Rudy Giuliani 2008 presidential campaign Rudy Giuliani 2008 presidential campaign The 2008 presidential campaign of Rudy Giuliani began following the formation of the Draft Giuliani movement in October 2005. The next year, Giuliani opened an exploratory committee and formally announced in February 2007 that he was actively seeking the presidential nomination of the Republican Party. At the onset of the campaign, Giuliani had held a significant lead in the nationwide polls by January 2007. His runner up in the polls, Senator John McCain, had his candidacy falter, and throughout 2007, Giuliani maintained his lead in both national polls and fundraising. Political observers predicted that Giuliani's
Rudy Giuliani be one of McCain's most active surrogates during the remainder of McCain's eventually unsuccessful campaign. Following the end of his presidential campaign, Giuliani's "high appearance fees dropped like a stone." He returned to work at both Giuliani Partners and Bracewell & Giuliani. Giuliani explored hosting a syndicated radio show, and was reported to be in talks with Westwood One about replacing Bill O'Reilly before that position went to Fred Thompson (another unsuccessful '08 GOP Presidential primary candidate). During the March 2009 AIG bonus payments controversy, Giuliani called for U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner to step down and said that the