MIAMI (AFP) — Rudolph Giuliani's plummet from soaring Republican front-runner, to humiliated White House also-ran, ranks as one of the most spectacular flame-outs in US election history.
The hero of the September 11 attacks in 2001, dubbed "America's Mayor," and former mafia scourge splashed around 50 million dollars in his campaign -- but saw his chances slide as soon as first nominating votes were cast.
Giuliani, 63, signaled he would quit the race in a valedictory speech as results started rolling in, and reports said he would endorse Florida victor John McCain on Wednesday.
"You don't always win, but you can always try to do it right ... that's what the American people deserve, a return to honesty and substance in our political discussion," Giuliani said.
The hard-charging former New York mayor, who led national polls for months, deliberately adopted a strategy which dumped conventional political wisdom, and represented a huge, risky gamble.
The price of that long-odds bet was paid on Tuesday, when a distant third place in the Florida primary killed a campaign which promised much, but ended up as no more than a textbook on how not to run for president.
His campaign rejected the orthodoxy that the road to the White House was built by steadily building momentum through early state contests.
He largely skipped the leadoff contests in Iowa and New Hampshire, where he was seen to have little appeal, and built a flimsy firewall in Florida.
As rivals garnered headlines, victories and delegate counts in early nominating showdowns, Giuliani all but disappeared from view as the intense Republican battle played out.
In retrospect, Giuliani had few options.
As a thrice-married pro-abortion, pro-gay rights baron of liberal New York, he was always an odd fit with the religious conservative Republican base that swept Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush to power.
"That was, in fact, the only strategy available to us given how the other primaries went and strengths and weaknesses that you have and the resources you have," he told Fox News before results emerged on Tuesday.
"It turned out that this was the primary in which we could prove ourselves. So we decided that we would make our point here."
To compensate for his weaknesses, Giuliani abandoned the social conservative wing of the Republican coalition, courting two other party powerbases -- fiscal and national security conservatives.
Giuliani, who showed steady leadership in the chaos, heartache and anger after September 11, based his campaign firmly on leadership and a vow to take down terrorists anywhere.
He carved out hawkish national security views, taking counsel from neo-conservatives, and accused Democrats of failing to understand "the terrorists' war on us."
Giuliani also warned repeatedly he would confront Iran.
"If I am president of the United States, I guarantee you, we will never find out what they will do if they get nuclear weapons, because they are not going to get a nuclear weapon."
Giuliani might reflect, when he returns to his beloved New York, that his bellicose war on terror message, similar to winning Republican mantras in 2002 Congressional polls and the 2004 White House race, was past its sell by date.
More than six years after September 11, with no follow-on attacks on US soil, and US troops battling in Iraq and Afghanistan, Americans seem weary of war, and the creeping fear of terror has ebbed.
Giuliani was also haunted by stories about his colorful personal life, tales of family estrangement and lurid tabloid accounts of how New York taxpayers paid for security for his then girlfriend and now wife Judith Nathan.
Giuliani was born into a modest Italian American family in Brooklyn, and made his name as a prosecutor famed for his fight against organized crime, bringing down mafia bosses and tackling insider trading in New York.
He achieved the unusual feat of being elected as a Republican as mayor of liberal New York twice, and is a devoted fan of the New York Yankees baseball team.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
