The 2008 presidential campaign of Rudy Giuliani began following the formation of the Draft Giuliani movement in October 2005. The next year, Giuliani opened an exploratory committee and formally announced in February 2007 that he was actively seeking the presidential nomination of the Republican Party.
At the onset of the campaign, Giuliani held a significant lead in the nationwide polls. The candidacy of Senator John McCain faltered, and Giuliani maintained his lead in both national polls and fundraising throughout 2007. Political observers predicted that Giuliani would lose support, and he was criticized for a lack of substantive policy stances. Eschewing the common strategy of focusing on early-voting states such as Iowa and New Hampshire, Giuliani focused instead on larger states. He campaigned in Florida throughout the primary season, hoping a win in that state's primary would propel him to victory in other primaries on Super Tuesday (February 5).
On January 29, 2008, Giuliani finished third in the Florida primary. The following day, he ended his campaign and endorsed eventual Republican nominee John McCain.
Background
Giuliani's public profile started to rise when he was appointed as the United States Associate Attorney General by President Ronald Reagan. He held the position from 1981 to 1983, when he was appointed United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. He held this post until 1989, when he resigned to run his first campaign for Mayor of New York City. He lost the race but won four years later, and served as the city's mayor from 1994 to 2001. As mayor, he was best known for his leadership role during the September 11 attacks, when he coordinated and managed the immediate emergency response, earning him the title as Time magazine Person of the Year in 2001. He also positioned himself as "tough on crime" and was often credited with the reduction in offenses that occurred during his tenure in office. Giuliani briefly ran for U.S. Senate in New York to succeed retiring Daniel Patrick Moynihan in 2000, but was forced to withdraw from the race after being diagnosed with prostate cancer. Although he held traditional views on defense and economics, Giuliani was considered socially liberal, holding pro-choice views on abortion, supporting same-sex civil unions and embryonic stem cell research. As mayor, the abortion rate in New York City dropped by 16% in comparison to the 12% drop nationally; adoptions raised by 133%.
A draft movement began in late 2005 to convince Giuliani to run for President of the United States in 2008. "Draft Rudy Giuliani for President, Inc." filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), and became the first federal committee formed with the sole purpose of encouraging Giuliani to run. During this time, anti-abortion groups, such as the Republican National Coalition for Life, had already announced their intention to oppose Giuliani, because of his stance on abortion. However, evidence suggested that even among those voters, he enjoyed some support for his possible run. Some social conservatives contended that Giuliani's emphasis on lowering the abortion rate, was a pragmatic view on abortion. Among the overall public, Giuliani was perceived to be a moderate. An August 2006 Rasmussen Reports poll found that 36% of the American public identified the potential candidate as a moderate, while 29% identified him as a conservative and 15% as a liberal. Early polls showed Giuliani with one of the highest levels of name recognition and support, and he was considered a front-runner in the race for the Republican nomination.
Throughout 2006, rumors circulated regarding a possible Giuliani presidential campaign, abetted by hints from the former mayor himself. Over the Independence Day holiday weekend in July 2006, Giuliani declared that he would run for president in 2008 if he could raise sufficient funds. On November 13, 2006, Giuliani announced during a leadership conference in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania that he had taken the first step toward a potential 2008 White House bid by forming the Rudy Giuliani Presidential Exploratory Committee, Inc., allowing him to raise money for national travel and for a presidential campaign.
2007 campaign developments On February 5, 2007, Giuliani officially entered the race for the 2008 U.S. presidential election after filing a "statement of candidacy" with the Federal Election Commission. He confirmed his candidacy on the February 14 edition of Larry King Live, firmly stating: "Yes, I'm running." No Italian American had ever been elected president, and Giuliani's run was the most notable by a member of the ethnic group (the only Italian American to be a major-party national ticket nominee was Geraldine Ferraro, the 1984 Democratic Party nominee for vice-president; also, Al Smith's grandfather was Italian).
February–May: Early stages
Following a series of criticisms from conservatives about his views on abortion, Giuliani made a pledge in February 2007 to nominate Supreme Court Justices in the mold of John Roberts, Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia, and Anthony Kennedy (all Ronald Reagan appointees, former colleagues of his in the Reagan Justice Department or both).
Giuliani and the nine other Republican presidential contenders participated in the first MSNBC 2008 Republican presidential candidates Debate on May 3, 2007, held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. In the non-scientific six-part MSNBC online vote following the debate, Giuliani finished in 3rd place (15%).
Giuliani portrayed himself as the candidate who could beat Hillary Clinton in the general election by being competitive in traditional blue states such as New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Delaware. A May 10, 2007 Quinnipiac University Polling Institute poll put Giuliani ahead of Hillary Clinton, 48% to 42% in Connecticut.
Giuliani participated at the May 15, 2007 GOP debate in South Carolina where the notable exchange occurred when the former mayor challenged a statement made by Congressman Ron Paul. Paul claimed that the United States' presence in the Middle East over the past decade incited hatred towards the United States among many Middle Easterners and provided terrorists with extra incentive to commit the September 11 attacks. The debate was sponsored by Fox News. News Corporation, the parent company of Fox News, is a client of the Bracewell & Giuliani law firm. Accuracy in Media editor Cliff Kincaid charged after the debate that this represented a conflict of interest, and that Fox News moderators Chris Wallace and Wendell Goler and post-debate interviewer Sean Hannity failed to ask Giuliani pertinent follow-up questions regarding the Ron Paul exchange about the causes of the September 11 attacks.
In May, influential Christian conservative leader James Dobson, wrote that he could not fathom Giuliani's stance on the abortion issue and he would not vote for him if he were the Republican presidential nominee. He also cited Giuliani's three marriages and the former mayor's support for civil unions for gays as reasons why he could not support the candidate. Dobson wrote, "I cannot, and will not, vote for Rudy Giuliani in 2008. It is an irrevocable decision.""Christian right leader writes off Giuliani ". CNN, May 18, 2007.
According to the Federal Election Commission, Giuliani raised $18,029,974 in the first quarter of 2007, second to Mitt Romney among Republicans and fourth overall. Out of that money he spent only $6,080,239. Among that money he raised the second-most from Wall Street of all presidential candidates, with $1.8 million raised.
Summer: The campaign heats up
In June 2007, Giuliani drew some criticism for dropping out of the August Iowa Straw Poll."McCain, Giuliani skip Iowa straw poll ". The Des Moines Register, June 7, 2007. Some Republican officials felt the move could be seen as "dissing Iowa." In response, a man in a chicken suit, known as the Iowa Chicken, began demonstrating at Giuliani's appearances in Iowa."Chickens, bunnies, felons and other candidate stalkers ". Scripps News, June 2007. Despite this, Giuliani maintained that he was still planning on competing in the Iowa Caucus."Giuliani dismisses idea skipping Straw Poll hurts his Caucus chances ". Radio Iowa News, June 20, 2007. Some political observers have opined that the Straw Poll results are bought by campaigns.
Giuliani had emerged as the frontrunner after overtaking John McCain in the polls. With the exposure and eventual entrance of Fred Thompson into the field, Giuliani's poll numbers began to drop. But he held on to his status as frontrunner. According to the CBS News Poll taken June 26–28, Giuliani held the lead over Thompson 34% to 21%.
In the second quarter, Giuliani revealed that he raised $17 million, first among Republicans and third overall behind Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
September: Frontrunner status In September, reports surfaced of a coordinated grassroots campaign "$9.11 for Rudy", which attempted to solicit $9.11 in the form of donations. One of their supporters, Abraham Sofaer, attempted to hold a fundraiser for Giuliani during the "National House Party Night", and drew criticism. Democratic presidential candidate Chris Dodd called the theme "unconscionable, shameless and sickening." However, Giuliani's campaign spokeswoman Maria Comella stated, "These are two volunteers who acted independently of and without the knowledge of the campaign, their decision to ask individuals for that amount was an unfortunate choice."
Perhaps because of Giuliani's frontrunner status, some national leaders of the Christian right including James Dobson, Richard Viguerie, Tony Perkins and Morton Blackwell, attended a meeting of the Council for National Policy in September 2007, at the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City. At this meeting, they decided that they would consider supporting a third-party candidate for president if a pro-choice candidate were to win the Republican nomination. The CNP's official statement read, "If the Republican Party nominates a pro-abortion candidate, we will consider running a third-party candidate."
By the end of September 2007, most polls showed Giuliani to have more support than any of the other declared Republican candidates, with only Senator Thompson and Governor Romney showing greater support in some state polls. Specifically, state-by-state polls for the 2008 Republican nomination showed that Giuliani polled ahead of all other candidates in a majority of states including the delegate-rich states of California,Opinion polling for the Republican Party (United States) presidential primaries, 2008#California New York,Opinion polling for the Republican Party (United States) presidential primaries, 2008#New York and Florida.Opinion polling for the Republican Party (United States) presidential primaries, 2008#Florida A September 26, 2007 Quinnipiac poll taken in New Jersey gave the mayor a slight lead over Hillary Clinton in the traditional blue state, 45% to 44%.
Fall: Under attack