Former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani, a Republican who guided his city through the chaos of the September 11 attacks, has taken a key step towards a possible 2008 United States presidential run.
Giuliani has filed papers in New York state to set up a committee to explore a possible candidacy, although an aide said Monday he has not made up his mind.
”Mayor Giuliani has not made a decision yet,” his treasurer, John Gross, said in a statement.
”With the filing of this document, we have taken the necessary legal steps so an organisation can be put in place and money can be raised to explore a possible presidential run in 2008,” Gross said of the document filed on Friday, forming the Rudy Giuliani Presidential Exploratory Committee.
Giuliani’s potential chief rival for the Republican Party nomination, Arizona Senator John McCain, said on Sunday he planned to set up his own exploratory committee and would decide whether to run early next year.
Giuliani, who was branded ”America’s Mayor” after leading New York through the trauma of the 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre, said in Pennsylvania on Sunday that he would decide whether to run ”sometime next year”.
The guessing game about who will run in 2008 to succeed President George Bush began to heat up after last week’s mid-term elections, which Democrats won, ending 12 years of Republican majority in the Senate and House of Representatives.
Giuliani had campaigned for fellow Republicans ahead of the November 7 vote.
”Rudy has travelled the country campaigning tirelessly on behalf of Republican candidates and has had the opportunity to speak with Americans on a wide variety of issues,” Giuliani adviser Anthony Carbonetti said in a statement.
”They have been encouraging him to run for president, and this filing affords him the opportunity to raise money and put together an organisation to assist him in making his decision,” he said.
A CNN poll last month showed Giuliani as the leading Republican candidate with 29%, followed closely by McCain with 27%.
Six years ago, McCain lost the Republican presidential nomination to Bush, who went on to defeat Democratic candidate Al Gore in the 2000 election.
Others mentioned as possible Republican hopefuls in 2008 include Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Newt Gingrich, who led the 1994 Republican takeover of the House and served as speaker.
Giuliani could face an old foe if he becomes the Republican nominee in 2008 as Senator Hillary Clinton of New York is considered a potential Democratic candidate.
The 62-year-old former mayor of the Big Apple had run against Clinton, the wife of former president Bill Clinton, in the 2000 senate race in New York but had to drop out after he was diagnosed with prostate cancer.
A recent poll showed Giuliani favoured over Clinton in a head-to-head race in 2008.
The WNBC/Marist poll released early last month found that 49% of voters would vote for Giuliani, while the former first lady would pick up 42% of the vote. Nine percent were undecided.
Giuliani was also favoured for the Republican nomination in the same survey, picking up 23% of support, followed by Rice with 20% and McCain with 15%.
Rice has insisted that she will not run for president, but it has not stopped pundits from mentioning her as a formidable candidate.
Clinton would have her own potentially difficult Democratic primary election, as Senator Barack Obama, a charismatic African American and rising star of the Democratic Party, is considering a White House run. — AFP
