Giuliani Tracker

Pat Robertson Endorses Giuliani

Televangelist Pat Robertson, founder of the Christian Coalition, endorsed Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani on Wednesday.

 

"It is my pleasure to announce my support for America's Mayor, Rudy Giuliani, a proven leader who is not afraid of what lies ahead and who will cast a hopeful vision for all Americans," Robertson said during a news conference with Giuliani in Washington.

The former New York mayor backs abortion rights and gay rights, positions that put him in conflict with conservative GOP orthodoxy, and has been trying to persuade evangelical conservatives like Robertson to overlook their differences on those issues.

Evangelicals have split in their support for the leading Republican candidates. Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback, a favorite of Christian conservatives who dropped out of the race last month, endorsed fellow Sen. John McCain of Arizona on Wednesday. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney recently announced that Paul Weyrich and Bob Jones III were on board with his candidacy.

Asked about the Robertson endorsement, McCain, at a news conference with Brownback in Dubuque, Iowa, said: "Every once in a while, I'm left speechless. This is one of those times."

Giuliani is best known to voters for leading New York in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Shortly after 9/11, Robertson released a statement in which he said the attacks occurred because Americans had insulted God and lost the protection of heaven by allowing abortion and "rampant Internet pornography."

Robertson made no mention of his differences with Giuliani on social issues in Wednesday's statement.

"Rudy Giuliani took a city that was in decline and considered ungovernable and reduced its violent crime, revitalized its core, dramatically lowered its taxes, cut through a welter of bureaucratic regulations, and did so in the spirit of bipartisanship which is so urgently needed in Washington today," Robertson said.

Robertson, who unsuccessfully ran for president in 1988, founded the Christian Broadcasting Network, the Christian Coalition and Regent University in Virginia Beach.

Also Wednesday, Giuliani said he asked two GOP friends in Congress, Reps. Peter King of New York and Rep. Pete Sessions of Texas, to introduce bills to keep states from giving licenses or similar identification to illegal immigrants.

The Democratic front-runner, Hillary Clinton, was criticized after a televised debate last week when she hedged an answer on whether she supported New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer's effort to grant licenses to illegal immigrants. Her aides say she generally supports the idea in the absence of comprehensive immigration reform.

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Associated Press Writer Amy Lorentzen contributed to this report from Dubuque, Iowa.

Tommy Thompson to Endorse Giuliani

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani will pick up the endorsement Friday of former GOP rival Tommy Thompson, a one-time Midwestern state governor.

"Rudy Giuliani has shown that he is a true leader. He can and will win the nomination and the presidency. He is America's mayor, and during a period of time of great stress for this country he showed tremendous leadership," Thompson, the former Wisconsin governor, said in a statement obtained by the Associated Press.

The former New York mayor is to accept the endorsement in South Carolina later Friday.

Thompson is the first former 2008 Republican presidential candidate to endorse in the race, and officials familiar with details of the political courting involved said Giuliani's top rivals also sought his support. But Thompson recently told Giuliani he'd get the nod after several weeks of conversations.

Thompson, the Health and Human Services secretary in President Bush's first term, entered the crowded GOP presidential field early this year only to spend several months struggling to raise money and gain traction in early voting Iowa, New Hampshire and elsewhere. He was overshadowed by another, unrelated Thompson who was not even in the race at the time, but who was polling far stronger than the ex-governor, former Tennessee senator Fred Thompson.

The lesser-known Thompson dropped out of the race in August after finishing sixth in an Iowa test vote measuring organization and popularity in the state that holds the leadoff caucuses.

Unclear is the impact of Thompson's support for Giuliani. On one hand, Giuliani could use the endorsement to try to mollify skeptical Iowans and other Midwesterners who are concerned about his moderate-to-liberal stances on social issues, pointing out that a prominent Republican from their backyards is supporting him.

On the other hand, Thompson left the race because voters weren't gravitating toward him and he doesn't bring with him much support in early voting Iowa and elsewhere. He languished in single digits in polls there, and barely registered in national surveys while in the race.