Rudy Giuliani 2008 presidential campaign in the state) for third place, well behind front-runners McCain and Romney. By a January 24, 2008 poll, Giuliani was in third place in Florida with 20% of the vote, compared to 23% for John McCain and 27% for Mitt Romney. Another blow to Giuliani was the late endorsements for McCain of Florida Senator and former Chairman of the Republican National Committee Mel Martinez on January 25 and the highly popular Governor of Florida, Charlie Crist, on January 26. Crist had planned to endorse Giuliani in the early autumn, and had still been expected to do so in early January.
Rudy Giuliani 2008 presidential campaign sole purpose of encouraging Giuliani to run. During this time, pro-life groups, such as the Republican National Coalition for Life, had already announced their intention to oppose Giuliani, because of his stance on abortion. However, evidence suggested that even among those voters, he enjoyed some support for his possible run. Some social conservatives contended that Giuliani's emphasis on lowering the abortion rate, was a pragmatic pro-life view. Among the overall public, Giuliani was perceived to be a moderate. An August 2006 Rasmussen Reports poll found that 36% of the American public identified the potential candidate as a moderate, while 29%