Rudy, Basically, Says Goodbye

“It’s not over till it’s over,” screamed a woman as Rudy Giuliani stepped to the podium to give his concession speech.

But all indications were that it, Giuliani’s candidacy for president, was indeed over.

As he spoke in a half-filled ballroom at the Portafino hotel in Orlando, the back of the room where the press sat, and the blogosphere, were abuzz with reports that Giuliani planned to endorse John McCain, the Florida primary’s winner, the next day in California.

In his speech, Giuliani did not acknowledge any of that. Instead he called all of his rivals “honorable people” and promised, somewhat vaguely, “We’ll stay involved.”

In his remarks to a sometimes teary crowd, Giuliani quoted Teddy Roosevelt, saying “aggressive fighting for the right is the noblest sport” and took credit for injecting new ways of thinking about terrorism, taxes and school reform.

“Elections are about a lot more than just candidates. Elections are about a cause larger than ourselves.”

That cause, Giuliani seemed to suggest, was expanding the Republican Party.

“We are a big party,” he said. “And we’re getting bigger. I’m even in this party -- we’re a big party.”

Later he said “We must be a 50-state Republican party” that includes “conservatives and moderates.”

“We ran a campaign that was uplifting,” Giuliani said towards the end of his speech. “No pessimism – ever, ever, ever -- just optimism.”

After thanking his wife, Judith, who held his face and said, “you’re the best,” and expressing his appreciation for his campaign manager, Mike DuHaime, and his senior political advisor, Tony Carbonetti, Giuliani said “God bless you and God bless the United States of America. Thank you.”

He shook some hands. And disappeared through a heavy blue velvet curtain under a big electric screen emblazoned with the word “Rudy.”