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
Rudy Giuliani 2008 presidential campaign 2000, Giuliani had billed to obscure city agencies several tens of thousands of dollars of mayoral security expenses incurred while visiting Judith Nathan, with whom he was having an extramarital affair, in The Hamptons. Giuliani denied that he or his administration had done anything improper, and called the charges a "political hit job". Questions continued in the press not over his need for the security, but over the appearance of trying to hide the expenses in the city budget, which Giuliani aides eventually said was due to vendor payment efficiencies. Shortly thereafter, the "New York Daily News" reported another angle