Rudy Giuliani 2008 presidential campaign in the Iowa Caucus. Some political observers have opined that the Straw Poll results are bought by campaigns. Giuliani had emerged as the frontrunner after overtaking John McCain in the polls. With the exposure and eventual entrance of Fred Thompson into the field, Giuliani's poll numbers began to drop. But he held on to his status as frontrunner. According to the CBS News Poll taken June 26–28, Giuliani held the lead over Thompson 34% to 21%. In the second quarter, Giuliani revealed that he raised $17 million, first among Republicans and third overall behind Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. On
Political positions of Rudy Giuliani we probably should've gone with a flat tax, maybe two levels of tax, but really simple. Our economy has kind of grown up now on depreciation and deductions and industries have grown up around that and so I don't know exactly how much you can simplify it, but you sure have to make a stab at it." Later that week, in accepting Forbes' endorsement of his own presidential candidacy, Giuliani said that "a flat tax would make a lot of sense". During the May 3, 2007, Republican Presidential debate when asked what tax would he like to cut, Giuliani responded: