'America's Mayor' Giuliani joins White House race

[Ron Burgundy]

AFP - Former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who guided his city through the September 11 attacks, has thrown his hat into the 2008 presidential race, saying on television he was "in this to win."

"We still have to formally announce and do a few more things. But this is about as close as you get" to entering the race, Giuliani told Fox News.

Asked if he is "in it to win it," -- the phrase used by New York Senator Hillary Clinton when she announced her White House run last month -- Giuliani answered: "Gosh yeah. That's the only reason to do it."

"I'm in this to win...My campaign is going to be about the future," he added.

Giuliani, who earned the nickname "America's Mayor" after leading New York through the trauma of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center, has led other likely candidates for the Republican presidential nomination in recent polls.

Earlier Monday he took a key step in the race when he filed an official statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission.

His closest rival for the Republican nomination is Arizona Senator John McCain (news, bio, voting record), who has also filed FEC papers but has not publicaly declared he is joining the race.

Recent opinion polls have Giuliani leading McCain by a thin margin for the Republican nomination, with Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the House of Representatives, in third position.

Other declared Republican hopefuls in 2008 include Kansas Senator Sam Brownback (news, bio, voting record), former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee.

The nominations for both parties will be decided in a series of state-based caucuses and primaries beginning next January, with the election itself in November.

Giuliani could face an old foe if he becomes the Republican nominee in 2008, with New York Senator Hillary Clinton currently considered the favorite for the Democratic Party nomination.

The 62-year-old former mayor of the Big Apple ran against former first lady Clinton in the 2000 senate race in New York, but had to drop out when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer.

A former Democrat with relatively liberal views on gay rights and abortion, Giuliani has long been considered something of a political maverick who has polarized opinion both inside and outside Republican circles.

But he strove on Fox News Monday to show he had moved closer to the conservative mainstream on those issues and others.

Opinions vary on his chances of winning the Republican nomination, with some analysts suggesting that his moderate leanings on social issues could alienate the more conservative party rank and file.

Others believe that vulnerability would be offset by his tough record on law and order issues.

source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070206/ts_alt_afp/usvote2008republicangiuliani [link]