Jan. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Rudy Giuliani, who rode his tough stance against Islamic terrorism to become the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, is now focusing more on Paula Goodrich's property-tax worries.

Giuliani must win Florida's Jan. 29 primary to stop his slide in national polls. To do that, he is stressing economic policy and tax cuts to voters like Goodrich, a 56-year-old dishwasher from Dundee who lost her home after struggling to pay her property taxes, instead of his leadership after the Sept. 11 attacks.

``Unless he does something in Florida, he's writing his own epitaph,'' said pollster Ed Sarpolus. ``People are beginning to write him off.''

Giuliani's strategy rests on a strong showing on Feb. 5 -- the ``Super Tuesday'' lightning round of voting in more than 20 states -- to put him ahead in the race for delegates to the Republican convention. After running poorly in other early voting states, the former New York mayor first faces a make-or-break election in Florida.

``It's all about Florida,'' he told reporters yesterday during a stop at the Daytona International Speedway.

Arizona Senator John McCain, riding a wave of momentum after winning New Hampshire and South Carolina, is Giuliani's biggest concern, said Bill McCollum, Florida's attorney general and state chairman of Giuliani's campaign.

McCain vs. Giuliani

``The race is going to come down in Florida between McCain and Giuliani,'' McCollum said after a Jan. 20 rally in Sun City. That's prompted Giuliani, 63, to accuse McCain of not being a genuine tax-cutter.

After dominating the Republican presidential preference polls for most of 2007, Giuliani's ratings have plunged. A pollster.com average of the most recent Florida polls shows him trailing McCain, 71, and barely ahead of former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. Just two months earlier, an average of Florida state surveys had the former New York mayor well ahead of all rivals.

Giuliani's Florida decline tracks his nationwide freefall. He's running fourth behind McCain, Romney, 60, and Huckabee, 52. In November, he was well ahead in all the national surveys.

Losing Votes

Everywhere Giuliani has campaigned, his support has dropped. Last summer, he declared he would focus on the Iowa caucuses; on Jan. 3, he finished sixth in the state. He vowed to be ``very competitive'' in Michigan; last week, he got 2.8 percent of the vote in his sixth-place finish. And he spent as much money advertising in New Hampshire as any Republican other than Romney; there, he finished fourth.

Giuliani enjoys some advantages in Florida, where he's spent more time than the other candidates. The state is a demographic microcosm, with transplants from northern states like New York and New Jersey, who recall his success at bringing down crime as mayor in the 1990s, and large elderly and Latino populations.

Giuliani is banking on his economic record and proposals to win the state, focusing on areas where McCain's chief rivals say the senator is weak. In a Jan. 20 speech in New Port Richey, Giuliani flashed a sample one-page tax-return form he carries in his suit pocket and took a swipe at McCain.

`Breathing Washington Air'

``One of my opponents didn't support the Bush tax cuts in 2001 and 2003,'' he told a crowd at the Spartan Manor conference hall. ``We need somebody in Washington that hasn't been breathing Washington air for too long.''

Giuliani wants to reduce the corporate-tax rate to 25 percent and the capital-gains tax to 10 percent, in what he says would be the biggest tax cut in American history.

``He put the stake in the ground on cutting taxes,'' said Chris Henick, a senior adviser. ``That's our agenda in Florida.''

Giuliani also wants to create a fund to help struggling homeowners. ``People shouldn't be forced out of their homes,'' he told Goodrich, the woman who lost her house, at a campaign stop in Polk City.

Amid rising public angst over the economy, McCain has stressed his support for making President George W. Bush's tax cuts permanent, saying he voted against them only in the absence of spending cuts.

`Flatter Tax'

McCain, like Giuliani, would cut the corporate tax rate to 25 percent from 35 percent. He also wants to simplify the tax code and create a ``fairer, flatter tax.''

While Giuliani has praised Bush's efforts to ward off a recession and supports the economic-stimulus package the president is discussing with Congress, McCain is wary. ``Remember who's going to pay for'' the stimulus plan, McCain told a Jan. 17 rally in Columbia, South Carolina. ``It doesn't come off a printing press, okay? It comes out of your pocket.''

With a week to go before the Florida vote, concerns among Giuliani's aides are apparent. A dozen staff members are forgoing their January paychecks. On Sunday, an assistant press secretary quibbled with reporters aboard the press bus who noted that crowd sizes are smaller than last week.

Still, it's too soon to rule Giuliani out, said Dan Schnur, a Republican consultant who was communications director for McCain's 2000 presidential run. ``A win in Florida puts him right back in the race.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Heidi Przybyla in New Port Richey, Florida, at hprzybyla@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: January 22, 2008 00:25 EST