Giuliani bows out of presidential race, endorses McCain

ORLANDO, Fla. – Rudy Giuliani was always a long-shot for the Republican presidential nomination, a brash New Yorker who backed gun control, abortion and gay rights in a party dominated by Southern conservatives.\nThe only surprise was that he lasted as long as he did as the national front-runner.\nThe former New York mayor exited the GOP race Wednesday and endorsed rival and friend John McCain. Giuliani’s unconventional strategy of largely bypassing the early voting states and focusing on more populous, delegate-rich states produced just one delegate, a bunch of sixth-place finishes and made him the odd man out.\nHis best showing was Florida, where he had staked his candidacy. He finished a distant third.\nIt was a remarkable defeat for the ex-mayor who entered the race more than a year ago with an aura of invincibility, leading national polls and earning a reputation for toughness after his stewardship of New York as terrorists struck on Sept. 11, 2001.\nThis election year, the nation’s economic woes replaced terrorism as a top issue for voters, and with that change, much of the rationale for Giuliani’s candidacy disappeared. When voting began earlier this month, Republicans and independents flocked to his rivals, the conservative McCain, businessman Mitt Romney and the ordained Baptist minister Mike Huckabee.\nOn Tuesday, after the Florida results, Giuliani delivered a valedictory speech that was more farewell than fight-on.\n“I’m proud that we chose to stay positive and to run a campaign of ideas in an era of personal attacks, negative ads and cynical spin,” Giuliani said as supporters with tight smiles crowded behind him. “You don’t always win, but you can always try to do it right, and you did.”\nTo run for president, Giuliani put on hold a lucrative business in consulting major corporations and foreign governments, and he might well return to it.\nYet he might not be the last New York mayor to try to win the White House this year. Waiting in the wings is current Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a billionaire who insists he is not a candidate but who aides say is considering running as an independent.\nAs a candidate, the 63-year-old Giuliani was a collection of contradictions, so much so that he liked to joke that even he didn’t always agree with himself.\nGiuliani, who voted for liberal George McGovern in 1972, became a Republican mayor of an overwhelmingly Democratic city. Campaigning for national office, he claimed to have created the most conservative government in the most liberal city in America.\nAfter earning a reputation as a tough-talking, even abusive executive, Giuliani the presidential candidate was mostly mild-mannered in debates, even as those around him got meaner.\nBy necessity, Giuliani’s strategy meant playing down states that led off the voting in early January to make his stand in delegate-rich Florida. He wanted to use the 57-delegate win in that state to propel him to victories in the 20-plus states that vote Feb. 5; he had the edge in polls in big-prize states like California and New York for months.\nThe risk was irrelevancy – and he found himself on the brink of it as his rivals racked up wins in Iowa, New Hampshire and elsewhere, and dominated media coverage for weeks.\nGiuliani figured that he’d have a strong shot to win the nomination if different candidates won in the early states, making for a fractured contest and no one candidate riding a wave of momentum into Florida. That’s exactly what occurred; three candidates won in the first six states to vote. Yet, Giuliani still couldn’t prevail.\nHis poll numbers dropped and key endorsements went to McCain.\n“They’ll be sorry!” a woman with a New York accent called out to the mayor as he spoke Tuesday night. \n“You sound like my mother,” Giuliani joked.