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Durham, NH — One day after we learned that he is decreasing his TV ad buys in the first-in-the-nation primary state–leading observers to surmise that he is no longer vying for a top spot in New Hampshire—Rudy Giuliani and his surrogates were out today defending his primary strategy.

After a town hall event in Durham, Giuliani took an extra moment to tell New Hampshire residents that he is still taking their state seriously. “We will be here and working very hard to get your vote. This is a very, very important primary. It always has been, It always will be. It’s the first in the nation and we want to do everything we can to win the vote here now,” Giuliani told the crowd of about 200 at his only public event in the state Monday. “I have to tell you New Hampshire is a wonderful place.”

Giuliani New Hampshire State Chairman, Wayne Semprini, also spoke with me (see video above) following the event to reiterate the campaign’s commitment to Granite Staters, adding that while Rudy is running a national campaign that stresses Florida and nearly two-dozen February 5th primary states, Semprini is pleased with his attentiveness to NH.

“He will tell you that I am his toughest critic and Rudy Giuliani is not pulling out of New Hampshire…as the chairman of his campaign here in New Hampshire, I am very satisfied with the fact that most of his political days have been spent here,” he said. “So I am not at all disappointed. I am very satisfied with the amount of time he has been able to spend here.”

Giuliani will be campaigning in Missouri on Wednesday as he continues his heavy national fundraising push, but plans to keep up appearances in the Granite State for a three-day swing this weekend. The former NYC mayor has always planned on pursuing his “national strategy” that does not take NH as seriously as the other candidates, but as the primary day approaches and the strategy hits home, watch for more pundits and journalists to question the strategy. ‘Is he serious?’ and ‘Can he actually win this thing?’ were among the questions one could overhear all of us in the press corps asking one another as we waited for Giuliani to arrive at the town hall meeting this morning.