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.
Giuliani Partners dependent upon Giuliani's star power, diminished due to Giuliani's absence during his campaign, which ended in late January 2008. Its client list and revenues decreased, and it went from about 60 to about 50 employees. During the 2008 presidential election efforting, Peter Powers was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Giuliani Partners; he replaced Giuliani in this role in June 2007, as Giuliani was in midst of his campaign for president. Peters was formerly a deputy mayor of New York, Giuliani subsequently returned to work at the firm, splitting time between it and the law firm Bracewell & Giuliani. The