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 position would fall, either due to Republican base voters discovering his liberal positions on certain social issues, his personality, management style or the entrance of former Senator Fred Thompson into the race. Giuliani did not campaign actively in the early voting states, hoping to simply survive in these states, and focused instead on the later, larger states. He campaigned in Florida throughout the primary season, hoping a win in the state's primary on January 29, 2008, would give him enough momentum to win the primaries on Super Tuesday (February 5), where he had also campaigned heavily. After finishing third in