Clinton, Giuliani hold money lead

WASHINGTON, Oct. 16 (UPI) -- U.S. political strategists said presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani appears to be alone among Republicans in laying the groundwork for a national primary plan.

Most of the GOP hopefuls have concentrated on early caucus and primary states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.

Giuliani, however, has spent thousands opening campaign offices in North Dakota, Missouri, Florida, New Jersey and Illinois -- all states that are part of the Feb. 5 mega-primary.

"It looks a lot like Rudy is banking on a breakout strategy, where he survives early losses and gets to the big states on January 29 and Super Tuesday," Scott Reed, a Republican campaign strategist, told the newspaper.

Giuliani, a former New York mayor, and Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., are their parties' front-runners for the presidential nominations and have raised more money than their rivals.

Clinton has an estimated $35 million to spend on the primaries, while her closest rival, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., has about $32 million in reserve, the Post said.

Giuliani reports about $16 million in his coffers, while his closest rival, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, has about $9 million in available cash, the Post reported.