We’re about 12 hours into the caravan tour across Ohio that will see Hillary Clinton or one of her surrogates visit all 88 counties in Ohio between now and March 4th. Senator Clinton herself started in the heart of the state near it’s capital, Columbus, then traveled North and East to Youngstown and Akron — and we’re currently following behind her (much nicer) bus on the road to a Democratic dinner in Cleveland. Tomorrow, it’s west to Toledo before flying to that other crucial state, Texas.

While she nailed Obama for two solid days on National Security in Texas, she’s focusing her message more on the economy in Ohio — where the concerns on voters minds are jobs, jobs, and jobs. Clinton backers were worried that her association with the Clinton administration and its passage of NAFTA — which many in Ohio believe has cost the state hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs — had the potential to really hurt her in this blue collar state.

So far, aides say, their fears have been unfounded. One Clinton staffer says “Senator Obama had an opportunity to gain an edge on this issue, and he failed to do so.” Their theory: Senator Clinton put out a specific plan detailing how she’d fix the free trade agreement, while Obama has merely said he agrees with her.

Much like her big Iowa tours, Clinton’s traveling on a customized bus with supporters like the mayor of Akron and the First Lady of Ohio — and much like the last push in the Hawkeye State, a 99 county blitz, she’s not taking any questions from the crowd at her events. She’s likely hoping that the result won’t be the same, though Ohio voters seem to be responding much more positively than their counterparts in Iowa.

Check out her “Solutions for America” bus below.

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Daytona Beach, FL –During a stop at the Daytona International Speedway today, Rudy Giuliani got to take a lap around the track. But riding around the raceway in a full size campaign bus wasn’t quite enough for the former mayor. He pleaded with driver Rusty Wallace and multiple NASCAR officials on site to get a ride in one of the race cars but was continually rebuffed.

In the garage to Wallace:

“Do you have like a simple one?”

“Do you have one that is almost like a racecar? Something like it. Just so I get the feeling of driving one myself. I wont hurt anybody.”

And then, outside:

“I would like you to let me drive a car around.”

“I wanna ride, I wanna ride a pace car. Can you let me ride a pace car? Do I need a license for that?”

“Come on, one time! Boys, one time! We’re all little boys, don’t u know that!”

He finally gave up, throwing his hands up, “They wont let me drive a car. I am a good driver!!”

Jacksonville, FL - After wrapping up his three day bus tour through Florida, Rudy Giuliani quickly boarded the media bus for the third time in three days to thank us for our coverage.

It was unusual in at least two ways as the candidate rarely compliments the press and rarely personally interacts with the media. That is, it was unusual until this latest trip, where the campaign made a concerted effort to have the candidate engage the traveling press corps as they seek more positive or for that matter any coverage.

Giuliani seemed upbeat after another day of large crowds in the Sunshine State, but he may have also been pleased by the results coming out of Michigan.

Yes, he did finish in sixth place, and again trailed Ron Paul as he did in Iowa. But, the campaign’s strategy is based on continuing chaos in the GOP field and with three different winners in the first three states, senior aides have found some hope to cling onto. They had been nervous about a McCain victory in MI and the associated momentum from two straight victories.

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New Smyrna Beach, FL — After weeks of staying “above the fray,” Rudy Giuliani drew a line in the Florida sand Tuesday, signaling that his rivals’ fiscal records will be in his sights when they arrive in the Sunshine State next week.

“Compared to the other candidates who are running, I am the one who has lowered taxes. I am the one who lowered taxes over and over and over again,” he told about 150 supporters outside county GOP headquarters. “I am the one who supported the Bush tax cuts. And I supported the Bush tax cuts, which have been very critical to the growth of our economy because I had done the same thing as mayor of New York City….so there was no hesitation on my part to support those tax cuts.”

Giuliani sees an opening on the Bush tax cuts and fiscal issues overall given that both Mitt Romney and John McCain did not outwardly support the 2001 and 2003 cuts.

McCain voted against both cuts, saying in 2001 that he could not “in good conscience support a tax cut in which so many of the benefits go to the most fortunate at the expense of middle-class Americans.” While he did not oppose the cuts, the Boston Globe reports that Romney refused to endorse the 2003 tax cut. But both Romney and McCain now endorse making the Bush tax cuts permanent.

Giuliani introduced what he is calling the largest tax cut in American history last week, trying to expand his resume beyond the war on terrorism. He is currently on day three of a bus tour through Florida, a must-win state for the former New York City mayor.

Lake Buena Vista, FL — Rudy Giuliani just completed a short address to a law enforcement group here but many of the reporters traveling with the campaign returned to the bus without a headline.

With his main rivals battling it out in this week’s Michigan and South Carolina primaries and the Florida contest still two weeks out, the former NYC mayor has remained out of the national campaign dialogue during the last couple weeks. A study by the Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ) out today finds that Giuliani was the focus of only four percent of national and local newspaper/TV/radio stories last week (Chart above). The PEJ’s Campaign Coverage Index finds that Giuliani is almost entirely out the news cycle, compared to John McCain at 24%, Mitt Romney at 19% and Mike Huckabee at 12%. (PEJ conducts a sample of all mediums to calculate the figure.)

The Giuliani campaign insists that they are taking advantage of their Florida vacuum to push their message to local press down here since they have until Sunday before the rest of the candidates arrive in the Sunshine State. I will note that the press bus has been split 50:50 between national press and state reporters. But the bus has mostly emptied out on day three, with the network embeds, two wire reporters and a handful of local press staying for the last day of Giuliani’s Sunshine State tour.

On I-75 En route to Punta Gorda, FL — Much of the talk on the Giuliani press bus today was the latest polling showing Giuliani dropping in Florida and national polls:

A quick selection:

–behind by 6 to McCain in California
–behind by 2 to McCain in Florida (down 10 points in last month)
–down by 20 to McCain in a  national poll after holding a nationwide advantage for months
–and there are many, many, many more…..

The campaign’s chief strategist Brent Seaborn addressed the press corps this afternoon, telling us Camp Rudy is fine with the drop in the polls, will “draw contrasts” with John McCain and others at their chosen hour and is confident in their ground operation here in FL  (50+paid staff/6,000 volunteers).

So Brent, when will Rudy get back on offense against his opponents?

Seaborn: “Rudy is as tough a campaigner as anybody in this race, when the time is right, I think we will see him decide it’s time to draw a bit more of a contrast between John McCain or frankly any of the opponents that comes into the state. For the most part, we have been in the fortunate position that a lot of the attacks have not been directed our way…I think we are happy that we are not being attacked….so far the mayor feels like the field has been pretty civil for him and Ithink he respects that and he would like it to remain that way.”

“When the time is right, Rudy will fight as hard as anybody. I don’t think anybody else has quite the fighting or boxing training that Rudy has. And I think you’ll see that come out when he has to take the gloves off….when the circus comes to town, we will see what its like.”

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Naples, FL — Despite seeing a precipitous decline in national and Florida polls, Rudy Giuliani told Fox today his campaign is in “good shape” and he is pursuing a “smart strategy.”

In an exclusive interview aboard his bus midway through Hizzoner’s three-day tour through the Sunshine State, FNC’s Wendell Goler talked taxes and strategy with the former NYC mayor. (Video highlights above)

“Am I nervous at all? Do I look nervous? (I am) having a great time,” Giuliani said. “This is a strategy we selected–it is the only strategy that can work for us and it’s a good one…and given the nature of the race which is wide open, we think it is going to turn out to be a smart strategy.”

He added that he has enough money to aggressively compete in Florida despite the recent disclosure that several senior aides are now working without pay.

“We have enough money to contest and we are in good shape there…as good shape as u can be. You would always like to have a lot more,” Giuliani said. “We have enough money to contest in Florida and move on from there. We are in no different shape than probably any of the other Republican candidates. Competitively, we don’t think we are at a disadvantage–or if we are–not much of a disadvantage.”

Though polls show John McCain surging in Florida and nationally, Giuliani says he remains focused on winning Florida and is not yet starting to think about his possible opponents until after Michigan and South Carolina vote this week.

“Right now we don’t know whats gonna happen yet in Michigan or South Carolina,”  he said. “So basically, we are not thinking about that. We are not thinking about who is going to contest Florida with us. Is it gonna be everyone or is it this one? We are just trying to get our programs out.”

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Bonita Springs, FL — I was able to quickly catch up with Rudy as he boarded his bus this morning. He was pumped and eager to begin day two of his bus tour through the Sunshine State. Today also marks the first day of early voting in Florida and the campaign has already begun their Get Out The Vote (GOTV) operation in the state.

8:50am — Miami, FL — We have just departed the hotel in Coral Gables as part of what is set to be a 3-day Giuliani bus tour through the Sunshine State. It is set to take us thru the Miami area today, the west coast of FL tomorrow and then up through Orlando and Jacksonville on Tuesday. Unlike Fred Thompson, who has dubbed his South Carolina bus trip the “Clear Conservative Choice: Hands Down!” tour, the Giuliani campaign has not named their tour. Any ideas for a witty name folks?

Three weeks before the caucuses, the Obama campaign has begun a busy five-day bus tour through Iowa.  As of day two, there are 21 members of the press who’ve signed up to ride one bus behind the senator’s luxury bus.

To try to “be more accommodating” on the campaign’s end, Deputy National Press Secretary Jen Psaki has been added to the roster. Psaki, a Chicago-based staffer who used to work in John Kerry’s Iowa office, will be traveling more often with the press to “lend an extra hand.”

Psaki is a welcome addition - Robert Gibbs, Obama’s traveling communications guru, normally sticks close to the senator and so the press is often left in the (very capable) hands of state office officials and Chicago-based staffers.

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