The Rudy Giuliani team has dusted off former state Sen. Charlie Clary of Destin to try to give the New York City presidential candidate a Redneck Riviera advocate.
Giuliani's campaign announced some new grasstops supporters Tuesday, naming three regional chairs for Miami-Dade County and one for the entire Florida Panhandle.
See the complete list here.
Two other current Republican legislators, Reps. Rich Glorioso of Plant City and Julio Robaina of Miami, were named "communications chairs."
Clary has been retired from public life since term-limits forced him out of office last year.
Among the other chairs rolled out were Orange County Property Appraiser Bill Donegan for Central Florida and Paul Sharff for the West Coast.
In a conference call today, the campaign played up the added importance Florida's early primary could play in deciding nominations next year, teeing off on Barack Obama and John Edwards for saying in Monday's CNN-YouTube debate that they'd sit down and talk with Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
The two also said they were willing to negotiate face-to-face with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
"I think they absolutely hurt themselves when they said they'd sit down with Castro," Giuliani operative Karen Unger said.
The latest public polling for Florida shows Giuliani and Hillary Clinton leading their respective parties.