The field of candidates for the 2008 Republican nomination grew larger yesterday as Rudy Giuliani announced his intentions to run for President:
Former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani jumped into the 2008 presidential race yesterday, filing a statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission and declaring on national television last night, “I’m in this to win.”
Giuliani’s actions were aimed at erasing any lingering doubts about whether he would enter the 2008 campaign and came after an intensive month of activity in which he has stepped up his political travels, broadened his political team and expanded his fundraising operation. A formal announcement will come later, Giuliani said.
Giuliani, 62, served two terms as mayor of New York and earned widespread praise for his leadership after terrorists struck the city on Sept. 11, 2001. He leads the field of declared and prospective Republican presidential candidates in national polls and, with Sen. John McCain of Arizona, ranks either first or second in most of the important early states.
But his support for abortion rights and gay rights puts him sharply at odds with the majority of his party, a situation that many GOP strategists think will present a substantial obstacle to his hopes of winning the nomination. Giuliani also remains well behind McCain and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney in building a state-by-state political organization that will be crucial to navigating through early contests in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.
Yes, but Giuliani has something that Romney lacks; name recognition. And that will give him the ability to quickly build up a campaign organization to rival Romney and McCain.
