Despite Romney ad, Giuliani seen as energetic

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican Mitt Romney has spent a lot of time and money promoting himself as the most active presidential candidate but, so far at least, the public sees rival Rudy Giuliani as the most energetic.

That is according to a new poll by the Pew Research Center for the People & The Press, which also found that Democrat Hillary Clinton is seen by more members of her party as a tough and smart candidate in her party's race.

Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts who is in fourth place among Republican candidates in opinion polls, is up early and out late on the campaign trail and even produced a television advertisement entitled "Running," which shows him jogging from event to event.

It is all aimed at creating the impression of youthful vigor, that he is a man who would hit the ground running if elected president in November 2008.

In the Pew poll, he was seen as the most energetic Republican candidate by 11 percent of Republicans or Republican-leaning voters, compared to 48 percent who considered front-runner Giuliani energetic.

Republican Fred Thompson, who entered the presidential race earlier this month, was seen as energetic by only 8 percent. The 65-year-old former Tennessee senator has had a relatively light campaign schedule compared to his key rivals.

The poll said as many as 67 percent of Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters say Clinton is the Democratic candidate who first comes to mind when they hear the word tough and 52 percent associate the New York senator with the word smart.

On the other hand, more Democratic voters associated words such as optimistic, honest, energetic and down-to-earth with Illinois Sen. Barack Obama than Clinton.

Overall, the poll found Clinton leads Obama 42 percent to 25 percent among Democrats, with 14 percent support for former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards.

On the Republican side, Giuliani was supported by 32 percent of Republicans with Thompson strengthening his hold on second place with 21 percent over Arizona Sen. John McCain at 15 percent, and Romney at 9 percent.