On Wednesday, Rudy Giuliani had said to supporters that he will abandon his bid and drop out of the US presidential race. He said he will support his Republican rival and longtime friend John McCain. This announcement is scheduled to take place at 6 PM EST at the Ronald Reagan Library and Museum in California.
“I expect him to be fairly active for McCain. There is a real friendship and respect between the two,” said Representative Peter King, R-NY.
“I spoke with Rudy Giuliani this morning and he confirmed that he is dropping out of the race and will endorse Senator John McCain for president,” in a statement said by Joe Bruno, New York Senate Majority Leader.
Giuliani was once the national frontrunner who had suffered a strong defeat in Tuesday.
“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,” said Giuliani to his supporters. He added: “You don’t always win, but you can always try to do it right, and you did.”
The Republican candidates are scheduled to debate at the library on Wednesday night.
“I haven’t talked to him,” said John McCain. He added: “I’m going to talk to him today when we meet.”
The loss would be a historic collapse for Giuliani. He was at the top of the Republican national polls the previous year. Giuliani would look to turn conventional wisdom of the Republican Party on its end by running as a moderate.
Rudy Giuliani had supported abortion rights, gay rights, and gun control.
However, Giuliani’s poll numbers dropped as the key endorsements went over to McCain. While the other GOP rivals made headlines, Giuliani faced a wave of negative stories on his personal life.
“Giuliani got a significant amount of bad press for about a week and a half for personal issues while everybody else was getting good press from the early primaries,” according to Brett Doster, a political consultant based in Tallahassee.
Doster added: “The negative personal stories combined with the resurgence of John McCain – the only guy in the field who had more credibility on national security – began to suck all the oxygen away from Giuliani’s part of the aquarium.”