Huckabee's 14 paid staff members in one office and second-place finisher Mitt Romney's 17 staff members in three offices. In addition, the New York Daily News reported that Giuliani made "20 stops" in Iowa. Giuliani visited Iowa on December 29, and DuHaime visited the state on January 3.

From the 10 a.m. ET hour of the January 5 edition of MSNBC Live:

WITT: Let's go back to politics now, because Rudy Giuliani is in New Hampshire today. He's trying to pick up some votes there, while downplaying his distant sixth-place finish in Iowa's caucuses. Giuliani, of course, is in the midst of a major political gamble. He is spending very little time and even less money in Iowa and New Hampshire, opting instead to stake his claim on the later states.

But now, just three days from the New Hampshire primaries, he is trailing both [John] McCain and Romney by double digits in the polls. Nicholas Wapshott, a senior writer for The New York Sun joins me now to talk about this. I mean, he didn't expect to win in Iowa, certainly, but sixth-place blow. I mean, sixth place there, is that a blow to his campaign?

WAPSHOTT: Well, he really, as you say, he barely attempted to go there, but his problem is, it's very difficult to say, “I really don't come onstream until Florida,” which is January the 29th. What you're saying is that all your early states don't matter, and it's very difficult to say to Americans, “Your vote really doesn't matter. I'm not interested in you; I'm only interested in the big states.” That's a very arrogant stance to hold, and I think a lot of people will expect that he may well be overtaken before then by somebody like Huckabee or McCain, who had such amazing wind behind them that he'll be stuck.