Fading Giuliani hints he will quit campaign

Rudy Giuliani saluted supporters last night as his wife, Judith, applauded during a postprimary campaign rally in Orlando, Fla. Giuliani hinted he might drop out of the race. (JOE RAEDLE/GETTY IMAGES)

ORLANDO, Fla. - After staggering for weeks, Rudy Giuliani's campaign for president collapsed yesterday with a distant third-place finish in Florida, the state where he had devoted much of his time and resources in recent months.

Giuliani planned to travel to California today, but campaign aides would not comment on news reports that he will drop out of the race and endorse John McCain before tonight's scheduled debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley.

Appearing upbeat before a subdued crowd of about 200 supporters last night at the Portofino Bay Hotel, Giuliani did not say he was ending his candidacy, but he talked about it in the past tense.

"I'm proud that we chose to stay positive and run a campaign of ideas," he said. "We ran a campaign that was uplifting," in keeping with what he said was a desire of Americans for "a return to honesty and substance in our political discourse."

The former New York City mayor reprised the themes of his campaign stump speech and said he would continue to fight for lower taxes, a single-page optional tax return form, a strong national defense, and to build a "50-state Republican Party."

"This is a big party. I'm even in this party," he said with a smile, alluding to his moderate social views, which were considered a handicap in a nominating process dominated in many states by social conservatives.

For most of the past year, Giuliani led in national polls, buoyed by his celebrity status with a public that remembered his efforts on and after the terrorist attacks on New York's World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. A steep reduction in crime, taxes, and welfare during his two terms as mayor were part of his campaign's underpinnings.

But his campaign began to go into a death spiral in late fall after he was battered with a series of tough news stories about his messy private life and some of the clients of his consulting business, Giuliani Partners, which he formed after leaving the New York mayor's office seven years ago.

The problems mounted as he campaigned sporadically or not at all in most of the states early in the nominating process. His third-place finish in Florida, where a month ago he had a double-digit lead in polls, was his best showing. In New Hampshire, where he spent about $3 million on advertising and campaigned fitfully in bursts, he came in fourth, and he was out of the picture everywhere else - sixth in Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, and South Carolina.

The revival of McCain, particularly in New Hampshire, came at Giuliani's expense.

The New Yorker and the senator from Arizona both campaigned hard on national security and defense themes, but, with the success of the troop surge in Iraq, upon which McCain all but staked his candidacy, McCain's strength continued to grow.

Florida was the centerpiece of an odd and unprecedented Giuliani strategy, in which he campaigned half-heartedly or not all in the early states and expended much time and resources in Florida and several key states among the 21 that will vote next Tuesday, including his home state of New York. For long stretches, the Giuliani campaign made virtually no news and was disengaged from the battlegrounds where his chief opponents were mixing it up and winning convention delegates. On Jan. 3, the day of the Iowa caucuses, Giuliani held a rally in Hialeah outside Miami.

By last week, polls indicated that he had lost even his enormous leads in New York and neighboring New Jersey, trailing McCain in both states, a recurring pattern across the country that portended the collapse in Florida.