Rudy Giuliani Vows To Beat Senator Hillary Clinton For Presidential Bid

Speaking to a Republican club here, former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani offered his own version of what the party should stand for: strong national security, fiscal conservatism and beating Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.). He never mentioned abortion, talking only about unspecified "differences" he might have with people in the room.
"When people around the country tell me I'm not conservative enough, will you please go back and read the New York Times editorials?" he told a crowd Thursday night in this town near the North Carolina border, drawing loud applause as he noted the criticism he took for trying to reduce the welfare rolls in New York.

While the presidential primary calendar is still in flux, South Carolina's GOP primary will likely be scheduled for Jan. 19, making it the first state to vote after the balloting in Iowa, New Hampshire and Michigan. And because it will be the first primary in the South, it will serve as an early test for Giuliani. Can an abortion rights supporter from the Northeast succeed in a party that is increasingly based in the South, where abortion continues to be a big issue with many Republican voters? Exit polls during the 2000 South Carolina primary showed that one-third of the state's Republicans considered themselves part of the "religious right" and that 58 percent said abortion should be illegal in most cases.
And when former Wisconsin governor Tommy G. Thompson, who briefly ran for the nomination, endorsed his former rival at an event in Charleston on Friday, he directly addressed the issue.
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