2008 New York Republican primary race before the primary 2008 New York Republican primary New York held its state presidential primary on February 5, 2008 (Super Tuesday). There were 101 delegates up for grabs for the candidates. The delegates were awarded on a winner-take-all basis, which means the winner, Arizona Senator John McCain, received all 101 delegates for the 2008 Republican National Convention. On February 2, McCain had held a fairly large lead in the polls above the competition with 35% as opposed to the next candidate Rudy Giuliani with 22.5%, who had announced a withdrawal from the race on January 30, 2008. <nowiki>*</nowiki> Candidate
Rudy Giuliani not filed a tax return for many years and of several other ethical missteps, in particular a stock transfer to his son. Dinkins filed several years of returns and said the tax matter had been fully paid off, denied other wrongdoing, and said that "what we need is a mayor, not a prosecutor", and that Giuliani refused to say "the R-word—he doesn't like to admit he's a Republican." Dinkins won the endorsements of three of the four daily New York newspapers, while Giuliani won approval from the "New York Post". In the end, Giuliani lost to Dinkins by a margin