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(AP) - Rudy Giuliani told supporters Wednesday
he's abandoning his bid for president and backing Republican rival and longtime friend John McCain.

Rep. Peter King, a New York Republican and adviser to Giuliani, said the former mayor called him this morning to tell him of his plan.

Giuliani "will be announcing his endorsement today," said King.

"I expect him to be fairly active for McCain. There is a real friendship and respect between the two," he said. A similar call took place between Giuliani and New York Senate Majority Leader Joe
Bruno.

"I spoke with Rudy Giuliani this morning and he confirmed that he is dropping out of the race and will endorse Senator John McCain for president," Bruno said in a statement.

Once the Republican presidential front-runner, Giuliani suffered a debilitating defeat in Tuesday's Florida primary.

The former mayor finished a distant third to the winner, McCain, and close second-place finisher Mitt Romney. After the results, Republican officials had said Giuliani would endorse McCain on Wednesday in California.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in advance of the public announcement.

Speaking to supporters Tuesday night, Giuliani stopped short of
announcing he was stepping down, but delivered a valedictory speech
that was more farewell than fight-on.


      "I'm proud that we chose to stay positive and to run a campaign
of ideas in an era of personal attacks, negative ads and cynical
spin," Giuliani said as supporters with tight smiles crowded
behind him. "You don't always win, but you can always try to do it
right, and you did."

      Republican presidential candidates were scheduled to debate at
the Reagan presidential library in Simi Valley on Wednesday night.

      "I haven't talked to him," McCain said as he boarded a
campaign charter plane Wednesday morning. "I'm going to talk to
him today when we meet."

      Separately, Giuliani said as he prepared to leave Florida for
California Wednesday he was "not yet" ready to announce his
intentions.

      Tuesday's result was a remarkable collapse for Giuliani. Last
year, he occupied the top of national polls and seemed destined to
turn conventional wisdom on end by running as a moderate Republican
who supported abortion rights, gay rights and gun control.

      The results seriously decimated Giuliani's unconventional
strategy, which relied heavily on Florida to launch him into the
coast-to-coast Feb. 5 nominating contests.

      But Florida proved to be less than hospitable. His poll numbers
dropped and key endorsements went to McCain.

      Surveys of voters leaving polling places Tuesday showed that
Giuliani was getting backing from some Hispanics, abortion rights
supporters and people worried about terrorism, but was not
dominating in any area.

      McCain, addressing his own supporters moments later in Miami,
gave Giuliani a warm rhetorical embrace, a possible prologue to
accepting Giuliani's expected support.

      "I want to thank my dear friend, my dear friend Rudy Giuliani,
who invested his heart and soul in this primary and who conducted
himself with all the qualities of the exceptional American leader
he truly is," McCain said. "Thank you, Rudy, for all you have
added to this race and for being an inspiration to me and millions
of Americans."

      Giuliani hung his bid for the Republican presidential nomination
on his leadership. His stalwart performance as New York mayor in
the tense days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New
York and Washington earned him national magazine covers,
international accolades and widespread praise.

      Steadfast in a crisis, as a candidate Giuliani was a bundle of
contradictions, so much so that he liked to joke that even he
didn't always agree with himself.

      A moderate-to-liberal New Yorker who backed abortion rights, gay
rights and gun control in a party dominated by Southern
conservatives, Giuliani became a Republican mayor of an
overwhelmingly Democratic city. Campaigning for national office, he
claimed to have created the most conservative government in the
most liberal city in America.

      After earning a reputation as a tough-talking, even abusive
executive, Giuliani the presidential candidate was mostly
mild-mannered in debates, even as those around him got meaner.

      Giuliani, 63, first gained prominence as a crime-busting federal
prosecutor in New York City. Jailing mob bosses, Wall Street
executives and corrupt politicians helped propel his next career as
a politician, but it wasn't an immediate success. He lost the first
time he ran for mayor in 1989 before winning in 1993.

      As mayor, he fostered a take-charge image by rushing to fires
and crime scenes to brief the press, but some critics felt he was
more concerned about taking credit from others for what became a
historic decline in the city's crime rate during his tenure.

      A bout with prostate cancer and the very public breakup of his
marriage with second wife Donna Hanover - she first learned he was
filing for divorce when he made the announcement at a televised
news conference - forced Giuliani to withdraw from a race for the
U.S. Senate against Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton in 2000. The
messy divorce was revisited in awkward detail once he re-entered
politics.

      With no working strategy in his presidential campaign, no
primary victories and dwindling resources, the mayor's third-place
finish in Florida spelled the end of his run, even if his
crestfallen supporters couldn't believe it.

      "They'll be sorry!" a woman with a New York accent called out
to the mayor as he spoke. "You sound like my mother," Giuliani
joked.

Gallery

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Rudy Giuliani told supporters Wednesday he's abandoning his bid for president and backing Republican rival and longtime friend John McCain.

Giuliani to drop out of Republican presidential race, back McCain

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