Eyeing 2008 presidential run, Giuliani plays down Democrat wins

[Ron Burgundy]

AFP - Former New York mayor and possible 2008 presidential candidate Rudolph Giuliani has downplayed the Democrats' US election sweep of last week, describing the outcome as "real close."

"I don't see this election, any more than the one two years ago or the one four years ago, as a defining election," the New York Times quoted Giuliani as saying over the weekend in a speech at Pennsylvania's Wilkes University.

Giuliani dodged questions on his presidential ambitions, saying he expected to make a decision next year on whether or not to run. "I haven't made up my mind, nor has anybody else," he was quoted as saying.

The Republican Party lost more than two dozen seats in the House of Representatives and six in the Senate in last week's election, in the biggest shift in Congress in 12 years.

Giuliani is likely to face a challenge from Arizona Senator John McCain in the race for the Republican nomination. McCain has also yet to formally state whether he will run.

A CNN poll last month showed Giuliani as the leading Republican candidate with 29 percent, followed closely by McCain with 27 percent.

Others being mooted as possible Republican hopefuls include Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Newt Gingrich, who led the 1994 Republican takeover of the House of Representatives and served as speaker.