He hasn't made it officially official yet, but the speech Rudy Giuliani gave after his drubbing in Florida's primary was official Tuesday night sounded very much like an exit speech. Early reports suggest that Giuliani will be dropping out as early as Wednesday and endorsing rival John McCain, who won the evening.
Fittingly for him, Giuliani began his speech with a reference to his beloved New York Yankees. "I think that comes from the great American philosopher Yogi Berra: 'It's not over until it's over,'" Giuliani said. But from there, he went into the parts of the speech indicating that, for him at least, this race is over.
"I don't back down from a principled fight, but there must always be a larger purpose: Justice for an individual, hope for a city, a better future for our country," Giuliani said. "Elections are about a lot more than just candidates. Elections are about fighting for a cause larger than ourselves. They're about identifying the great challenges of our time and proposing new solutions."
Then Giuliani gave the real signs, congratulating himself and his supporters on having run -- past tense -- a clean campaign. "The responsibility of leadership doesn't end with a single campaign. If you believe in a cause, it goes on, and you continue to fight for it, and we will. 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, we ran a campaign that was uplifting. You don't always win, but you can always try to do it right, and you did."
Two things seem key there: First, the "we," shifting to the campaign, rather than himself, and second, the "ran," as in "we ran." As in, of course, "we are no longer running."
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