Rudy Giuliani 2008 presidential campaign the Florida primary, Giuliani's campaign indicated he would withdraw from the race. On January 29, 2008, Giuliani exited the race and endorsed the eventual Republican nominee John McCain. Giuliani's public profile started to rise when he was appointed as the United States Associate Attorney General by President Ronald Reagan. He held the position from 1981 to 1983, when he was appointed United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. He held this post until 1989, when he resigned to run his first campaign for Mayor of New York City. He lost the race but won four years later,
Rudy Giuliani 2008 presidential campaign to be a major-party national ticket nominee was Geraldine Ferraro, the 1984 Democratic Party nominee for vice-president; also, Al Smith's grandfather was Italian). Following a series of criticisms from conservatives about his views on abortion, Giuliani made a pledge in February 2007 to nominate Supreme Court Justices in the mold of John Roberts, Sam Alito, Antonin Scalia, and Anthony Kennedy (all Ronald Reagan appointees, former colleagues of his in the Reagan Justice Department or both). Giuliani and the nine other Republican presidential contenders participated in the first MSNBC 2008 Republican Presidential Candidates Debate on May 3, 2007, held at the