Giuliani 2008 Game Plan Laid Out in Newspaper

It's no secret that Rudy Giuliani's personal life could cause him trouble in a 2008 presidential bid, but now that the former New York mayor's game plan has been laid out in a newspaper for all to see, it is clear he is worried his past may do him in.

A 140-page playbook on how to become president was lost in October during Giuliani's whirlwind tour to support candidates in the 2006 election. A supporter for one of Giuliani's rivals picked it up and handed it to the New York Daily News, which printed the details.

Click here to read The New York Daily News article on Giuliani's playbook.

According to the report, "America's Mayor" wants to raise $100 million this year, including $25 million in the next three months. That would go a long way to helping fund a presidential bid by Giuliani, who is running at or near the top of most opinion polls in early caucus and primary states.

"I wonder why such suspicious activity is occurring and can only guess it is because of Rudy's poll numbers in New Hampshire and Iowa," Giuliani spokesman Sunny Mindel told the Daily News.

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According to the document, Giuliani follows closely the fundraising model of President Bush, who classified his big money people into "Rangers" and "Pioneers." Giuliani, an avid New York Yankees fan, prefers baseball metaphors, calling his top money earners "Team Captains," "MVPs," "All-Stars" and "Sluggers."

But Giuliani also has several weaknesses. According to the Daily News, one page cites the explicit concern that he might "drop out of [the] race" as a consequence of his potentially "insurmountable" personal and political vulnerabilities, two of them being listed as his two ex-wives.

Also mentioned as potential weak spots: his private-sector business; former Giuliani police commissioner Bernard Kerik, who in 2004 had to drop out of contention to be U.S. homeland security secretary after questions about his hired help, business associations and a nasty temperament toward women in general; and Giuliani's position on "social issues," apparently gay and abortion rights, for which Giuliani is known to hold a more liberal approach than most other Republican presidential prospects.

The paper also notes that while Giuliani began courting support as early as last April, he still has to lock down major financial backers. Many big money fundraisers and financiers that Giuliani wanted to win over have already signed on to the campaigns of Arizona Sen. John McCain and Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.