Rudy Giuliani campaigned quite heavily in Florida, which he expected to use as his "launch pad" for a "strong showing" on
Super Tuesday. He campaigned almost entirely in Florida, and largely ignored
South Carolina and other states voting before February 5. Giuliani had been campaigning with virtually no opposition; however, following the
South Carolina Republican primary, 2008, several candidates flew down to Florida to begin campaigning up to January 29 when the primary occurred. Polls taken before the primary showed that John McCain was the slight front runner over Mitt Romney. McCain received pivotal endorsements from Florida Governor
Charlie Crist and Florida Senator
Mel Martínez days before the primary. ==Pre-primary polls==