Rudy Giuliani in New Hampshire to explore 2012 bid, but "far away" from decision
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is headed to New Hampshire this week to test out the presidential waters, but he says he is "far away" from making a decision about a possible bid for the Republican nomination.
Giuliani, who launched an unsuccessful presidential bid in 2008, said in an interview with the Daily Caller that he would likely decide by the fall.
"I think there's an obvious timeline, which would be the end of the summer," he said. "I got to get this decided by September."
Giuliani declined to speculate on his decision, however.
"That's too much teasing," he said. "I'm too far away from making a decision."
Giuliani sets off Thursday on a two-day trip to the crucial early-primary state, where he will meet with the Seacoast Federation of Republican Women and New Castle law enforcement officials in New Castle, and meet with the Manchester Harly Davidson chapter to discuss gun rights.
But, he admits, he has an additional motive driving his trip as well: to "see how people are feeling, how good of chance we have of beating Obama, how the candidates are doing, so that I can also make a decision about whether I run or not."
Giuliani also commented, if abstractly, on the current debt limit negotiations in Washington.
"It would be really nice if we could bring back John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan," he said. "Both of them could probably preach some wisdom to both political parties."
"John F. Kennedy could preach the value of tax cuts to a party that doesn't seem to understand that, and preach major tax cuts which really worked for Kennedy...And Reagan could preach the art of the possible, meaning you can't get everything you want. Try to get 50, 60, 70, 80 percent. That would really make Washington work a lot better."
