Giuliani steps down, endorses McCain

John Edwards quits Democratic race hours earlier

Last Updated: Thursday, May 15, 2008 | 9:26 PM ET

CBC News

Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani has dropped out of the Republican race to run for president, announcing Wednesday evening his support for leading candidate Arizona Senator John McCain.

Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, left, announces he is bowing out of the presidential race and endorsing Senator John McCain. (Mark Terrill/Associated Press)

The news came just hours after former North Carolina senator and 2004 vice-presidential candidate John Edwards ended his bid for the White House, leaving the Democratic race a two-way contest between Illinois Senator Barack Obama and New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

"John McCain is the most qualified candidate to be the next commander-in-chief of the United States," Giuliani said during a press conference in Simi Valley, Calif.

"He's an American hero."

Not long after Giuliani announced he was standing down, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger stepped forward to add another high-profile endorsement of McCain.

The two are scheduled to make the official endorsement announcement Thursday during a news conference in Los Angeles.

Standing at Giuliani's side Wednesday, McCain gushed over his former rival, calling him "my strong right arm and my partner.

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

Giuliani made his announcement after placing third in the Florida Republican primary he had banked on capturing Tuesday night.

In the Florida Republican vote, McCain won 36 per cent of ballots cast Tuesday in the Florida vote, compared to 31 per cent for former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and 15 per cent for Giuliani.

In the overall delegate race, McCain tops at 93, followed by Romney with 59 and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee at 40.

Giuliani, who had led national polls for months and gained recognition for his stalwart performance as New York mayor in the days following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center, held just one delegate.

Unorthodox candidate

The dismal finish in Florida dealt a heavy blow to Giuliani's unorthodox strategy of avoiding earlier contests in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina in favour of campaigning heavily in the Sunshine State before next week's ballots.

But the rapid-fire-speaking, twice-divorced Giuliani was never going to be anything close to an orthodox Republican candidate in a wide-open race for the White House.

A moderate-to-liberal New Yorker who backed abortion rights, gay rights and gun control in a party dominated by Southern conservatives, Giuliani became a Republican mayor of an overwhelmingly Democratic city. During his campaign for national office, he claimed to have created the most conservative government in the most liberal city in America.

After earning a reputation as an aggressive, tough-talking, even abrasive federal prosecutor and mayor, Giuliani the presidential candidate was mostly mild-mannered in debates, even as those around him got meaner.

McCain's win cements his status as Republican front-runner ahead of Super Tuesday after the Vietnam War veteran's campaign was all but written off last summer amid sagging poll numbers and reports of financial troubles.

Democrat John Edwards looks down at his notes as he announces his withdrawal from the presidential race in New Orleans Wednesday. (Alex Brandon/Associated Press)

For his part, Edwards said he spoke with both Obama and Clinton about his decision, but stopped short of endorsing either candidate.

Speaking in front of a row of newly-built homes in the devastated Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans where he launched his campaign, Edwards, 54, said he would work as a volunteer with Habitat for Humanity in the neighbourhood to draw more attention to Americans living in poverty.

"They have both pledged to me and, more importantly through me, to America that they will make ending poverty central to their campaign for the presidency," he said of his former party rivals, Obama and Clinton.

"This is the cause of my life and I now have their commitment to this cause."

The former trial lawyer has said he was not interested in taking on the vice-presidential candidate's role again after running on the bottom of the ticket with John Kerry four years ago.

Edwards's underdog-populist campaign failed to gain any momentum amid the increasingly bitter battle between his better-funded rivals Clinton and Obama, who have both won critical early contests ahead of the so-called "Super Tuesday" next week, in which 24 states hold votes.

Last March, his wife Elizabeth announced that the breast cancer she thought she had beaten had returned, but the couple would continue the campaign.

In a statement released Wednesday, Clinton praised Edwards's dedication to fighting poverty in the United States and "standing with the people who are too often left behind from the national debate."