Campaign '08

McCain May Gain From Giuliani Drop

America's Mayor Expected To Call It Quits, Endorse Ariz. Senator

ORLANDO, Fla. (CBS) ― Rudy Giuliani's master plan has backfired.

The former New York City mayor banked his entire presidential campaign on winning the Florida Republican primary. He basically ignored the Iowa caucuses, and New Hampshire, Michigan and South Carolina primaries. 

Following a crushing loss on Tuesday night, sources in the Giuliani camp told CBS 2 HD's Andrew Kirtzman that Giuliani plans to pulll out of race before Super Tuesday and endorse Florida primary winner John McCain for president.

Republican officials said Giuliani would endorse McCain on Wednesday in California before McCain and Romney face off in a pivotal debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in advance of the public announcement.

Giuliani did not drop out Tuesday night, but he did sound like a beaten man.

"Responsibility in leadership does not end with a single campaign," Giuliani told his supporters. "It goes on. You have to fight for it and we will.

"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. We ran a campaign that was uplifting."

He said the American people should have faith in whomever wins the Republican nomination.

"I congratulated Sen. McCain, and spoke to former Gov. Romney as well. These are fine men," said Giuliani, who also paid homage to Mike Huckabee and even spunky Ron Paul. "We should applaud them all. Honorable people, honorable men. I believe our party will be stronger due to the competition we're involved in."

Giuliani kept up appearances and said all the right things in the hours leading up to Tuesday's primary, but when it came time for the voters to make their choice, the unbelievable amount of money and time he spent in the Sunshine State became an afterthought.

Giuliani finished in third place, just ahead of Huckabee and well behind winner McCain and Romney.

As his campaign wore on, Giuliani was criticized by nearly every major news organization for failing to let the country get to know him and hear his message. His campaign started taking hits back in early November when his former police commissioner, Bernard Kerik, was indicted on federal corruption charges. Then in December, persistent questions surfaced over security expenses for his then-mistress, now-wife Judith Nathan, during his time in City Hall, further underlining his unusual personal situation.

"I just didn't feel like he was suited for me, for just what he believes in," voter Sandy Nassar said Tuesday. "I looked at their personal lives and stuff, that didn't appeal to me. His personal life was opposite to me."

Giuliani's round-the-clock defense of his leadership as mayor on 9/11 started to wear thin with voters and pundits as the campaign entered 2008, forcing him to change his focus from defeating terrorism to current, pressing events, like improving the economy.

"Rudy did a good job whenever we had 9/11 up in New York, but I don't know how he would do for the whole United States," said Orlando resident Bobbie Clifton, who voted for McCain.

Late last week the New York Times dealt Giuliani a serious blow by issuing a scathing attack on his character during the eight years he served the people of New York City.

Finally, his bizarre campaign strategy, where Florida was treated like the most important state before Super Tuesday, left a bad taste in voters' mouths.

"It was a choice for me between Romney and Rudy," voter Bob Nicoli said. "Rudy is a good candidate, but he made a real strategy error in getting his campaign in front of the mass of the American people too late. He lost a lot of traction by doing that."

When asked Tuesday morning how he felt, Giuliani gave CBS 2 HD cameras a thumb's up.

Was it confidence or false bravado? Despite polls saying Giuliani's days on the campaign trail could be over, "America's Mayor" seemed convinced he'd confound the pundits.

"Other candidates have gotten momentum as they've won different primaries and that has created a certain amount of momentum in the national polls," Giuliani had said. "I believe that we are going to win here today and that's going to change things."

Florida allows voters to cast ballots early and Giuliani had hoped to win them over before the other candidates got here, but in the end was left talking in the past tense about a race that was very much about the here and now.

CBS 2 HD political reporter Marcia Kramer and reporter Andrew Kirtzman contributed to this report. 

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