New York Local News

SIMI VALLEY, Calif. (CBS) ― As expected, Republican Rudy Giuliani has dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed Sen. John McCain following a distant third place finish in Tuesday night's Florida primary.

"I am very proud to endorse my friend and fellow republican, and hero, John McCain, for President of the United States of America," Giuliani said during a Wednesday evening news conference. "John McCain is the most qualified candidate to be the next commander in chief of the United States."

Giuliani promised to help McCain campaign across the country as long as the Republican frontrunner needed him to.

"If I'd endorsed anyone else, you would say I was flip-flopping," Giuliani said, mentioning an oft-repeated criticism of McCain's chief rival, Mitt Romney.

McCain, standing at Giuliani's side Wednesday, acknowledged his former rival as "my strong right arm and my partner."

"This man is a national hero and I'm honored by his friendship," he said.

Following a crushing loss on Tuesday night, sources in the Giuliani camp told CBS 2 HD's Andrew Kirtzman that Giuliani would pull out of the race before Super Tuesday and offer his endorsement for McCain.

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, reporter Andrew Kirtzman and WCBSTV.com producer Jeff Capellini contributed to this report.

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