Rudy Drops Out, Backs McCain

(NEWSER) - Rudy Giuliani tonight delivered the most blistering attack yet on Barack Obama's qualifications to be president, belittling him as a "celebrity senator" with no legislative record to speak of, MSNBC reports. "He’s never run a city, he’s never run a state, he’s never run a business, he’s never run a military unit,” Giuliani said. “He’s never had to lead people in crisis." It's not a personal attack, he said, but merely a "statement of fact." More»

State-by-state look gives him Super Tuesday victory

(NEWSER) - Snowballing support for John McCain means he could just about wrap it up on Super Tuesday, TPM Election Central reports. A state-by-state look at the 21 races sees him leading in most and, thanks to differing rules on apportioning of GOP delegates, McCain will walk away from Romney states with some delegates, while Romney will get zilch from McCain states where he comes a strong second. More»

Without big win, and taking lumps from departing GOP rivals

(NEWSER) - Mitt Romney is “almost there” in his quest to narrow the GOP race to two, but the men he’s beating are hanging tough against him—and the silvers aren’t adding up to gold. The departing Rudy Giuliani is passing the torch to John McCain, while Mike Huckabee—"the Christian leader who never turns the other cheek to Romney"—is willfully staying in to siphon votes from Mitt, argues Boston Herald columnist Howie Carr. More»

Victory gives him big boost heading into Super Tuesday

(NEWSER) - John McCain scored a hard-fought victory over Mitt Romney in Florida tonight to establish himself as the Republican front-runner a week ahead of Super Tuesday, Politico reports. McCain got 36% of the vote to Romney's 31%. Rudy Giuliani, who staked his campaign on a win here, managed just 15% and will reportedly drop out. Mike Huckabee had 13%. More»

He staked his campaign on a Florida win but finished third

(NEWSER) - Rudy Giuliani will drop out of the presidential race in the wake of his weak third-place finish in Florida and endorse John McCain tomorrow, NBC News reports. Giuliani is expected to fly to the Ronald Reagan library in California to make the announcement. "We ran a campaign that was uplifting," a dejected Giuliani told supporters. Asked later whether he was dropping out, he responded only, "I'm going to California." More»