Giuliani drops out, endorses McCain

Some Missouri legislators have yet to choose candidates to endorse.

Feb. 1, 2008

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani speaks to supporters in December at the Columbia Holiday Inn Executive Center. Giuliani dropped out of the Republican presidential race Wednesday after finishing third in the Florida primaries.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, once a statistical heavyweight in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, dropped out of the race Wednesday after his third-place finish in the Florida primaries Monday. He announced his decision to endorse the candidacy of U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

In a concession speech Tuesday night, Giuliani thanked his Florida constituents and congratulated the first- and second-place finishers, McCain and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney - calling them “accomplished public servants.” But he neglected to confirm the fate of his presidential bid.

“The responsibility of leadership doesn’t end with a single campaign,” Giuliani said during his speech. “If you believe in a cause, it goes on, and you continue to fight for it.”

Giuliani joined McCain on stage Wednesday night at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif. before a scheduled Republican debate to announce his endorsement of McCain.

“I’m hopeful we can secure his nomination very soon so we can unite our party and then begin the process of uniting our nation,” Giuliani said.

McCain spoke after Giuliani and lauded the former mayor’s actions in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks while he was still in office. Those actions served as a crucial cornerstone of Giuliani’s platform throughout the campaign, which focused chiefly on national defense and the war on terror.

“I saw Rudy Giuliani unite this nation in a way that made us all proud,” McCain said.

Until the final weeks of 2007, the polls indicated Giuliani had been well ahead of the pack in comparison to his GOP counterparts. He had even secured a number of endorsements from Missouri politicians, including U.S. Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo.

As nominating contests began in January, Giuliani’s numbers began to plunge. His campaign shied away from early primary and caucus states, and conducted most of its politicking in Florida, where he was locked in a statistical dead heat with McCain and Romney in the polls until just days before the primary. Giuliani’s third-place finish in Florida, with nearly 15 percent of the vote, was his strongest finish of any nominating contest in the campaign.

Bond said that in terms of endorsing another nominee, he would look at the current slate and determine who will best serve Missouri and the nation’s interests.

“Rudy challenged conventional wisdom–and conventional wisdom won,” Bond said in a statement Thursday. “I still think Rudy is the best candidate to deal with the important challenges of our time, but I respect the primary process and the voters’ choice.”

State Rep. Ed Robb, R-Columbia, who also endorsed Giuliani’s candidacy, said the former mayor had been trying to “tread water” in Florida until the polls turned in his favor.

“That might not have been the best strategy,” Robb said.

MU communications professor William Benoit said candidates have skipped early primary states before, but that Giuliani might have “put all of his eggs in the wrong basket” in deciding to forego campaigning in the early primary states.

“I think the decision to wait for Florida was a miscalculation,” Benoit said.

Benoit said voter concerns have shifted from the war in Iraq and anti-terrorism efforts–both key components to Giuliani’s rhetoric on the stump–to the economy, which, of late, has become the central issue of political discourse for Republicans and Democrats on the campaign trail.

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Giuliani drops out, endorses McCain

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