Guiliani to exit...?

I posted in a recent entry here that I thought Giuliani would win the Republican Nomination and that McCain would withdraw. Well in reading the stories on the results of the Florida primary, it looks like I got it wrong. The AP is reporting that:

Sen. John McCain won a breakthrough triumph in the Florida primary Tuesday night, gaining the upper hand in the battle for the Republican presidential nomination ahead of next week's contests across 21 states and lining up a quick endorsement from soon-to-be dropout Rudy Giuliani.

Giuliani ran third, his best showing of the campaign but not nearly good enough for the one-time front-runner who decided to make his last stand in a state that is home to tens of thousands of transplanted New Yorkers.

In remarks to supporters in Orlando, the former New York mayor referred to his candidacy repeatedly in the past tense—as though it were over. "We'll stay involved and together we'll make sure that we'll do everything we can to hand our nation off to the next generation better than it was before," he said.

So it looks like Rudy is out - which is surprising given his rise in the early polls and what I considered to be some positive name recognition and experience. So what does this bode for the Romney/McCain race? I guess we will see since McCain won all of Florida's delegates, he is now in the lead over Romney. Next Tuesday is "Super Tuesday" when 21 states hold primaries and of course should give a pretty clear indication as to where the nomination is heading. What makes this more interesting is the lineup of talk show hosts already against McCain. Again to quote an AP Story:

Talk radio pioneer Rush Limbaugh said that if McCain or Mike Huckabee are nominated, "it's going to destroy the Republican Party." Mark Levin calls the senator "John McLame." On Monday, Laura Ingraham said she was "concerned about the mental stability of the McCain campaign" and had cuckoo-clock sound effects accompany his words.

I have also heard Sean Hannity be less than enthused with a McCain nomination but many seemed to have no problem with Giuliani who appeared to be socially moderate at his best. No matter, we wish Mayor Giuliani well and will see what next Tuesday brings the country.

Do I need to say that McCain, Romney or Huckabee would be a better choice than Hillary?

OS