Giuliani Backs McCain

Giuliani Prepares to Exit, Back McCain
Jan 29, 10:40 PM (ET)

By DEVLIN BARRETT

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - Rudy Giuliani, who bet his presidential hopes on Florida only to come in third, prepared to quit the race Tuesday and endorse his friendliest rival, John McCain.

The former New York mayor stopped short of announcing he was stepping down, but delivered a valedictory speech that was more farewell than fight-on.

Giuliani finished a distant third to winner McCain and second-place finisher Mitt Romney. Republican officials said Giuliani would endorse McCain on Wednesday in California. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in advance of the public announcement.

"The responsibility of leadership doesn't end with a single campaign, it goes on and you continue to fight for it," Giuliani said, as supporters with tight smiles crowded behind him. "We ran a campaign that was uplifting."

Asked directly if he was dropping out of the race, Giuliani said only: "I'm going to California."
Republican presidential candidates are scheduled to debate in Simi Valley Wednesday night.

Tuesday's result was a remarkable collapse for Giuliani. Last year, he occupied the top of national polls and seemed destined to turn conventional wisdom on end by running as a moderate Republican who supported abortion rights, gay rights and gun control.

"Elections are about fighting for a cause larger than ourselves," he said at one point, echoing one of McCain's most popular refrains.

The results seriously decimated Giuliani's unconventional strategy, which relied heavily on Florida to launch him into the coast-to-coast Feb. 5 nominating contests.

He largely bypassed the early voting states, figuring that the early states would produce multiple winners and no front-runner.

But Florida proved to be less than hospitable. The state's top two Republicans - Sen. Mel Martinez and Gov. Charlie Crist - endorsed McCain. And Giuliani, who once led in state polls, saw his support swiftly erode.

After seven contests, Giuliani had just one delegate and four sixth-place finishes. His third-place showing in Florida was his best. He finished fourth in New Hampshire.

Giuliani's bid for the nomination was based on his leadership. The only question was how many voters would follow.

His stalwart performance as New York mayor in the tense days after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks earned him national magazine covers, international accolades and widespread praise. Yet, Giuliani was always a Republican anomaly - a moderate-to-liberal New Yorker who backed abortion rights, gay rights and gun control in a party dominated by Southern conservatives.

And even though several of his rivals were divorced and remarried, none had the dissolution of their second marriage and trysts with current wife Judith Nathan attract as much attention.

In the early days of the presidential campaign, Giuliani's mayoral record and familiar name propelled him to the lead in the polls, but voters admitted they had lots to learn about him and his positions on the issues.

Clinton will 'say anything'

Clinton will 'say anything and do nothing': Obama

Jan 24 11:10 AM US/Eastern

Barack Obama fought back against rival Hillary Clinton with stinging attacks on her record Thursday as the Democratic rivals battled for votes in South Carolina and beyond.

The two White House hopefuls have taken their war of words to the airwaves in this conservative southern state where polls show Obama with a double digit lead over Clinton ahead of a Democratic primary here Saturday.

The state is critical for the young Illinois senator, following Clinton victories in New Hampshire and Nevada, and amid polls that show her as the frontrunner nationally.
Faced with a Clinton radio spot -- or advertisement -- claiming he endorses Republican ideas, Obama shot back with a denial and a drubbing of her record.

"She championed NAFTA -- even though it has cost South Carolina thousands of jobs. And worst of all, it was Hillary Clinton who voted for George Bush's war in Iraq," an announcer says in the new radio spot.

"She'll say anything, and change nothing. It's time to turn the page," the spot says.

Clinton returned to South Carolina Thursday to deliver what she billed as a major speech on how she would deal with the economic crisis and mortgage crunch gripping the United States.

She made whirlwind campaign trips Tuesday and Wednesday to California, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, with an eye on big states that could decide the Democratic nomination, leaving her husband Bill Clinton on the front lines in South Carolina.

While her husband assailed Obama, the former first lady barely even referred to her rival, instead delving deep into healthcare, the mortgage crisis and education -- key concerns of her core blue collar voters.

The former president hurled a venomous new broadside against the Illinois senator Wednesday, accusing him of a political "hit job" and soft treatment from the media.

Bill Clinton was not the only spouse on the stump in South Carolina. Obama deployed his wife Michelle on a tour of the state, where overwhelming black support has propelled the Illinois senator to a 19-point lead over Hillary Clinton, according to a new Zogby poll.

Clinton leads the latest national poll of US voters, with a nine-point lead over Obama, but that lead has shrunk from 24 points in December, a new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg News poll found.

In the poll, released late Wednesday, Clinton was first among Democrats with 42 percent, Obama was second with 33 percent and former senator John Edwards was third with 11.

However, the poll also found that about two-thirds of Democratic voters now say they are "certain" about who they will vote for, making last minute changes less likely, the Los Angeles Times said in its analysis of the numbers.

Arizona Senator John McCain led the Republican field with 22 percent, followed by former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee (18 percent), former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney (17 percent), and former New York mayor Rudi Giuliani (12 percent).

The top three Republicans were in a dead heat when the four-point poll's margin of error was taken into account, and pundits said that the Republican race remained wide open.

The Republican candidates were campaigning full-bore in Florida ahead of its high-stakes primary Tuesday, with its rich prize of 57 winner-take-all delegates to the Republican National Convention in September.

The state was to host a Republican candidate debate in the city of Boca Raton late Thursday that could tip results toward any of the candidates.

"On the eve of a primary, when people who have not been paying attention get a chance to do that, it could be quite decisive," Richard Noyes, an analyst at the Media Research Center in Alexandria, Virginia, said of the debate.

After winning South Carolina's Republican primary last Saturday, McCain picked up a crop of Florida endorsements and one from General Norman Schwarzkopf, who led allied forces in the 1991 Gulf War.

He also bagged a new victory in Louisiana, where preliminary results showed he won the state's caucuses on Tuesday.

A poll of Florida voters Wednesday showed McCain with 25 percent heading into Tuesday's primary, and statistically tied with Romney on 23 percent.

Giuliani, who is staking his presidential campaign on Florida after all but ignoring the early nominating contests, trailed on just 15 percent, alongside Huckabee, in the St. Petersburg Times poll.

Giuliani on Wednesday sidestepped the question whether he would continue his race if he loses the crucial contest in Florida.

"We're going to win in Florida. I have a very good feeling about it," the former New York mayor told CNN.

NY: McCain Ahead Giuliani

Giuliani trailing on home ground: poll
Mon Jan 21, 2008 1:07pm EST

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani is trailing in the race for the Republican presidential nomination even on his home turf of New York state, a new poll showed on Monday.

The WNBC/Marist poll ahead of the February 5 primaries in New York showed 34 percent of registered Republicans support John McCain, compared to 23 percent for Giuliani. Among Republicans likely to vote, McCain kept his 34 percent support, while Giuliani was tied in second place with Mitt Romney at 19 percent.

McCain's campaign has been boosted by wins in New Hampshire and South Carolina in the state-by-state race to pick the two candidates to contest the November 4 election to succeed President George W. Bush.

Giuliani, whose once large lead in national polls has evaporated, largely bypassed early voting states and focused on Florida, which votes on January 29.

As the former New York mayor who won national recognition in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, Giuliani would hope for a strong showing in New York.

But the poll showed 46 percent of registered Republicans in New York think Arizona Sen. McCain is the Republican most likely to beat the Democratic candidate in November. Nineteen percent saw former Massachusetts Gov. Romney as the most electable and 15 percent picked Giuliani as most electable.

Another local politician, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, appeared to be in a strong position ahead of the New York primary for the Democratic Party nomination.

The poll showed her with the support of 48 percent of Democrats likely to vote in the primary, followed by Illinois Sen. Barack Obama with 32 percent.

The survey of 1,467 New York state registered voters was conducted January 15-17, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent, the poll said.

Neither party has established a clear front-runner, as the first major state-by-state battles produced multiple winners.

(Reporting by Claudia Parsons, editing by Vicki Allen)

Rudy Calls Out John, Mitt

Rudy Calls Out McCain and Romney on Bush Tax Cuts

ABC News’ Jan Simmonds reports: At the mega Florida retirement community, The Villages, today, Rudy Giuliani did something he has shied away from this entire campaign. He called out his fellow Republicans John McCain and Mitt Romney, by name, for failing to support the Bush tax cuts.

“I supported the Bush tax cuts,” said Giuliani. “John McCain voted with the Democrats against the tax cuts twice. And Mitt Romney did not clearly support the Bush tax cuts. Now, I clearly supported the Bush tax cuts for a very simple reason -- because I had done the same thing several years earlier. I had done the same thing in New York. I knew it would work. I knew it would work to grow our economy.”

While not using the harshest of language, Giuliani has been vigilant in his efforts to not go after his fellow Republicans unless they went after him first. He told ABC News' George Stephanopoulos in December that, as a rule, he does not "criticize" fellow Republicans.

"I try to follow the rule, if you attack me, or attack my record, and then I have to explain it. And in the nature of explaining it, [if] I have to point out that your record was weaker in that area than mine, then I will do it," Giuliani said.

"But if you don’t attack me, I have no right to attack you. I mean, there’s no point in that."
This change is a significant one, since Giuliani and his campaign now appear ready to put the gloves on and get into the fight.

Asked at a press avail following The Villages rally, Giuliani acted as if the change in rhetoric was not a big deal.

“I just pointed out where there were differences,” he said, repeating the lines he gave during the rally, adding that Romney was “equivocal in his support.”

In recent weeks, Giuliani has been an afterthought in the minds of most Americans, sitting on the sidelines while his competitors battled it out in Michigan, South Carolina and Nevada.

But starting tomorrow, all eyes will fall upon the Sunshine State, and after being camped out in Florida since the New Hampshire primary on Jan. 8, the Giuliani campaign feels that the extra time they have devoted on the ground, combined with what they tout as their organizational strength, will pave the way for a victory on Jan. 29.

If the Giuliani strategy works, the single win in Florida would leapfrog the former New York City mayor to the top of the Republican delegate count.

Clinton Wins Nevada

Hillary Clinton Wins Nevada Dem Caucuses
Jan. 19, 2008

(CBS/AP) CBS News estimates that Sen. Hillary Clinton will win the Nevada Democratic caucuses. CBS News also estimates that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney will win the Nevada Republican caucuses.

According to CBS News entrance polls, the economy was the issue most on the minds of Democratic caucus-goers today, ahead of health care and the war in Iraq. Nearly half of Democratic caucus-goers said the economy was their most important issue, while one in four cited health care and 22 percent cited the Iraq war.

Twenty-nine percent of Democratic voters said they were members of a union household. Fourty-three percent of union voters said they favored Clinton, while 42 percent favored Barack Obama and 11 percent favored John Edwards.

Obama won the support of voters under age 45, while Clinton won among older voters. Voters under age 45 broke for Obama over Clinton 48 percent to 34 percent, while those over 45 chose Clinton over Obama 54 percent to 33 percent.

More than half of women said backed Clinton in today's caucuses, while men were more divided in their support, with 43 percent supporting Clinton and 42 percent supporting Obama.

Hispanics made up 14 percent of Democratic caucus-goers in Nevada today, and they overwhelmingly supported Clinton. She got 64 percent support from Hispanics, while Obama got 24 percent and Edwards got 9 percent.

Complete Nevada Returns

Romney, the only Republican to seriously focus on Nevada, earned his second straight victory today, following a win in the Michigan primary earlier in the week.

In a statement released while he flew to Florida, site of the Jan. 29 primary, Romney said Nevada Republicans had cast their votes for change. "With a career spent turning around businesses, creating jobs and imposing fiscal discipline, I am ready to get my hands on Washington and turn it inside out," it said.

According to early CBS News exit poll data, the economy and illegal immigration were the issues on the minds of Nevada's Republican voters today.

About three in four Nevada GOP caucus-goers were conservative, and nearly half of GOP voters chose sharing values as their top candidate quality. GOP caucus-goers in both categories supported Romney.

Romney had made seven campaign trips to Nevada. He has largely ceded the South Carolina Republican race, also taking place today, to his rivals. South Carolina will hold its Democratic primary next Saturday.

In Nevada, Democrats have been mired in legal disputes and exchanges about race. The uncertainty stemmed in large part from earlier-than-usual voting in the U.S.'s fastest-growing state that has also been hit by a high mortgage foreclosure rate.

Clinton and Edwards ganged up on chief rival Obama in the final days, mocking his evocation of former Republican President Ronald Reagan in an effort to offset Obama's endorsement by the powerful Culinary Workers Union. The Illinois senator was thought to benefit from special caucus rules that Clinton supporters tried but failed to overturn in federal court.

Obama, who hopes to become the first black president, responded by suggesting Clinton would be a "president whose plans change with the politics of the moment" as part of one of his most direct critiques of the New York senator yet.

Clinton won in New Hampshire and scored a victory in the largely meaningless Democratic race in Michigan where Obama and Edwards had withdrawn their names from the ballot after the national party stripped the state of its delegates for violating party rules by moving up its primary date.

Going into Nevada's contest, a poll Friday showed Clinton leading in the state with 41 percent while Obama trailed with 32 percent. But the survey by Mason-Dixon showed about 10 percent of likely caucus-goers still undecided. Edwards had 14 percent. Other polls have shown the three in a statistical dead heat.

For both parties, Florida's voters go to the polls on Jan. 29. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani has focused virtually all of his efforts on the state. South Carolina Democrats - the majority of whom are black - will choose a nominee on Jan. 26.

Still ahead for those who remain in the race is "Mega Tuesday," Feb. 5, when two dozen states cast what could be deciding votes for the presidential nominees.

©MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Ron Beats Rudy and Fred

Ron Paul, Dr. No-body, beats Rudy and Fred -- again
Andrew Malcolm
L.A. Times Blog: Top of the Ticket

Well, he's hanging in there. Not only that, but Rep. Ron Paul thumped two reputed Republican heavyweights in the Michigan primary -- former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Who'd have predicted that a couple of months ago?

Giuliani, you may recall if you can remember anything as distant as last summer, was the longtime GOP national front-runner in polls. He ran strongly against everybody in his party, even former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who won one last night, taking his home state from Sen. John McCain, who won there in 2000. Everybody wondered if anyone had a chance against the hero of 9/11, who defied standard Republican theocracy with his liberal social views.

But guess what? Ron Paul, the 72-year-old Texas congressman and ob-gyn who delivers babies and a strict view of the Constitution, beat Giuliani in Michigan. And beat him good. Not only that ...

he doubled Giuliani's totals of 24,000 votes, or 2.8%, getting more than 52,000 votes, or 6.3%, of the total Republican ballots.

Paul even beat Thompson this time, the real consistent conservative who was supposed to be the next Ronald Reagan until he actually announced his campaign in September. Thompson got about 31,000 votes, or 3.7%, which is more than Rudy but still less than the nobody congressman with the libertarian views whom few people but his passionate partisans took seriously months ago. He's often called Dr. No for his consistent congressional votes against spending.

Paul was so written off that Fox News banned him from its recent debate in New Hampshire. Oops, now the Paulunteers are organizing a boycott of Fox sponsors in return for the snub, a move that Dennis Kucinich's fans are now calling for against MSNBC for barring him from Tuesday's Democratic debate in Las Vegas.

True, Romney killed all his Republican competitors in Michigan, as he had to, with more than 326,000 votes, nearly 39%, with McCain trailing at 29.7%, or 248,000. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee garnered less than half of Romney's votes, 135,000, or 16%.

And it's also true that Thompson and Giuliani didn't really campaign seriously in Michigan. Or New Hampshire. Or Iowa except for a last-minute Thompson bus tour. Obviously, both Giuliani and Thompson are intentionally laying back, trying to make the rest of the Republican field overconfident. No doubt.

Paul hasn't won anything yet, either, except the continued devotion of his followers and growing national attention, including two national TV appearances on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" plus a full hour on "Meet the Press." On Tuesday, Richard Viguerie, the noted conservative author, announced he's launching a website to support Paul. Viguerie called Paul "truly a principled conservative in the grand tradition of Robert Taft, Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan."

Paul just keeps picking up his 6% to 10% each time there's a vote. But Paul also beat Giuliani in Iowa. And he came pretty close to Giuliani in New Hampshire and did, in fact, beat Thompson there. And now in Michigan, Paul beat them both rather handily. He does it by going against virtually all the views of his GOP colleagues, including opposing the Iraq war.

Fueled by the generous donations of Paul believers, the congressman was probably the most successful GOP fundraiser in the fourth quarter, acquiring nearly $20 million then and, according to his website, more than $834,000 more so far this month. He's already launched an eight-state ad blitz and has been campaigning in recent days in South Carolina, where he has three offices and will return later this week, and across Nevada. He got skunked in Wyoming, where Romney won, but imagine if Paul scored big one day in the wild West, where many people believe government got too big about 100 years ago.

Paul's website and new campaign blog claim to have quietly organized more than 7,800 precinct captains around the country. Meantime, Giuliani's top staff is going unpaid this month to save dwindling funds. Is there a pattern here?

So, while the "front-running" Republicans each win one state and no one builds up a head of steam, Paul just keeps hanging around, like a bad cold. Some of the other Republican candidates should be careful, lest they get the sniffles one of these days.