Giuliani's Petraeus ad inspires donations

NEW YORK, Sept. 15 (UPI) -- Supporting the troops through a newspaper ad backing the U.S. military commander in Iraq paid off for Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani.

Giuliani’s $64,575 ad in The New York Times reportedly has resulted in a windfall of donations to his campaign, the New York Daily News said Saturday.

The Times ad chided criticism of Gen. David Patraeus by the anti-war group MoveOn.org, and took dig at Democratic rival Sen. Hillary Clinton for her failure to denounce the MoveOn missives.

While Giuliani’s campaign predicted donations would quickly cover the cost of the ad, some political strategists told the Daily News the former New York mayor was bound to pick up additional support by taking on MoveOn, which is being increasingly vilified within the GOP.