McCain expected to get Giuliani endorsement after Florida win

[Ron Burgundy]

AFP - Senator John McCain's status as frontrunner in the Republican presidential nomination race was expected to get a new boost Wednesday with the endorsement of former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani -- the man he beat in the Florida primary.

With 99 percent of precincts reporting, the Arizona senator had 36 percent of the vote and a five percentage point lead over former Massachusetts governor Romney in Florida's Republican primary, held Tuesday.

The outcome turned the previously muddled race into a two-way contest for the Republican party's nomination for the November presidential election.

On the Democratic side, Senator Hillary Clinton easily defeated rival Barack Obama, but her victory was symbolic as her party has stripped Florida of delegates to the convention that will pick the presidential candidate in August.

Giuliani, 63, who has staked his whole campaign on a high-risk strategy of winning in Florida, came in third in the Republican race, with 15 percent, just two points ahead of ordained Baptist preacher Mike Huckabee.

The former mayor who steered New York through the trauma of the September 11, 2001 attacks, strongly signaled late Tuesday that his White House campaign was coming to an end.

All major US media reported he would travel to California on Wednesday to endorse McCain.

"You don't always win, but you can always try to do it right," Giuliani told supporters in Orlando, Florida.

It was a tight race, which saw McCain and Romney trade daily attacks. McCain highlighted his military credentials in Florida, which has a large population of veterans.

"We Republicans have always known that the first responsibility of government is to keep this country safe from all enemies foreign and domestic," he said in a victory speech.

The 71-year-old senator, who saw his presidential hopes crushed by George W. Bush in 2000, has been touted as the Republican come-back candidate after lack of money forced him to strip down his campaign just a few months ago.

Now he has notched up three major wins -- New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Florida -- while Romney romped home in Michigan and Nevada.

McCain's win in Florida gave him a high-energy boost as the 2008 White House race sweeps forward to next week's Super Tuesday when more than 20 states will vote for their candidates.

"My friends, in one week, in one week we will have as close to a national primary as we've ever had in this country. I intend to win it and be the nominee of our party!" McCain told supporters late Tuesday.

Clinton, meanwhile, pushed the Democratic party to restore delegates from Florida and Michigan, which had also been penalized by the party for bringing forward its primary, and which she also won.

"I promise you I will do everything I can that not only Florida's Democrats get seated, but that Florida is in the winning column for the Democrats in November 2008," the New York senator, 60, told supporters in Davie, Florida.

Clinton beat Obama by 17 points in Florida, and won earlier contests in New Hampshire and Nevada.

Obama's campaign played down her win, after the 46-year-old Illinois senator routed the former first lady in Saturday's South Carolina vote, 55 to 27 percent. Obama also has Iowa to his credit.

"Our focus is on February 5. Honestly if she's spending a night in Florida instead of a February 5 state, that's just fine with us," said Obama campaign manager David Plouffe.

Both Clinton and McCain on Tuesday led opinion polls in delegate-rich California, one of the Super Tuesday states.

The former first lady held a 49 percent to 32 percent lead over Obama in a Los Angeles Times/CNN/Politico poll.

McCain surged to a double-digit lead, with 39 percent of likely Republican primary participants expressing support for the Arizona senator compared to 26 percent for Romney.

source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080130/ts_alt_afp/usvote2008 [link]