MSM ran with that narrative as Giuliani was flailing, but the reality is he just failed in those states. Look:
Republicans Giuliani, McCain skip August Iowa poll
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential hopefuls Rudolph Giuliani and Sen. John McCain will skip Iowa’s August straw poll, but their campaigns insisted on Wednesday they would compete in the state’s 2008 nominating contest.
Iowa serves as one of the first key battlegrounds in the presidential campaign, and one state party official suggested the decisions to skip the August 11 Ames, Iowa straw poll were a sign that they may not be doing well there.
The straw poll is a fund-raiser for the state Republican Party but is considered an indicator of candidates’ organizational strength. Ticket holders can vote in the poll, and campaigns usually buy and hand out tickets to their supporters.
Giuliani and McCain officials stressed that they would continue to campaign in Iowa, with the former New York mayor’s campaign saying it would instead spend the $3 million it would have cost to participate in the poll elsewhere in the state.
“We are 100 percent committed to winning Iowa and I believe we will do so,” Giuliani campaign manager Michael DuHaime told reporters. “People will say this is an unconventional way to do it, but so be it.”
McCain campaign manager Terry Nelson announced the Arizona senator’s withdrawal hours after Giuliani’s decision, saying it would no longer be a “meaningful test of the leading candidates’ organizational abilities.”
“John McCain has built a solid grassroots organization in Iowa and intends to win the state’s caucuses,” he said.
National polls have shown Giuliani leading the Republican field over McCain and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, but some recent Iowa polls have given Romney an edge in Iowa.
The state holds the one of the earliest tests of voter sentiments with statewide caucuses in January ahead of the November 2008 presidential election. The straw poll often gives an early indication of voter sentiment although it has not always proved an accurate gauge of January’s results.
“They must not have felt very good that their chances were very good at win, place or show,” said Chuck Laudner, executive director of the Republican Party of Iowa.
“It’s a kick in the shins, or a little higher, right to the Iowa Republican Party,” he said.
Skipping the straw poll could hurt, particularly if all the other Republican candidates are at the event, one expert said.
“Iowa caucus goers pay attention to these things,” said University of Iowa professor David Redlawsk.
But Giuliani campaign adviser Jim Nussle, a former Iowa congressman, brushed aside suggestions it could hurt his standing. “The straw poll is a fund-raiser ... It’s not a serious event in the grand scheme of picking an nominee,” he said.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...n-skip-august-iowa-poll-idUSN0643814220070606
Also, from the same Wikipedia article you cited:
Giuliani did compete, off and on, in the January 8
New Hampshire primary,
[79] making the second most appearances there of any Republican after
Mitt Romney and spending the third most money there after Romney and
John McCain.
[79]
===============
The idea of competing "off and on" is ridiculous. Someone should edit that article.
